This classic Champagne cocktail recipe with a tropical fruit twist is a recipe for fun. Serve this exuberant champagne cocktail at the beginning of a meal or social gathering over the holiday season and I guarantee you’ll kick-start the revelry.
Champagne is a drink for celebrations and cocktail parties, a sophisticated way to commence a fine meal as an aperitif, and a perfect accompaniment to a decadent dessert.
But while I’ll happily open a good bottle of bubbly to launch a Christmas Day lunch or New Year’s Eve party, I wouldn’t want to drink it all day or night. If my best friend Lynley is reading this, her jaw will now be on the floor.
The Champagne cocktail on the other hand is made for merry-making. But while the classic Champagne cocktail is elegant, it’s also a little on the serious side (I blame the Cognac) and rather old fashioned (the Maraschino cherry’s fault – it’s beyond kitsch).
Which is why you need to serve this classic champagne cocktail with a tropical fruit twist. Offer this exuberant champagne cocktail at the start of a meal or social gathering and keep serving them. This is a party drink that will be responsible for some serious carousing.
Classic Champagne Cocktail Recipe with a Tropical Fruit Twist
A classic champagne cocktail recipe calls for Champagne, Angostura bitters, sugar cubes, and brandy or Cognac (there is a difference), and has traditionally been garnished with a maraschino cherry. Ugh, I know.
Firstly, you pop a couple of dashes of Angostura bitters onto a sugar cube. It should be partly not completely saturated. Drop it into the champagne flute. When you pour the Champagne in, it’s the process of the sugar slowly dissolving that will create that joyful fountain of bubbles in the flute that brings a smile to everyone’s face.
Next you add brandy or Cognac (go for one ounce or 30 mls), then pour chilled brut Champagne (4-6 ounces or 120-180 mls) into a flute, right to the top, and garnish with a maraschino cherry. A slice of orange is also popular.
A tip: always open your bottles of Champagne and add the bubbly to the flutes immediately before you serve the cocktails.
To make our classic Champagne cocktail recipe with a tropical fruit twist, all you need to do is just dice up your favourite tropical fruit and add 4-5 pieces to the flutes with the sugar cubes.
You can really use any tropical fruits, although we recommend using whatever is in season and readily available and making sure it’s fresh. But think about what else you’re serving and endeavour to match the flavours and colours.
I added purple dragon fruit (which is really pink but it’s called purple here) to my classic Champagne cocktail recipe with a tropical fruit twist. It’s deliciously sweet (unlike the white, which has little taste at all) and I absolutely adore the colour.
Another tip: always use a good quality Champagne. If you use a cheap bubbly it will taste too sweet.
Do let us know if you make a classic Champagne cocktail recipe with a tropical fruit twist at your festive party between now and the New Year. I’d love to know what fruits you used and how it turned out.
Classic Champagne Cocktail Recipe with Dragon Fruit
Ingredients
- 1 sugar cube
- 2-3 dashes Angostura Bitters
- 30 mls / 1 ounce brandy
- 120-180 mls / 4-6 ounces Champagne
- ½ purple dragon fruit
Instructions
- Drop a sugar cube into a Champagne flute.
- Drop a few dashes of Angostura Bitters onto the cube so it’s partly but not completely saturated.
- Add the brandy or Cognac.
- Immediately fill with champagne.
- Add 4-5 cubes of purple dragon fruit (or any vibrant tropical fruit).
- Serve.
Nutrition
If you like this, you might also like Chef Peter Gilmore’s frappe-style White Peach Bellini recipe, which is his go-to Christmas drink.
We hope you had a wonderful Christmas and that you have a very very happy new year! XX
