Hello all!

I’ve been searching high and low for a foundational cake recipe that includes soda pop as an ingredient for an experiment I want to try for this month’s Iron Cupcake challenge. I haven’t had any luck. Most of the recipes use box cake mixes *gasp*. Or they include ingredients like apple cider vinegar or sour cream, which I don’t think fit in the cake aesthetic I’m looking for. I know a lot of people like sour cream, but whenever I’ve made a cake with it, it tends to sit like a rock in my stomach after eating.

Anyone have any ideas on how I could add soda pop as an ingredient to let’s say, a basic white or yellow cake recipe? I don’t have Rose’s Cake Bible… yet. I’m going to try and get it this week. What I do have right now is Tish Boyle’s Cake Book. I’m a big fan of her white cake recipe, but I don’t know how that compares with Rose’s. I’m thinking maybe switch out some of the milk for soda? What should I do?

Thanks in advance for any advice!
Aimee
Sugared Ellipses

Interesting question.  I would start by looking at the nutrition facts for the soda, calculating how much sugar it contains, and removing that amount from the recipe. Soda pop is much more acidic than milk, so you may have to adjust the leavening, such as adding some baking soda. Also, sugar is a tenderizing ingredient in cakes, but in syrup form, I am not sure how it might affect the texture.

Sugared Ellipses - 04 April 2009 04:24 PM

Anyone have any ideas on how I could add soda pop as an ingredient to let’s say, a basic white or yellow cake recipe?

Could you perhaps just moisten the cakes after baking with de-fizzed and reduced soda pop syrup?

I made a chocolate cake once with Coke as the liquid ingredient. It’s a very Southern style cake (I think the recipe I used was from Faith Hill—I made it about 6 years ago or something).

You can sub soda for the liquid, but you will need to decrease the sugar by 2-3 TBS, add a bit of baking soda, and decrease the salt by 1/8th of a tsp. It’s really trial and error, so plan on making it at least twice to get the best results.

Here’s what I found on Google. Some of the recipes are made using a box mix and some are from scratch.

http://www.recipegoldmine.com/cakesodapop/cakesodapop.html

Hi Aimee,

There is a famous Southern Cake recipe that uses Root Beer as a central ingredient and it is therefore called “Root Beer Cake”. I Googled it and got a long list of sites with the recipe. Many do include using a cake mix which I don’t favor in anything. The recipe from http://www.about.com is a scratch recipe that includes all of the ingredients. You should be able to use this as a base and substitute the Root Beer for whatever soda that you prefer. I have never tried this recipe or made a Root Beer cake so I can’t stand behind it but it is certainly worth looking at and possibly using for your purposes.

Good luck,
AndyNYCK