These cupcakes were a huge hit! In fact, I think only the chocolate wine cupcakes I made last fall beat these out as my favorite yet! I wish I had made double the recipe...although my belly is happy I didn't, since it needs to fit into a wedding dress in less than two months!I got the basic recipe for these cupcakes from Cupcake Project.
The secret ingredient is coca cola extract, I bought the same Kool Kola extract as the original recipe, found ehre: http://homemadesodacompany.com/cola.aspx, but I think any extract used to make soda would work. In fact, I think I'm going to buy some sasparilla extract for my next cupcake adventure!
Yield: 11 cupcakes (true, a dozen would have been a nicer number, but the recipe didn't quite make 12)- 1 C cola (The original recipe used Whole Foods brand cola, I used Coke Zero.)
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 3/4 C sugar
- 1/3 C canola oil
- 2 tsp Kool Kola extract
- 1 1/3 C flour
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 jar of maraschino cherries (the original recipe put 4 cherries in each cupcake, I put 4 in some, and 3 in some, because I only bought one jar and it wasn't quite enough for 44 cherries!)
- In a medium-sized bowl, combine the soda and vinegar and let stand for a few minutes.
- Add in the sugar and oil, whisking vigorously until slightly frothy. (I whisked in the Kitchen-aid mixer!)
- Mix in the Kool Kola extract, flour, baking powder, and baking soda until just combined.
- Fill cupcake liners approximately 3/4 of the way to the top.
- Drop 4 cherries with stems removed into each cupcake (I put them in a square pattern).
- Bake at 350 F for 20 minutes or until cupcakes bounce back when lightly touched.
Coke Frosting
- 4 oz cream cheese
- 1/2 C unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 C powdered sugar (add more if you prefer a thicker frosting)
- 1 tsp Kool Kola extract
- Beat cream cheese and butter.
- Slowly mix in powdered sugar until the mixture looks like frosting.
- Mix in extract.
- Spread or pipe on cooled cupcakes.
