In a true southern kitchen, Coca-Cola is not only found in the refrigerator, it's also found in the pantry. You are more likely to find a few cans of Coke stashed with the flour and sugar than you are to find a bottle of balsamic vinegar. We marinate ham with it, make barbeque sauce out of it, add it to baked beans and even bake cakes with it.
I have been convinced for years that someday I will be discovered by a Coke executive in a hotel at 5 am, as I am standing by a Coke machine in my pajamas, or what I refer to as my 'almost pajamas,' a line of clothing I am going to design someday for those of us who start our day wandering around the halls searching for a Coke machine. It would be a perfect commercial.
I am not a fan of cake. I like chocolate cake but prefer to eat the chocolate that goes into the cake as the flour and butter do nothing but dilute the chocolate. Why waste the calories on the other ingredients when you can instead, just eat more chocolate?
My mother is a terrific cook, but she never made cakes. She would buy those dry, tasteless cakes with the icky icing from the grocery store and put some candles on it and that would be my birthday cake. When I got older she found an elderly lady who lived next door to my grandmother who makes a pretty good chocolate cake even though I was never too thrilled about it.
However, mother's best friend Mrs. Mary Lynde always made her children a "Coca-Cola cake." Her daughters birthday was (is) two days before mine so I always looked forward to that cake, not mine.
It's still the best chocolate cake I have ever had. It's moist, gooey and melts in your mouth. My youngest niece's birthday was yesterday and I called to tell her I would be home in a few days to celebrate her birthday. Manipulating the adoration my mother has for this child, I said "Tell Grandma that what you want more than anything in the world for your birthday is for her to make you a Coca-Cola Cake." I'm going home tomorrow and I've got my fingers crossed.
Coca-Cola Cake
INGREDIENTS:
2 cups self-rising flour
2 cups sugar
3 tablespoons cocoa
1 cup Coca-Cola
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
.
Frosting:
1/2 cup butter
1 tablespoon cocoa
6 tablespoons Coca-Cola
1 box confectioner's sugar, (1pound)
1/2 cup chopped pecans
PREPARATION:
Grease and flour a 9 x 13-inch pan and set aside.
In a large bowl combine flour and sugar. In a saucpan combine the cocoa, Coca-Cola,
butter, and marshmallows; bring to a boil. Combine the boiled mixture with the flour and
sugar mixture.
In a separate bowl mix eggs, buttermilk, baking soda, and vanilla; add to the first
mixture. Pour into prepared pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes, until cake
tests done.
Frosting: In a saucepan, bring butter, cocoa, and Coca-Cola to a boil. Stir in the sugar
and mix well. Stir in nuts. Spread over the cake while both cake and frosting are still
warm.
Serves about 16.
Laura grew up in a small southern town in Georgia on a cotton and pecan farm where life centered around family, friends and good food. She has lived in Atlanta for 20 years and has been a Flight Attendant for a major airline for 18 years, traveling the world in search for the next best meal.