Parfait! Red Velvet Coke Cake

Here we are again. Another cake made with 12 ounces of soda, a cake mix, and nothing else – well, except for a nice riff on my buttercream frosting with the addition of cream cheese. Yum!

I have a lot of pretty terrific cake recipes in my files, but this combination of soda and cake mix is so simple to toss together that it’s become my default solution for when dessert is needed – in this case a brunch gathering of good friends we hadn’t seen in far too long.

The red velvet cake mix jumped off the shelf at the market, and I was left debating whether to use Coca Cola or Dr. Pepper.

I opted for Coke – no diet or “Zero” sodas please, use the real deal for this process. I actually get the all sugar (no corn syrup) “Mexican” version of the sodas for use here. Most of our local markets stock them in either their specialty soda or Hispanic Foods aisles.

INGREDIENTS
Cake:
•1 Super Moist Red Velvet Cake Mix
•12 oz Coca Cola

Buttercream Frosting:
•1 cup butter, softened
•4 oz cream cheese, softened
•3-1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
•1 tsp vanilla
•3 tbsp whipping cream
•1/8 tsp salt
•1/8 tsp black pepper

Prepare your chosen baking pan(s). Since this was for a semi-fancy holiday brunch, I decided to make a layer cake with two nine inch round pans. My favorite treatment for cake pans that I plan on actually tipping the baked cake out of is:

•1 tbsp solid shortening
•1 tbsp oil
•1 tbsp flour

Combine all three in the small bowl with a fork until nicely blended, then brush over your cake pans. Never fails to work.

Pour the Coke into the mix in a bowl (and nothing else), then mix for two minutes on medium speed, turn into your prepared baking pan(s), and bake according to the instructions on the back of the cake mix box.

To make the frosting, beat the cream cheese together with the butter until fluffy.

Add the vanilla, salt, and pepper, then the confectioners’ sugar, starting on slow speed; this’ll help to keep powdered sugar dust from being tossed all over your kitchen. Do not ask me how I know this.

A note on the black pepper. Yes, I know it sounds weird, but it totally works.

Increase speed to medium and beat for another three minutes.

Add the cream by tablespoonfuls and continue to beat on medium speed until your frosting is the consistency you like.

Frost your cooled cake and add any other embellishments you want; I had some seasonal sprinkles.

It’s a might chilly around about here of late, so I covered the completed cake in a cloche and stashed it in the garage to keep cool, bringing it back into the house to come to room temperature about an hour before brunch was scheduled to start.

In the end, it was a very, very good cake, and, as with all of these cake and soda combinations, dead simple.

All in all, this was one of my favorite combinations, but…

next time, I’m gonna try the Dr. Pepper version.