Rich, dark, and wicked moist, this recipe, discovered on a photocopied newspaper clipping in The Doris Project bag makes for one fine, and really pretty simple to toss together cake.
Except…
I think the chocolate frosting is just a touch too much – far better, I should think, to use a simple white frosting, or mebbe an almost savory cream cheese frosting that works well with super rich chocolate cakes.
It’s your choice.
INGREDIENTS
Cake:
•1 cup Coca-Cola
•1/2 cup buttermilk
•1 cup butter or margarine, softened
•1-3/4 cup sugar
•2 large eggs, lightly beaten
•2 tsp vanilla extract
•2 cups all-purpose flour
•1/4 cup cocoa
•1 tsp baking soda
Frosting:
•1/2 cup butter
•1/3 cup Coca Cola
•12 oz bag chocolate chips
•1/16 tsp salt
•1 tsp vanilla
•1 cup confectioner’s sugar
•1 cup sour cream
Note 1: the original recipe added 1-1/2 cup of miniature marshmallows to the cake batter, and 1 cup of chopped pecans on top of the finished, frosted cake. I am not a huge fan of the Rocky Road, so I omitted the marshmallows and baked my cake for 45 minutes. We were also having folk over with nut allergies, so I skipped on the pecans.
Note 2: no buttermilk? No problem! Simply add one tablespoon of fresh lemon juice or white vinegar to a measuring cup, then add milk to make one cup, stir, and let sit for 5 minutes. Voilà, buttermilk! For 1/2 cup with no waste, use 1-1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice and milk to measure 1/2 cup.
Heat your oven to 350°.
Combine the Coke with the buttermilk in a bowl or two cup measure and set aside.
Whisk the flour, cocoa, and baking soda together in another bowl and set aside.
Beat the butter at low speed until creamy, then gradually add sugar and beat until well blended.
Add the eggs and vanilla and beat, still at low speed, until nicely mixed together.
Add a bit of the flour mixture to the sugar, butter, and egg mixture, followed by half of the buttermilk/cola mixture and mix on low.
Mix in a bit more of the flour mixture, the second half of the buttermilk/cola, and finally the last of the flour mixture and beat at low speed until just blended.
(If you’re adding the mini marshmallows, stir them in now).
Turn the batter into a 13×9 baking pan – I was planning on storing this particular cake in the pan, so just ‘greased’ it with the wrappers from the butter.
Bake for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Some versions of this recipe call for baking only for 30 to 35 minutes, so I would check after a half hour, tho’ my cake needed every bit of those 45 minutes.
Remove the cake to cool on a rack.
If you’re planning on using the either the white or cream cheese frosting from these two recipes, let the cake cool completely.
If you are going for broke and making the chocolate sour cream frosting, start when the cake is out of the oven and frost while it is still cooling.
Melt the butter and the chocolate chips with the Coke by placing in a ‘wave-safe bowl and hitting 60 seconds. Stir, then continue to ‘wave, stirring every 30 seconds, until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.
Immediately stir in the salt, vanilla, confectioner’s sugar, and sour cream until smooth, then pour over the cake and allow to cool completely.
If you plan on adding then, top the cake with the pecans immediately after frosting.
Nice, even tho’ I think the frosting a bit too, too much.
However, Rich is of the opinion that, if you take a slice of the cake and ‘wave it for 30 seconds or so, then top it with some really good vanilla ice cream, you have yourself a fine (and homemade) dessert not unlike on of those molten lava cakes many restaurants have on offer.
He is not wrong.