Dr. Pepper Chocolate Sheet Cake

I’d heard about cakes made with various sodas but I’d never tried them. Until now, that is. I don’t’ drink it a lot anymore, but I used to absolutely love the taste of Dr. Pepper, so I decided to play around with one of these cakes and try it.

I gotta say, I get it now. The Dr. Pepper adds a, I dunno, spiciness(?) to the flavor. It’s subtle enough that it’s not overwhelming but still definitely adds to the whole experience.

I say give it a shot – I think you’ll like it!

Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

Cake

1 ½ cups Dr. Pepper
1 cup butter
½ cup dark cocoa powder
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 ½ t baking soda
1 t cinnamon
¼ t salt
2 eggs
½ cup buttermilk
3 t vanilla

Frosting

½ cup butter
¼ cup dark cocoa powder
¼ cup Dr. Pepper
2 T milk
4 cups powdered sugar
2 t vanilla

Directions

I brought this to a potluck so I bought a single use aluminum baking dish (9” x 13”) and used that.

Spray your baking dish and set it aside.

Add the Dr. Pepper, butter and cocoa to a medium saucepan and heat on medium high until the mixture boils. Your butter doesn’t need to be softened for this step, but if you do take it directly from the fridge, heat it on low for a bit to melt it before you turn it up. Stir continually while it’s heating, and once it starts to boil take it off the heat and set it to the side.

The Dr. Pepper really reacted with the cocoa powder before I even turned on the heat!

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt until well combined. Add in your Dr. Pepper mixture and whisk until well combined. Then add the eggs, buttermilk and vanilla and once again whisk until everything is well combined.

This is your batter – pour it into your prepared baking pan.

Bake at 350 for about 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and move to a wire rack to cool completely.

Once your cake is cool you can frost it.

Put the butter and cocoa in a medium saucepan and heat over a low heat, whisking regularly, until the butter is melted and the ingredients are combined.

Next add in the Dr. Pepper and milk (leaving the heat on) and whisk again until well blended. Finally, add in the powdered sugar (its best to do it a little at a time – that way it won’t fly everywhere and is easier to stir) and whisk until well blended. Finally, add in the vanilla and continue whisking until well blended.

Pour the icing over your cake and add the sprinkles while the icing is still warm.