Coke Blak Cupcakes

(Before anything I want to say my use of snowmen liners was on purpose…because it snowed today. In southeast Tennessee. Snow. April.)

I joined up Iron Cupcake Earth and was totally excited to see soda was winning for this month’s theme. I miss Coke Blak which is an odd thing to say, because I HATE regular Coke. Yes, I live 120 miles north of Atlanta and I would rather go thirsty if I was offered a can of regular coke.
But back to Coke Blak. Coke discontinued it last year, but I swear I never saw it for even longer than that. I live right near a bottling plant and I’m constantly in Atlanta, yet I swear I hadn’t seen the stuff since 2007! However I miss it. You may think coffee + coke is weird, but always remember, nothing could possibly taste as strange as coke + red wine.
Sadly I learned the hard way that Coke Zero was not going to work. Rather than Coke, they tasted like …Coco Wheats. So, I gave in and researched a bit more Coke cake recipes before take 2, this worked! There is not much espresso taste in the cake itself, but the whipped cream on top makes up for it!
I ended up with 20 cupcakes.

“Coke Blak” Cupcakes with Espresso Whipped Cream
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 cup coke
2 sticks butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons instant espresso

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, grease cupcake pan or put in liners.
1. Combine coke and buttermilk, set aside.
2. Cream together butter and sugar in a bowl. Add eggs and vanilla.
3. Mix in flour, baking soda, and espresso, then the liquid ingredients. Mix until ingredients are just combined.
4. The batter doesn’t rise very much so go ahead and fill the pan up almost to the top. Bake for 18-20 minutes and let cool on a wire rack.
(4.5 Try out the iced coffee recipe on the container of instant espresso.)
5. Top with espresso whipped cream.

Espresso Whipped Cream
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-2 teaspoons instant espresso
3-4 tablespoons powdered sugar

Beforehand I put my beaters and the bowl in the freezer for at least 10 minutes along with the cream.
Place all ingredients in the bowl and beat until stiff peaks form. Top cupcakes with whipped cream.


And just so you know, I am out to win! But what, you ask?
Our April ETSY PRIZE-PACK is from artists:
* A creation by FRUITFLYPIE, http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=16748
* a pair of cupcake earrings from LOTS OF SPRINKLES at http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6057281.
* a sweet surprise from Sweet Cuppin’ Cakes Cupcakery, http://www.acupcakery.com/
* PLUS, IronCupcake:Earth can not forget our good friend, CAKESPY, http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5243382, who is now going to be doing a piece for our winner each month until further notice – sweet!

Last and certainly not least, don’t forget our corporate prize providers: HEAD CHEFS by FIESTA PRODUCTS, http://www.fiestaproducts.com, HELLO CUPCAKE by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson, http://blog.hellocupcakebook.com, JESSIE STEELE APRONS http://www.jessiesteele.com; TASTE OF HOME books, http://www.tasteofhome.com; a t-shirt from UPWITHCUPCAKES.COM http://www.upwithcupcakes.com/. Iron Cupcake:Earth is sponsored in part by 1-800-Flowers, http://www.1800flowers.com .

So be sure to head over to Iron Cupcake when voting starts on April 29 and vote for me! ;D