Champagne Pound Cake with Rose Water Frosting

Pound cake gets an upgrade with bubbly champagne in the batter and the glaze, and an extra touch of fancy with a rose water and champagne frosting!

Pound cake is one of those not-too-sweet dessert breads that you can add a variety of toppings to, to your liking. If you are like me and you prefer your desserts more on the “very sweet” side, then adding a glaze or frosting is definitely one way to add some extra sweetness to light and fluffy pound cake. Oh, and if you add some champagne, too? Perfection.

I already had this champagne pound cake on my list to make, but something told me that I could find a way to incorporate rose water into it. I was either going to really enhance the taste, or totally ruin it. But I was going to give it a shot, either way. I also opted to use their pure almond extract instead of vanilla. Definitely a good call, there.

One of my besties told me that she’d heard rose water was finicky…meaning that if you weren’t careful, you could put too little in and not really be able to taste it at all, or put too much and it overpower everything else. I took that into account when I was deciding how much to put in the frosting, and I’m glad I did. Because I can see how it could easily be too much, if you aren’t careful! However, a teaspoon was just perfect and gave the frosting a subtle floral taste to go with the champagne and almond flavors!

As I mentioned above, I decided to add the rose water to the icing, along with champagne, to give just a hint of that floral flavor, which I think really made for a unique brunch dessert option. I can just see a dessert table, with fresh rose petals sprinkled on the table surrounding the pound cake display. Have you ever smelled rose water? Because it really is just like roses in a jar!

And I’m not sure what it is about the champagne and those bubbles, but it definitely added a special something to otherwise ordinary pound cake. Light and fluffy, with a hint of sweetness in the cake, and a heap of sweetness in the glaze and frosting! And since it has champagne in it, that automatically makes it fancy, right? Fancy enough for your Mother’s Day brunch? Yep. I do believe so. Don’t just take my word for it, though. Try it and see!!

Champagne Pound Cake with Rose Water Frosting

Pound cake gets an upgrade with bubbly champagne in the batter and the glaze, and an extra touch of fancy with a rose water and champagne frosting!

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Course: Brunch, Dessert

Servings: 10 slices

Ingredients

For the Cake:

• 1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour (you can use all purpose flour, if you prefer)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 7 Tbsp unsalted butter , melted
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 Tbsp Nielsen-Massey Pure Almond Extract
• 1/2 cup champagne (still bubbly)

For the Glaze:

• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup champagne

For the Frosting:

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 Tbsp heavy whipping cream
• 1-2 Tbsp champagne
• 1 tsp Nielsen-Massey Rose Water

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 9×5 loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray with flour, or grease and flour it.
• Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
• Mix melted butter and sugar together in a large bowl. Stir in eggs, one at a time, then stir in the pure almond extract. Add champagne and dry ingredients and stir until just moistened. Pour into prepared pan.
• Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. (Mine took about 45 minutes – so just keep an eye on it starting at about 35 minutes.)
• While the cake is baking, heat the sugar and champagne for the glaze in a small saucepan over medium heat, until it boils. Boil for 1 minute, then remove from heat and set aside.
• Once the cake is done, allow to cool for 15 minutes in the pan. Use a butter knife to loosen around the edges, then carefully remove the cake and place it on a cooling rack set over a cookie sheet or cutting board (something to catch the glaze and frosting drippings.) Use a pastry brush to generously brush the champagne glaze over the top of the cake. Let the cake finish cooling completely before frosting.
• To make the frosting, whisk the powdered sugar, heavy whipping cream, 1 tablespoon of champagne and the teaspoon of rose water. Add more champagne as needed, to achieve your desired frosting thickness. I like mine fairly thick, but still easily pourable. Spoon the frosting over the top of the cake and spread to evenly coat. Allow to set, either at room temp or in the fridge (fridge is quicker, of course.)

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Adapted from: Crazy for Crust