Cherry Coca-Cola Zero Cupcakes

I have been using soda in cupcakes off and on pretty much since I started baking as a substitute for eggs and oil as a way to cut back on fat and calories. My daughter suggested that we make a cupcake totally dedicated to Coca-Cola...I chose Cherry Coke.

Cupcake Ingredients

1 box of Devils Food Cake Mix

1 can of Cherry Coca-Cola Zero

Cupcake Directions

Combine the 2 ingredients and fill cupcake liners about 3/4 full. This will make 21 cupcakes. Bake about 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out with just a few crumbs. The cupcakes will be very moist and fragile, so be careful when you remove them from the pan not to squish them...but think of all the calories and fat that you have saved for the icing! Let cool on cooling rack, I like to cover my cooling rack with a paper towel to avoid lines in the bottom of the tender cupcake.

While these are cooling it is time to make the frosting!

This recipe is adapted from:

 Betty Crocker's- The Big Book of Cupcakes- Fluffy Root Beer Frosting

Frosting Ingredients

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/3 cup cold Cherry Coca-Cola Zero

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

dash of salt

2 egg whites

Frosting Directions

In a stainless steel durable 3 quart saucepan mix all ingredients. (Mixing this frosting will beat up your pan, so consider that when you are deciding which pan to use. Don't use nonstick, that will definitely be scraped up.)  Beat with electric mixer in the pan for 1 minute, scraping pan constantly. Place pan with mixture on stove on low to medium low, on my stove it was at a 3. Beat with mixer on high speed for 10 minutes or until stiff peaks form, this took 15 minutes for me.  Remove from heat. This mixture should be warm but not hot.

Fill piping bag and pipe onto cupcakes. Top with cherry and add straw for decoration.

(Cleaning Tip- Your pan will look a mess, add some water and bring back to a boil, this will loosen anything stuck to the bottom and make it easier to clean. I was able to scrape the residue off easily after this with one of those brown Pampered Chef scrapers. The mixer did put quite a few scratches in the pan, so like I said consider this when considering which pan to use. The frosting taste fabulous though and now I have a pan just for making frosting like this!)

Meanwhile and Optional...

While, I was mixing the frosting in one pan. I had 6 ounces of Cherry Coca-Cola Zero in a 1 quart pan reducing on medium heat to make a syrup to top the cupcakes with. The soda reduced the entire time that I was working on the frosting.

6 ounces wasn't nearly enough soda, as it reduced down to just a couple spoonfuls before it reached the consistency that I wanted, only enough to drizzle on 3 cupcakes. This would take a lot more soda and time to make enough drizzle for an entire batch of cupcakes.

The drizzle did really add to the Cherry Coca-Cola Zero flavor of the cupcake! It also made the already fragile cupcake fall apart very easily after the liner was removed. So I am torn on whether to attempt the drizzle on top again, maybe with a more stable cupcake it would work out better.

 Overall, the cake part itself didn't scream Cherry Coca-Cola Zero, but you could taste it slightly if you looked for it. The frosting was awesome, you could almost even feel the carbonation of the soda! I loved the texture of the frosting as well! So while the cake part still needs a little more Cherry Coca-Cola flavor, the frosting was pure perfection! It is not killer sweet and it is good to eat just by the spoonfuls! It has quickly risen to my favorite frosting ever!

 

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These Cupcakes were featured at:

The Kurtz Corner: Tuesday Tutorials

Rook No. 17: A Little Birdie Told Me

Bacon Time: Feature Friday