An Honest Celebration Cake: Champagne, Blackcurrant & What Happened Next Cake

I’ve been baking from Helen Goh’s Baking and the Meaning of Life for a while now, and it has quickly become one of my favourite baking books for celebration cakes. This post centres around one particular recipe from the book — a champagne and blackcurrant celebration cake — and everything that followed from making it.

When my daughter asked for a pink, vintage-iced cake decorated with ribbons to celebrate her 18th birthday, I bookmarked the recipe immediately. With my own birthday falling just two weeks earlier, I decided to make the cake first as a test run — a decision I ended up being very glad I made.

The sponges baked beautifully. But I really struggled with the sabayon — and then the icing.

The sabayon went wrong because I wasn’t careful enough when making it. I added the egg yolks, sugar and champagne together in a bowl and whisked by hand over a bain-marie, following the timing in the recipe, but without watching closely for the moment when the yolks actually thickened.

After cooling the sabayon, I chucked the whole thing straight into the whipped double cream. Of course, I ended up with a champagne sabayon cream with the consistency of a runny cream.

Nevertheless, I used a very small amount of it between the cake layers — just enough for flavour, but not so much that the cake would end up swimming in cream.

The Ice Cream

I was left with quite a lot of sabayon cream and started thinking about what to do with it. I realised it was essentially a custard with cream, so I decided to turn it into a soft-serve-style ice cream.

The next day, I reheated the sabayon cream to make sure the eggs were fully cooked and to thicken it into a custard-like ice cream base. Once cooled, I churned it.

I saved some of the blackcurrant jelly aside to serve alongside the ice cream — and just like that, we had ourselves a Champagne and blackcurrant ice cream.

The jelly could easily be swirled through the ice cream, and the ice cream itself could also be made as a no-churn version, as it stays soft in the freezer and doesn’t freeze solid.

The Parfait

Fast forward two weeks. One day before making my daughter’s birthday cake, I approached the recipe with much more caution. I whisked the egg yolks with the sugar first, then added the champagne gradually, in small batches.

Strangely, I was able to add the full amount of champagne without watering down the sabayon at all. But the next day, after sitting in the fridge overnight, the sabayon had lost its air and returned to a liquid consistency.

This time, I whipped the cream really well and folded in the sabayon in stages, stopping when the texture felt just right. That meant I used only about half of the sabayon. Luckily, I had extra cream, so nothing went to waste — I adjusted both the cream and sabayon and used everything up. I still ended up with nearly double the amount of sabayon cream needed for the cake.

I slept on it. And then I remembered the Frozen Espresso Parfait for a Crowd from Sweet.

I’d actually been reminded of it weeks earlier while reading Piglet by Hazel Lottie — the way she describes the parfait Piglet is making in the opening chapters vividly brought back memories of when Sweet was published, and when the cross-section of that parfait was plastered across billboards all over London.

I also realised I’d never made it — but that’s for another day.

So I decided to make a raspberry and hazelnut parfait using the remaining sabayon cream.

I made two layers of meringue dotted with roasted, chopped hazelnuts. I trimmed the meringue layers to fit my tin, brushed them with melted white chocolate, and sprinkled them with freeze-dried raspberries.

I took it to a friend’s birthday party to share with a crowd. It was so lovely that I decided to write it up here — partly to keep a record, and partly so I might make it again another time.

It wasn’t planned — but it might be the part I return to.

Raspberry, Hazelnut & Champagne Sabayon Parfait

A frozen, layered parfait inspired by Ottolenghi’s Frozen Espresso Parfait from Sweet, using leftover champagne sabayon cream.

Ingredients

Meringue layers

3 large egg whites

100 g caster sugar

100 g icing sugar

⅛ tsp cream of tartar

A pinch of salt

50 g hazelnuts, roasted and finely chopped

Champagne sabayon

3 egg yolks

55 g caster sugar

85 ml champagne

Sabayon cream

220 ml double cream

Crunch layer

80–120 g white chocolate, melted

Freeze-dried raspberries, lightly

Method

Make the meringue layers

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan / Gas 4). Position two shelves: one in the middle and one below it. Line two baking trays with baking parchment.

2. Place the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Add the salt and cream of tartar and whisk on medium–high speed until soft peaks form.

3. Gradually add the caster sugar, one tablespoon at a time, whisking until the meringue is very stiff and glossy.

4. Sift the icing sugar over the meringue and gently fold it in, followed by the chopped hazelnuts.

5. Divide the mixture evenly between the trays and spread into two thin layers, roughly matching the base of your tin.

6. Bake for about 1 hour, until the meringues are crisp and dry on the outside (the centres can remain slightly chewy). Halfway through baking, rotate the trays and swap shelves if one is colouring faster.

7. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely. Carefully peel away the parchment and trim the meringue sheets to fit your tin neatly.

Make the champagne sabayon

1. Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together in a heatproof bowl until pale.

2. Place the bowl over a gently simmering bain-marie and begin whisking.

3. Add the champagne gradually, in small batches, whisking continuously after each addition.

4. Continue whisking until the sabayon thickens to a creamy, ribbon-like consistency.

5. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly.

   
   

Make the sabayon cream

1. Whip the double cream to soft peaks.

2. Once the sabayon has cooled, fold it into the whipped cream in stages, stopping when the texture feels light, creamy, and stable.

Add the crunch barrier

1. Brush the inner side of each meringue layer with a thin layer of melted white chocolate.

2. While the chocolate is still wet, sprinkle with crushed freeze-dried raspberries.

3. Leave to set completely — this adds crunch and prevents the meringue from softening.

Assemble the parfait

1. Line a square tin with cling film, leaving plenty of overhang.

2. Place one meringue layer in the base with the chocolate side facing down.

3. Spread the champagne sabayon cream evenly over the meringue.

4. Top with the second meringue layer with the chocolate layer facing up, pressing gently so it sits flush.

Freeze

Cover tightly and freeze until firm, ideally overnight.

To serve

1. Lift the parfait out using the cling film.

2. Slice with a warm knife and serve straight from the freezer, or after a few minutes’ rest.