I was a deep skeptic of this cake. I'm not a soda drinker, let alone a Coke drinker. Truth be told, I think Coke is pretty wretched. Baking with sweetened carbonated beverages was something I never encountered. The first time I had this cake was at an vegetable lasagna "cookout" in Boothbay Harbor, ME. A good friend of my husband's is a Southerner and this cake is a southern classic.
A quick side trip about the vegetable lasagna. For a couple summers, we'd go to this cookout in Boothbay. There was no cooking out involved, but the party did include the best lasagna I've ever eaten. This lasagna was about 5 inches tall, and it baked for about 3+ hours. The cheese on top was baked to dark brown delicousness. The chef extraordinaire of this lasagna has moved back south. One of these days I'll attempt to replicate the lasagna....sigh.
Ok. On to the cake.
This is a surprisingly light (as in not dense, not as in low fat or low calorie) cake. Like the Congo bars from my last post, it is a picnic, pot-luck, crowd pleaser. Both the batter and the frosting has Coke in it, along with lots of butter, sugar and cocoa powder. You don't taste the Coke, but this is a very sweet cake.
This is the chocolate cake you loved as a kid, and smeared all over your face as you ate it. This would be a great cake to serve to kids who do not live in your house, since they will be completely strung out after eating this. You can pack them full of sugar, chocolate and caffeine and then send them on their merry way.
Coca Cola Cake
Ingredients
Cake:
1 cup Coca-Cola
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 cup butter (softened)
1 3/4 cups cups sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1/4 cup cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows
Frosting:
1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup Coca-Cola
3 tablespoons cocoa
1 box confectioner's sugar, (16 oz)
1 tablespoon vanilla
Topping options: This cake is great with frosting only. If you want to spiff up the top a bit, try:
1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted or chopped heath bar candy, or chopped Reese's Peanut Butter Cups....
What to do:
Cake:
Combine coke and buttermilk, set aside.
Beat butter at low speed with electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beat until blended. Add egg and vanilla, beat at low speed until blended.
Combine flour, cocoa and soda. Add to butter mixture, alternating with coke mixture. Begin & end with flour mixture. Beat on low until just combined.
Stir in marshmallows. Pour batter into greased & floured 13x9 pan. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes. Remove from oven and cool 10 minutes. Pour frosting over cake and garnish w/ toppings of choice (or not). Let frosting set (at least an hour) before cutting cake.
Frosting:
Bring butter, coke and cocoa to boil in large saucepan over med. heat, stirring until butter melts. Remove from heat, whisk in sugar and vanilla. Pour over slightly cooled cake.
