Two Ingredient Cupcakes, Take Two & Tips to Make This Recipe Work

So after I posted my Two Ingredient Lemon Cupcakes last week, the questions started rolling in – Can you do this with “x” cake mix and “y” soda?  Will you be able to taste the soda?  The first time around, I used lemon-lime soda with a lemon cake mix, so there was no way to tell if the taste had really come through.  Others wanted to know – Why did mine turn out chewy?  Why did mine crumble?  How come mine was soupy?  Readers not only responded to the post, but I received several emails.  I love when readers email me, so that really made my day.  There was even a discussion held on Pinterest.  Honestly, I don’t know all the answers but I decided more research was necessary.

One of the main questions that I received was how you could make a chocolate cake.  I had heard that you could make one using Coke, Dr. Pepper, or root beer.  Diet versions of these sodas are also an option (and will make a healthier cake/cupcake) but I’ve heard that it will change the taste…I can’t let that happen.  Plus, when do I post recipes that are good for you?  Pretty much never.  So chocolate cake it was.

You will need:

Box of chocolate cake mix

Twelve ounce can of Coke (room temperature)

Step 1 – Preheat oven as recommended on box.

Step 2 – Mix together chocolate cake mix and can of Coke only.  Don’t add anything else!  Using a hand mixer, beat on low for 30 seconds, then medium-high for 2 minutes.Step 3 – Put batter in cake pan or muffin tin and bake for 20 minutes, or the lower end of the range recommended on the box.  My box recommended 20-25 minutes, so I baked them for 20 minutes.

Step 4 – Remove from oven and allow to cool for at least 30 minutes, preferably an hour or more.  (I overfilled my cupcake liners, so that’s why mine are so huge.  Fill yours 2/3 full and you won’t have this “problem”.)

Step 5 – If you are okay with a Three Ingredient Cupcake, top with frosting.  If the extra “ingredient” freaks you out, then skip this step and call them muffins.  Makes a great excuse for gobbling one several down in the morning hours.  Muffins are a perfectly acceptable breakfast food, whereas cupcakes can get the side eye (not by me though!).

It turned out delicious and chocolate-y, just as promised.  A reader tried this same recipe but used Cherry Coke and said that the flavor of the soda did come through, giving her cupcakes a chocolate cherry taste, which she quite enjoyed.  Another reader said that they were able to make a white cake with sprite, but you could not taste the lemon-lime of the Sprite.  Not sure exactly what to take from that, perhaps that the Cherry Coke is more flavorful than Sprite.  Hmmm…

My Tips for Making This Recipe Work:

1. Use a mixer and mix well.  So many times when I bake, I approximate how long I mix the batter.  This is one of those recipes that needs the entire 30 seconds on low and 2 minutes on medium-high.  Plus, I found lots of dry mix towards the bottom of the bowl a minute or two into mixing.  I wouldn’t try to hand mix this one, but that’s just me.
2. Watch your bake time.  I can’t stress this enough.  Box mixes typically recommend a range that your cake/cupcakes should be baked.  For example, the box for my lemon cupcakes said that they should bake for 15-20 minutes; and the box for the chocolate cupcakes recommended 20-25 minutes.  Stick to the lower end of the spectrum.
3. Once you remove your cakes/cupcakes from the oven, give them ample time to cool.  Like 30 minutes to an hour, or more.  When I made my chocolate cupcakes, I was trying to hurry and didn’t let them cool all the way.  When I took them out of the cupcake liners, the bottoms crumbled a little.  When I tried another one this morning (hey, nothing wrong with cupcakes for breakfast, and besides, it was in the name of research) it didn’t crumble.  Could have been the individual cupcake, but I think it was because I was in a hurry last night and didn’t let them cool.  Along these same lines, make sure that you grease your pans well or use cupcake liners.  If it sticks to the pan, it’s definitely going to crumble, no matter how awesome it comes out.
4. Use room temperature soda.  Not sure if this is actually a requirement, but someone brought it up on Pinterest, and both of my sodas were room temperature.  Stick to room temperature, just to be safe.
5. Use only 12 oz of soda.  Nothing more.  If you add an egg, butter, a little oil, water, or some other random baking ingredient I have no idea how it will turn out.  Resist the urge and only use the soda.  As for the amount of soda, there are different recipes going around using more or less soda, but trust me, stick with the typical 12 oz can.  It really is the perfect amount.