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Friday, March 12, 2010

Chocolate Cherry Coke Cupcakes

When I saw these Cherry Coke Cupcakes over on Annie's Eats, I just thought they were adorable. I of course, starred them in my Google Reader only to buried by many other posts that I starred. I found them again a couple of months later and this time I even printed out the recipe. But again, the recipe got buried. I still didn't have a good reason to make them. Then I came across the recipe once again when trying to decide what kind of cupcakes to make for my sister's bridal shower and I since I was making lemon cupcakes, I decided something chocolate would be good for the other flavor.


The cupcakes are essentially a chocolate buttermilk cupcake made with coke. The filling is cherry pie filling (you can make a filling from scratch if you want but there are already a few steps to these so I took a shortcut - I also used light filling so it wouldn't be too sweet). The coke glaze really adds some coke flavor to the cupcakes so don't skip this step. According to my sister, it tastes like a "coke float", top the cupcakes with a pretty spiral of whipped cream icing and a maraschino cherry and these little cupcakes are adorable.


Chocolate Cherry Coke Cupcakes
Recipe adapted from Annie's Eats
Makes 24 cupcakes

Cake:
3 cups all purpose flour
6 T cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 cups Coke (don't use diet)
3 tsp vanilla extract
1 can cherry pie filling

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line muffin pans with liners or spray with baking spray. Sift together flour, baking soda, salt and cocoa in a bowl and set aside.

In a mixing bowl or stand mixer, combine sugar and butter and beat on medium-high until light and creamy. Mix in the eggs one at a time, beating about 1 minute after each. In a large mixing cup or small bowl, combine buttermilk, Coke and vanilla extract. (Make sure you wait for the foam to go down when measuring the Coke and don't worry if your mixture looks curdled when you add the buttermilk.)

Beginning with the dry ingredient mix, add in 4 parts to the butter mixture, alternating with the Coke mixture. Beat each addition just until incorporated.

Use a cookie scoop or piping bag to transfer the batter to the muffin tins, filling each tin about 2/3 of the way full. Bake for 18-20 minutes until the tops spring back when touched lightly and a toothpick inserted in the center cupcake comes out clean. Cool about 5 minutes in the pan and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Once cooled, use a paring knife to cut out a cone shape in the middle of each cupcake. Add a spoonful of cherry mixture (2-3 cherries) to the well.



Glaze:
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3-4 T Coke

Mix together with a whisk in a small bowl. The mixture should run slowly off a spoon so you can drizzle the cupcakes but it won't run all over the place.



Icing:
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
6 T powdered sugar
Maraschino Cherries for garnish

Beat cream in a chilled bowl with whisk attachment or hand mixer on low speed. Begin adding sugar, 1 spoonful at a time, increasing speed as the cream comes together. Whip the cream until it holds stiff peaks, if you dip a spoon in it, the whipped cream should stay on the spoon when you turn it upside down. Pipe the whipped cream onto cupcakes as desired and top with maraschino cherries for garnish.

25 comments:

  1. how do you make EVERYTHING so beautiful and tasty looking? coca-cola cake is one of my favorite cakes, so I def want to try making these cupcakes!

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  2. Thanks - I try but some things are a lot more photogenic than others.

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  3. These look so delicious Jen! My sister in law and I are going to try to make them tonight!

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  4. what measurement is a 'T'?
    as in '6 T cocoa powder' and '6 T powdered sugar'
    Thanks, this recipe looks delicious!

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  5. "T" is tablespoon -- hope you enjoy the cupcakes!

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  6. I made these today and I was surprised at how moist they are! I honestly couldn't taste the soda, but the flavor was still delicious. The glaze was useless. Too runny didn't carry a soda flavor (as one would guess with all that sugar) and it just slid off the cherry filling so I just skipped it.
    This recipe makes quite a bit. I halved the recipe and still got 16 cupcakes. they were a bit oily.maybe less butter?
    In general, I love this recipe. Very delicious!

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  7. Do these cupcakes need to be refrigerated if they are not being served right away? How should they be stored?

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  8. What number piping tip did you use for the frosting? Coca Cola is my drink of choice. :)

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  9. These cupcakes should be refrigerated as the whipped cream frosting wont hold up at room temperature for too long.

    @Jenna - its a large closed star tip by Wilton - but I'm not sure of the number

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  10. oh my golly goodeness. Just made the cupcakes and I absolutely Love them. I did not even do the glaze or icing yet! I think a little powdered sugar sprinkled on them would be delicious!!! However icing always makes cupcakes look nice, sooo. (not a cherry fan, so skipping that) Was planning on finishing them, however after tasting the cupcakes, I dont want to refrigerate them, so I will wait to do the rest until right before serving them tomorrow!
    FANTASTIC cake aspect of the recipe!!!!
    Thank you for sharing!

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  11. these look soo good can't wait to make them

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  12. My sister and I made these for mother's day. Overall they were awesome! However the glaze slid right off of them and they were a little dense. The flavor, frosting and filling were great though! Definitely a recipe that I would recommend!

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  13. using flour instead of powdered sugar with the glaze part is an excellent way for the soda to hold it's flavor. still include some sugar, maybe 4 parts flour to 1 part sugar, then the soda. it brings together the chocolate cake and the whipped cream

    in addition, for the whipped cream, i threw in some juice from the maraschino cherry jar as well as a splash of coke to keep the flavors going!

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  14. Nice tip Anonymous about adding the syrup from the cherries and a splash of coke to the whipped cream frosting. I think I will try that.

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  15. Yum! Cherry coke in cupcake form - looks delicious.

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  16. omg that is so good for you not lol
    that look so good

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  17. These Cupcakes are amazing, i made them for when some of the family and friends came over. Instant hit! It's also good with orange creme soda instead if you don't have the Coca Cola soda. :)

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  18. For the oven preheat temperature is it in Fareinheit or Celsuis?

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  19. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  20. How long will the whipped frosting last? Will they last an hour on a cupcake tower? Thanks

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    1. Oh yes, they are fine for at least 6 hours or so, I haven't tried longer than that.

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  21. Just made these. They got the looks, the taste. Everything! I love the fizz to them! Coke is a good idea. Love these and adding them to my recipe book! I would strongly reccomend these. And good tip anonymous! I'll definitely try the syrup from maraschino cherries and the dash of coke next time!

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  22. I just tried these and my office mates loved them. The cake batter tasted like a Wendy's Frosty/ Coke float. :) The batter seemed really runny to me so I added a 1/4 cup of flour and they turned out moist and delicious. I took the suggestion of adding some flour to the glaze and you could really taste the Coke. I think I'll make these with a hazelnut frosting or add ginger to the batter for Christmas time! Great recipe, thanks!

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  23. Is it OK if I use Pepsi instead of Coke? Cherry coke is kind of extinct now... can't find 2 liter bottles of it anywhere :(

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