Coca Cola Cake is so moist and chocolatey! This easy Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake recipe is so easy to make without a box mix and tastes even better than the famous Cracker Barrel dessert.
This Coca Cola Cake is so chocolatey, fudgy, and rich! It’s every chocolate lover’s dream and makes a great birthday cake or dessert. The old fashioned boiled chocolate icing on top makes this homemade Coke Cake extra special and so delicious.
What makes Coca Cola Cake special?
- The cooked chocolate frosting that is fudge-like and so chocolatey
- The superior moist chocolate cake that tastes so rich
- Simple ingredients that you probably have in your pantry
- Easy recipe with only a few steps
Tips for Making Coke Cake
- Don’t scoop the flour and cocoa powder, spoon and level them instead. This is important for the moistness of the cake!
- Instead of unsalted butter, you can also use salted butter and leave out the salt
- If you don’t have buttermilk, you can easily make your own by adding 1 Tbsp of lemon juice to a ½ cup of milk
- Instead of Dutch-process cocoa powder, you can also use the same amount of unsweetened cocoa powder. Using Dutch-process cocoa results in a darker cake
- If using unsweetened cocoa powder reduce the amount of baking powder to ½ tsp and add 1 tsp baking soda to the flour mixture
- Baking time is only a guideline because it depends on your oven. Always test with a toothpick for doneness about 5 minutes before the time is up
- This cake can be made ahead and keeps in the fridge for 3-4 days. Bring cake to room temperature before serving otherwise it
- This cake tastes great warm! You can microwave single slices for a few seconds
- I always serve this cake with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream!
More easy Cake Recipes:
How to Make Coca Cola Cake
This cake is different then other chocolate cakes. It starts with bringing the cola, butter, and oil to a boil and then mixing in the dry ingredients followed by the eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla extract.
This method makes the cakes extra moist and gives it a fudgy texture that melts in your mouth.
How to Make Coca Cola Cake Frosting
This boiled icing is so easy to make! Start with whisking milk, butter, and cocoa powder together and bring the mixture to a rolling boil. Remove from the heat and whisk in powdered sugar and vanilla extract. Spread it over the hot cake and let it cool. This frosting get’s thick quickly when it cools down so it’s best to start making it when you take the cake out of the oven. This way you can spread it immediately on it after whisking it up.
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Coca Cola Cake
Ingredients
For the Coca Cola Cake:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup coca cola
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
For the Frosting:
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 3 Tbsp Dutch-processed cocoa powder
- 6 Tbsp milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease and flour a 9×13-inch pan.
- In a small saucepan combine butter, coca cola, and oil. Bring to a boil.
- Meanwhile combine flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer.
- Pour Coca Cola mixture into the flour mixture and beat on medium speed for about 1 minute until combined.
- Add eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla extract. Beat until combined, about 1 minute.
- Spread batter into the prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with only a few moist crumbs attached.
- Make the frosting immediately after removing the cake from the oven. Combine butter, cocoa powder and milk in a saucepan and heat up until just boiling. Remove from heat and add powdered sugar and vanilla extract. Whisk until smooth then spread over warm cake quickly. Let cake cool to room temperature.
Nutrition Information
Recipe originally posted on The Slow Roasted Italian where I am a monthly contributor.
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Kim says
Love this recipe for Coca Cola cake. I’m making this cake for an event and I need to 7 of them. Will this car freeze well? I’d love to make ahead but don’t want to if it will affect cake taste and texture.
Julia Foerster says
Freezing it should work well.
Rachel says
Is the Coca Cola mixture that is cooked in the sauce pan supposed to be hot when it is poured over the flour mixture, or should it be cooled down first? Thanks.
Julia Foerster says
No, it doesn’t need to cool down first. Just pour the hot mixture over the flour.
Brie says
I made this cake because I used to love eating Coca Cola cake as a kid. I was so happy when it came out just like I remembered. Thank you for the easy recipe.
Chun says
Hello Julia, for this coca cola cake, can I reduce the sugar by half? Will this affect the texture of the cake? Because I think the coca cola contains enough sugar…. Usually when I make cookies or cake recipes from online i cut about 100g of sugar and I find that they still turned out too sweet….. Thank you!
Julia Foerster says
Using only half the sugar will affect the texture and taste of the cake. I would start by reducing the sugar by 20% percent and see how you like it.
Lisa A Langston says
This looks yummy! I noticed that there aren’t any marshmallows added to the batter, I have always seen recipes for this cake with marshmallows.
Julia says
You are right, many recipes for this cake use marshmallows. But this recipe gives you the same end result because marshmallows consist mainly of sugar and gelatin.