Reader Recipe:Coca Cola Cake

When someone mentions the word dessert my mind automatically pictures a big slice of layered chocolate cake. It's like an reflex. Dessert = chocolate cake. Funny thing is I very rarely get to eat a big slice of this notorious treat. My drought ended last week when I discovered a beautifully layered delicious cake that looked something like this.......

COCA COLA CAKE

Kathryn Fanning's Recipe

No wait, it looked exactly like that. Leave it to my mother-in-law to replicate the magazine picture next to the recipe to a T. It was a beauty of a cake. My first instinct was to grab the cake whole and eat it like a wild barbarian and go back to lick up the pieces I'd dropped. But I guess I'm a little more civilized than my insticts are. I settled for just a slice....and one for the road...ok, maybe two for the road....but who's counting anyway? Oh my heavens. Here's the recipe......

Cake Ingredients

1  cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
3/4  (1 1/2 ounces) mini marshmallows
2  ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1  cup Coca-Cola, not diet
2 1/3  cups (12 ounces) all-purpose flour
3/4  cup cocoa powder
1 1/2  teaspoons baking powder
1  teaspoon baking soda
1/2  teaspoon salt
2  cups sugar
1/2  cup vegetable oil
2  teaspoons vanilla extract
3  extra large eggs
3/4  cup buttermilk


Icing Ingredients
2  cups (4 sticks) butter

1/2  cup Coca-Cola, not diet
1/2  teaspoon vanilla extract
1  cup cocoa powder, sifted
4  ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted
1 1/4  pounds powdered sugar, sifted

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325F.
2. To prepare cake, melt butter in saucepan, add marshmallows and stir until melted. Add chocolate and stir over low heat until melted. Add Coca-Cola, then set aside and let cool 10 minutes.
3. Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Place sugar, oil and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Beat with a mixer on medium speed. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add cooled chocolate mixture and beat on low until combined. Add half the flour mixture, then the buttermilk, then the remaining flour. Scrape down sides of bowl after each addition.
4. Scrape into 2 (8- or 9-inch) cake pans. Bake 40 to 45 minutes, until cake springs back when touched lightly. Cool on wire racks. When completely cool, slice each layer in half horizontally to make 4 layers.
5. To prepare icing, cream butter in bowl using a mixer until smooth. Add Coca-Cola and vanilla. Mix on low speed until blended. Add cocoa powder and chocolate. Mix until smooth, scraping down sides of bowl. Beat in powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at a time on low speed. Keeping mixer on low speed, beat until smooth. Icing is best if made one day ahead.
6. Place 1 layer on a plate. Ice top. Repeat with remaining three layers and ice sides.

Unfortunately I didn't snap a picture of the actual cake but I did manage to take a picture of my very last bite.....

 

Oh yeah, one more thing.....ENJOY!!

GOT MOTIVATION?