Coca Cola Cake ~Oh So Good!~
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Click here to see an updated post on this recipe with a video and new photos.
If you’re familiar with Coca Cola cake, just seeing the title had you scrolling down to make sure you had the ingredients to make it today. If you’re not familiar with Coca Cola cake, allow me to offer a brief introduction (because you need to hurry up and make this cake!).
We love our Coca Cola. After all, Coke is a southern product! It was invented in Atlanta, just a few hours from where I live, and the extremely large World Of Coke museum is located in downtown Atlanta today.
If you’ve never been to Atlanta, you simply must put World Of Coke on your list of things to see should you ever get to visit. My kids love it so much that I can’t even tell you how often we have been. With in-laws living just outside of Atlanta, every time we go to visit I hear “Are we going to the Coke Museum?”
They especially love the tasting room where you can drink all the different beverages Coke makes around the world. Some of them are amazingly delicious – and some are downright strange – but all of them are fun to try!
The museum also hosts an interactive movie theater, complete with 3-d, smell-o-vision, vibrating seats, and even special effects like water sprays and such (all minor). There are coke relics from around the world and several floors of interesting and interactive exhibits. Kids love this place!
Oh, back to my cake….Coca Cola does wonderful things to baked goods. The sugar in it caramelizes, the carbonation tenderizes, the flavor is so amazing that it enhances everything. I have a few Coke recipes up my sleeve to share with you but we shall start with this wondrous cake!
Oh, and yes, in the south, if it is a carbonated beverage, it is a “Coke”. No one ever says “soda” or “pop”. All carbonated beverages are “cokes”.
“You want a coke?”
“Sure!”
“What kind?”
“Dr. Pepper”
That is generally how it goes. We really do love our Coke!
Alrighty then, on to our cake! Did you know that Coca Cola cake is so popular in the south that our beloved Cracker Barrel Restaurants even have it on their menu as a seasonal special? Yup, see how much you learn with me? You N’ me, we’z smart folks!
Ingredients
- 1 package plain white cake mix
- 4 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 8 Tablespoons 1 stick butter or margarine, melted
- 1 cup coca cola
- ½ cup buttermilk Or substitute 1/2 C whole milk with a T of lemon juice stirred in
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups of marshmallows
- Icing:
- 8 Tablespoons 1 stick butter or margarine
- 4 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/3 Cup coca cola
- 4 Cups confectioners’ sugar sifted
- 1 Cup chopped pecans I left these out because my kids prefer this cake with no nuts, but pecans are GREAT in this!
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly mist a 13x9-inch baking pan with vegetable oil spray. Set the pan aside.
- Place the cake mix, cocoa powder, melted butter, cola, buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides with a spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes.
- The batter should be well blended. Fold in the marshmallows. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Place the pan it the oven.
- Bake the cake until it springs back when lightly pressed with your finger and just starts to pull away from the sides of the pan, 40 to 42 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven, prepare frosting while cake is still hot.
- Place the butter in a medium saucepan over low heat. As the butter melts, stir in the cocoa powder and cola. Let the mixture come to just a boil, stirring constantly, and then remove it from the heat. Stir in the confectioners’ sugar until the frosting is thick and smooth. Fold in the pecans.
- Pour the frosting over the top of the cake, spreading it out with a rubber spatula so that it reaches the edges of the cake. Cool the cake for 20 minutes before serving.
Nutrition
“The ability to succeed comes from within…find it.”
Submitted by Joan (thanks Joan!). Submit your quote, or read more that will have you smiling, laughing, & inspired- click here.
You might also enjoy this recipe! Pineapple Poke Cake
Hi Christy. Please consider a way to go directly to the recipe itself? I love your commentary and enjoy the pictures, but sometimes, I just need to go to the recipe first. I know that I can scroll down, but when you get on a topic that you love the scrolling can be long enough to plow the south forty. Thanks for the Coca Cola Cake. It’s a perfect one to send to my buddy who drives all the way to Dublin, Texas to get the original Dr. Pepper. =-)
Just made this a couple weeks back for church homecoming. I use the traditional recipe that my aunt gave me. I put pecans in my frosting, too. W/out the pecans, it’s a great brownie frosting!
I would love to have the traditional recipe if you dont mind sharing it.
thanks
Christy, your mishap with your camera is a fine example of one of my dad’s biggest gripes. See, he is a professional photographer and it has always aggravated him that people, most especially professional photographers, do not use the strap around their neck (or in the case of the smaller cameras, around the wrist. Anything can happen as in your case or someone bump you and down goes the camera. If your using it over water… say bye-bye to the camera. Hope you can get it cleaned well enough! 🙂
Christy, This has to be one of my all time favorite cakes! It brings back so many memories from the days (1972) we lived in Midwest City, OK. My husband was Air Force and we were far away from home (Florida). We became close friends with the Pittman family while stationed there and Mrs. Pittman became a second mom to us. One time when we were going on leave, Mrs. Pittman made a “coca cola” cake and sent it with us to munch on as we traveled to visit family in Ohio. We had never had a coca cola cake but fell in love with it. Every time I make one or see the recipe, it brings back fond memories of Mrs. Pittman. I have recently found her daughter on Facebook and was so excited to find her after all these years! So, thank you for providing a memory from my past today! So glad your camera survived the “fall”!
I live in western NC (near Asheville) and even though I was born and raised in Atlanta (GO DAWGS!!!), I have never made the Coca Cola Cake. I think it’s time to give it a try to surprise my husband and family. I’ve tasted this cake at a Church Picnic but it was made with Cheerwine, a North Carolina soft drink. I’ve also had ham cooked in Coca Cola and it was delicious, too. Let’s face it! Things go better with Coke. YUM, yum. . . ;~)
This recipe reminds me of my mother-in-law, Evelyn, who passed away about 6 years ago. It was a staple in her home and never lasted long. When we knew she was making one, we’d be the first ones over there to be sure we didn’t miss out before it was all gone! And you’re right about all soft drinks being “coke”. My son heard someone say “soda pop” and asked me what that was… 🙂
P.S. There was one crazy member of the family who didn’t like pecans in the cake – Evelyn’s solution was to put pecans on the top on 3/4 of the pan of cake so there was a small portion at the end of the pan w/o them for the “odd ball”.
This is the #1 most fabulous cake- it was one of the things that actually tasted good to me when I was taking chemo- course, I gained about 20 pounds too- LOL! It really is wonderful!