They sound fun and tasty, so I gave them a try. I used a book from the library called ‘Wicked Cupcakes!’ by Luisa Zissman. She was on The Apprentice years ago, apparently, and has a cupcake shop….sure it had to be a success eh…
Well they were, but her recipe makes way more than 12 cupcakes. I made 27 cupcakes !! (see pic). Not sure about the math on this one. I kinda knew that any recipe, using 420 g flour was going to make an awful lot of batter. That said, I like to stick to the recipe on go one and then make alterations. My big recommendation for you guys, would be to halve the cupcake recipe! Keep the buttercream quantities, as that was perfect for 12 cupcakes.
All 27 got eaten. The un-decorated cupcakes were nice and light. The combination of cola cupcake and cola buttercream, does produce a sweet cupcake – but sure what do we expect. They are nice though, but one at a sitting is definitely enough!
Ingredients:
Cupcakes: (I recommend halving the quantities)
- 200 g unsalted butter, softened (I use salted for most baking)
- 220 g caster sugar
- 4 eggs (I used large as recipe did not say egg size)
- 420 g self – raising flour, sifted
- 2 tsp baking powder (I used level but was a guess)
- 2 tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract (I use extract)
- 400 ml cola (I used regular not diet or zero)
- 4 tbsp cocoa powder, sifted (I used heaped)
- 200 ml milk
Buttercream:
- 300 g icing sugar, sifted
- 30 g cocoa, sifted
- 160 g unsalted butter, softened
- Either 50 ml cola or 1.5 tbsp cola extract (I used cola)
To decorate:
- Fizzy cola bottles
Method:
- Preheat oven to 160 (I presume this is for a fan oven)
- Using a mixer, whisk together the butter and caster sugar until light and creamy.
- Add the eggs and whisk again.
- Gently fold in the flour, baking powder, vanilla paste or extract, cola, cocoa powder and milk, using a spatula.
- Spoon the mixture into muffin cases. Bake for 20 minutes, until the cakes are firm and spring back to your touch.
- Transfer to rack to cool.
- For the buttercream, whisk together the icing sugar, cocoa powder and cola or cola extract to make a smooth, stiff frosting. If your icing is a little too runny after adding the cola, just add 50-70 g icing sugar a little at a time and mix after each addition, until you get the desired consistency (I did not add any extra icing sugar)
- Pipe it over the top of each cake and decorate with fizzy cola bottles.
- The cakes will keep for up to days if stored in an airtight container *(see tips)
Cakemum tips & observations:
- I halved the cupcake mixture. I know I said it before, but it made way too many cupcakes compared to icing!
- I was actually surprised at how well the icing came together. It felt strange adding coke, but it worked.
- I use a Wilton 1M tip to pipe buttercream – works a charm
- I store decorated cupcakes in a cardboard box, not an airtight container. I find that the cupcake cases can peel away from the cupcake, if they are in an air tight box. In my experience, most cake makers use cardboard boxes. It doesn’t have to be fancy, any box with a lid.
- I’d make these again for a party or treat. They are indulgent but very tasty.
Happy Baking
De (aka thecakemum)
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The Cake Mum 