You asked for it: Soft drinks sparkle in all these cakes

By ANNE LONG

© St. Petersburg Times, published October 18, 2000

Soft drinks are so often used in cooking that the Coca-Cola Co. has published a cookbook, Classic Cooking with Coca-Cola.

Coca-Cola cake is a moist, light chocolate cake with miniature marshmallows and is baked in a large sheet cake pan. Even the icing is made with Coca-Cola.

If you would prefer a pound cake, Coca-Cola and walnut cake is baked in a bundt pan or a tube pan.

Chocolate and cherries are compatible flavors. Begin with devil's food cake mix, use cherry or regular cola as part of the liquid and flavor with almond extract. Cherry cola and baking cocoa are used in the frosting along with chopped walnuts.

Sprite is another Coca-Cola product and lends a subtle citrus flavor to this pound-type cake. Sharon Uhl asked for the recipe for sugar-free 7UP cake, and that beverage could probably be substituted in the Sprite cake or in the 7UP cake.

The 7UP cake is prepared with that beverage, a packaged lemon supreme cake mix and a box of instant pineapple pudding mix. L.G. DuPont writes that, if instant pineapple pudding mix is not available, you can use vanilla.

We have used brand names because the recipes came from those companies' publications, but, no doubt, other cola or citrus carbonated beverages can be substituted.

For: Cheryl Appleton of Spring Hill.

From: Barbara Glenn of Clearwater, Betty Barton of Holiday, Doris Shackleton of Palm Harbor and Brenda Helton of Seminole.

Recipe: Coca-Cola cake from Classic Cooking with Coca-Cola.

Coca-Cola Cake

• 2 cups unsifted all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 sticks butter or margarine
• 3 tablespoons baking cocoa
• 1 cup Coca-Cola
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows

Sift the flour and sugar into a large mixing bowl. In a saucepan, heat the butter, cocoa and Coca-Cola until they boil. Pour this over the flour and sugar mixture, then mix thoroughly. Add the buttermilk, eggs, soda, vanilla and marshmallows and mix well.

The batter will be thin, and the marshmallows will come to the top. Pour into a greased and floured 12- by 14- by 2-inch sheet cake pan and bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

Icing:

• 1 stick butter or margarine, melted
• 3 tablespoons baking cocoa
• 6 or 7 tablespoons Coca-Cola
• 1 1-pound box confectioners' sugar

Pour the first three ingredients over the confectioners' sugar and mix well. Pour this over the cake while it is warm. Optional: Add 1 cup toasted, chopped pecans to icing.

From: Betty Barton of Holiday.

Recipe: Coca-Cola and walnut cake from Classic Cooking with Coca-Cola.

Coca-Cola and Walnut Cake

• 3/4 pound butter or margarine, softened (3 sticks)
• 2 1/2 cups sugar
• 5 eggs
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup baking cocoa
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup Coca-Cola
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt and stir to mix. Add to the egg mixture alternately with the buttermilk and Coca-Cola. Stir in the walnuts. Pour into a greased and lightly floured 12-cup bundt pan or 10-inch tube pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted near the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove cake from the pan immediately. Cool on wire rack.

From: Juanita Washington of Clearwater.

Recipe: Cocoa cherry cola cake from a Betty Crocker package label.

Cocoa Cherry Cola Cake

• 1 package Betty Crocker SuperMoist Devil's Food Cake Mix
• 1 12-ounce can cherry or regular cola carbonated beverage
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• Cherry cola frosting (below)

Prepare cake mix as directed on package but substitute 1 cup of the carbonated beverage for the 1 1/3 cups water and add almond extract. Pour into a 9- by 13-inch pan that has been greased and floured.

Bake at 350 degrees as directed on package. Immediately frost with cherry cola frosting.

Cherry cola frosting:

• 1/3 cup cherry or regular cola carbonated beverage
• 1/2 cup margarine or butter (1 stick)
• 1/4 cup baking cocoa
• 2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

Heat carbonated beverage, margarine and cocoa to boiling in small saucepan. Pour over the confectioners' sugar; blend until smooth. Stir in almond extract. Mix in chopped walnuts. Cool until lukewarm, about 20 minutes.

For: Sharon Uhl of Palm Harbor.

From: Brenda Helton of Seminole.

Recipe: Sprite cake from a cookbook that features Coca-Cola products.

Sprite Cake

• 2 sticks butter or margarine
• 1/2 cup solid shortening
• 3 cups sugar
• 5 eggs
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons lemon flavoring
• 12 ounces Sprite

Cream the butter, shortening and sugar well; add the eggs and flour gradually. Add the vanilla and lemon flavorings and slowly add the Sprite.

Bake in a greased and floured 10-inch tube pan at 325 degrees for 1 hour and 10 minutes. Turn out of pan and cool on wire rack.

From: L.G. DuPont of Ocala.

Recipe: 7UP cake from Country Cakes by Bevelyn Blair from a column that appeared in the Long Beach (California) Press-Telegram in 1988.

7UP Cake

• 4 eggs
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 10 ounces 7UP
• 1 box lemon supreme cake mix
• 1 box instant pineapple pudding mix (or vanilla)
• Pineapple-coconut frosting (follows)

In large mixer bowl, beat eggs thoroughly; add oil and blend. Add 7UP, cake mix and pudding mix; blend thoroughly. Pour batter into 3 greased and floured 8-inch layer cake pans.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until cakes test done. Cool layers completely and ice with pineapple-coconut frosting.

Pineapple-coconut frosting:

• 1 cup crushed pineapple
• 1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 cup flaked coconut
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup chopped pecans

In a saucepan, combine all ingredients. Bring to a boil, stirring, and spread on cooled cake layers.

-- You Asked For It is a reader mail column. If you have a cooking question or the answer to someone else's question, write to: You Asked For It, the Times, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731. Be sure to include your full name, city and phone number with your letter. Letters without this information will be discarded. Requests cannot be answered by phone or mail.

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