Cooking with soda? You'd better believe it.
From tenderizing meat to adding a sweet airiness to your batter, soda can do just about everything.
You might never guess that it would be a breakaway dessert star, but it really adds a je ne sais quoi to glazes, cakes and even fudge. Give it a try!
1. Chocolate Cola Cake with Dulce de Leche, Coconut and Pecan Icing
This layered dessert is not only visually stunning and full of a scrumptious pop of flavors that sort of resemble an even tastier version of a rich, gooey German chocolate cake, it's also pretty easy to concoct. No one will ever guess your secret ingredient.
2. Jack and Coke Cupcakes
Even if you hate ordering this drink at the club, there's a good chance you'll love the richness of these cupcakes.
3. 7-Up Pound Cake
Woah! If you're a fan of light, delicate pound cake, you have to try making it with a cup of lemon-lime soda. It goes perfectly with the subtle lemon flavor already in the cake.
4. Dr. Pepper Brownies
Only four ingredients! You can make this with reduced fat as recommended in the recipe, or just go for the regular stuff, since you're already making brownies. Both will be incredibly gooey with that nice crunchy layer on top.
5. Ginger Ale Bundt Cake
This cake is incredibly tender and packed with flavor. If you're a ginger fiend, you can swap out ginger ale for ginger beer (you might want to use a little less of the fresh stuff) and garnish with candied ginger just to drive your point home, because who needs subtlety when you have dessert?
6. Fantakuchen (Fanta Cake)
Orange soda makes this fluffy cake sweet and fruity, but those peach slices really make it memorable.
7. Cake Mix Berry Cobbler
Summer is coming, and you'll want to practice your cobbler game. Skip the hassle and use this three-ingredient recipe. Lemon-lime soda and yellow cake mix play so nicely that nobody will have any inkling that you took shortcuts.
8. Shirley Temple Flower Cakelettes
Remember the Shirley Temple, your favorite stiff drink to order as a kid? Turn the beverage into tiny, creamy cakes, each of which has a maraschino cherry hidden in the middle. The flower tins are super cute, but you are more than welcome to use whatever you have on hand -- cupcake tins, loaf tins, anything!
9. Dirty Coke Fudge
Don't worry if that sounds nasty to you -- a Dirty Coke is just cola with coconut syrup and lime juice. If you don't have cola flavoring on hand, take 24 ounces or so of cola and reduce it over the stove in a saucepan for a while until it forms a small volume of thick syrup, with most of the liquid cooked out. Note: You'll want to significantly cut down on the amount of sugar you use if you take this approach, since cola flavoring is not sweetened.
10. Coke Float Push-Up Pops
How adorable are these sophisticated, moist layered cupcakes? They are the perfect take on the those orange ice cream pops we all used to love. So much fun!