Madonna Inn Copper Cafe’s famous pink champagne cake will no longer be pink, due to FDA regulations on red food dye. The cake has been a favorite since their opening in 1958.
The pink cake was discontinued this year and is now made with white chocolate instead. Madonna Enterprises President Clint Pearce said the decision was not up to them, but rather their chocolate
company Guittard.
Video by: Sydney Brandt
“It wasn’t our choice; it’s all about the red dye. The FDA has changed their rules, evidently, on this red dye that Guittard chocolate has always used to make this pink chocolate,” he said.
Despite its popularity, the pink champagne cake is one of the few cakes made from pink chocolate.
“Very few people use pink chocolate. In fact we’re one of their only customers for pink chocolate. It’s sort of a special run that they do for us,” Pearce said.
Guittard has started to experiment with alternative recipes, but has not yet found a solution with the same color and taste.
“When they were disallowed from using this pink dye, they had their research and development department start in their lab and in their kitchen start experimenting with other coloring, but every time they experiment with another coloring, something becomes unstable with the product … so they haven’t found an alternative yet that will give us the same product quality that we get with our white chocolate,” Pearce said.
In 2016, Madonna faced a pink chocolate shortage. This time, though, Pearce said the pink cake will hopefully be back soon. The flavor of the cake has not been changed, only the color is different.
“We’ve been promised by Guittard that they will provide us with pink chocolate. They’re just trying to find the right formula,” he said.