In mid-May, I made my first-ever soda pop layer cake,
which uses only cake mix and soda pop. Most recipes I'd spotted showed
cupcakes or sheet cakes as end results. My layer cake came out rich and
tasty, but low height. It tended to be more crumbly than cakes that call
for cakes. Nevertheless, it was yummy!
My followup soda pop layer cake
is as low-height and delish as the previous one. BTW, a little goes a
long way. Despite the low profile because of less cake volume, the
flavor is more concentrated. A twelfth serving of the soda pop cake
seems as satisfying as a tenth serving of a standard cake mix cake that
calls for eggs, oil, and water.
This time around, to lessen time and effort for sifting the cake mix
powder and stirring/dispensing the ingredients, I used more efficient
implements.
Calories and Sodium
The ingredients are same as the previous cake. The soda pop, despite a different label, is the same.
Using soda pop (140 C) instead of box's ingredient adds of egg whites
(51 C) and oil (400 C) saves loads of calories. Even more calorie
savings if passing on standard recipe that calls for water, oil (533 C),
and eggs (210 C). If using standard box cake recipes and frosting, the
total calories bump up ~450 to 750 calories. Noteworthy: Using diet soda
instead of sugar soda saves about 10 to 15 calories a slice. Rec:
Indulge with the sugary stuff.
Future Followup Soda Pop Cakes?
I might pass on trying my Tupperware sifter
for future cake, as the capacity is only one cup. I'd need to reload
the gadget maybe up to four times. BTW, I became curious about the cake
mix powder texture WRT sugar. Ingredients don't elaborate, but I suspect
the sugar is a finer granularity than packaged granulated sugar.
My other consideration for followup soda pop layer cake might be
trying the Betty Crocker mixer method of 30 seconds low followed by 2
minutes medium. Rather than doing a video/blog project, I'd add a dated
section to this article comparing results for machine mixing vs. whisk
stirring.
This article emphasizes post-recipe thoughts and additional soda pop cake musings. Read "Soda Pop Layer Cake--Low-height N Rich, Yum" for resources and refs. View the video for step-by-step recipe.
Post-recipe Thoughts
I perused and collected some comments from two Betty Crocker sites after the cake bake.
"Cake Baking with Soda Pop" confirmed my guess about less cake result with soda pop cake recipe. Additional excerpted comments follow.
[Q] Why when we made this batter did we only get 1 cupcake tin? When we
make the batter the normal way we get 2 cupcake tins of cupcakes.
[A]Because you have less batter. When you add eggs,oil, water etc you have a larger volume of batter. So more cupcakes.
[regular soda vs. diet comment] Regular soda did not make it too sweet. Diet soda is sweeter to me as far as taste."
[Q] Does the 1 [to] 2 minutes of beating not beat out the CO2? When making beer bread, it’s just stir gently until we’ll mixed.
[A] In this case, the batter will still hold enough gas to rise.
[Q] Can you make a sheet cake or layers with this method?
[A] we did not test this recipe with a pan or with a sheet cake method, therefore, we recommend using the [cupcake] cake tin.
[comment] We made the recipe exactly as it was written and made sure to use the electric mixer as directed.
[comment] The carbonation is required for this recipe and we do not recommend using flat soda."
Additional Soda Pop Cake Musings
The cartoon host advocated that both cake mix powder and soda pop be
room-temperature. Over time, I've observed that warmer soda bubbles up
more violently and longer than cold soda. As I keep cake mix in the
pantry, powder temperature is no problem.
Numerous recipes I'd read or viewed show cake mix powder poured
directly into a bowl, unsifted, before pouring the soda pop in. In one
case, the baker might have improved her process by sifting first, as she
bemoaned needing to squash powder lumps during the stirring.
I've occasionally run across recipes that call for sifting. I've
sifted when I want to divide powder portions before weighing, such as
for zebra or marble cakes. I've noticed bits of small particles trapped
at the bottom of the strainer.
I've seen mixing processes range from gently stirring for 30 seconds
or less to hand mixer for 1 minute low followed by 2 minutes medium to
tilt-head KitchenAid mixing (speed and duration not easily determined). I
intend to try electric mixing, but maybe after i try making a followup
cake by shortening both the sifting and mixing process.
Musing Followup Cake
For a followup soda pop cake, I want to shorten the sifting and stirring processes.
Sifting took more time and effort than I expected. Planning to try a
different strainer and larger spoon. Stirring was also more
time-consuming. Planning to try a French/piano whisk
instead of flat whisk. My Tupperware measuring pitcher (8 cups, 2
liters) would be helpful mostly for the pour/dispense stage, as I'd
easily eyeball batter amount for each pan. Still likely to also use
digital scale.
Alternative sifter (Tupperware tubular with crank handle), which I
haven't used in many years. It's worth a shot for another soda pop cake
iteration. I see online availability, several missing parts. An eye-catcher, for $24.99.
After making the followup cake, I might try using a mixer. Fingers crossed that I don't wind up with pancake-height layers!
A few months ago, cost of eggs had nearly doubled the cost of making cake mix cake, not counting cost of frosting. The egg costs have come down, but I haven't quite recovered from the sticker shock. Recently, I made a soda pop layer cake (eggless!). Yum!
My video shows how to make the cake using a box of white cake
mix and non-diet lemon lime soda (room temperature), with canned vanilla
frosting. (Anything goes for flavors you want to use.) Although loads
of such recipes are findable on the web, mine is for making a 9"
diameter layer cake. (Just about all the other recipes aim for cupcakes
or 9" x 13" sheet cakes.)
The cake turned out lower height than I expected. Noteworthy: The
soda pop weighs less than usual-recipe eggs/egg whites, oil and water.
Noteworthy: Batter amount is about 3/4 as much as for full-recipe cake.
I had originally run across soda pop cake when I encountered
2-ingredient recipes. At least one was pizza dough. A few were
2-ingredient cakes, several eggless. Some of the cakes called for flax
seed, some for yogurt. The eggless, soda-pop cakes intrigued me the
most.
The carbon dioxide bubbles in soda pop act as a leavening agent — the
element that makes baked goods rise and makes them light and fluffy.
...Kitchen staple leaveners — like baking soda and baking powder — use a
chemical reaction to create carbon dioxide bubbles.
"Cake Baking with Soda Pop"
is eye-opening for calling for 1) only one cupcake pan and for 2) the
mixing time using an electric mixer. View the video there or on YouTube.
beat (1) dry cake mix and (1) soda pop with an electric mixer on low
speed for 1 minute. Scrape the side of the bowl, then mix on a medium
speed for 2 minutes.
Oddly, the Betty Crocker "Two-Ingredient Soda Pop Cupcakes"
says "24 regular-size muffin cups". FWIW, this recipe specifies 16.25
oz for cake mix weight; the other recipe omits the weight.
Duncan Hines-centric
"Soda Pop cake"
is succinct, indicating that the baker would also refer to the cake mix
box instructions. I'm guessing a little bit of prior cake-making
experience is helpful.
Duncan Hines has an association with Ready Set Eat, for which a
recipe for soda pop cake finally shows up. And it calls for DH cake! "6 BOX CAKE MIX RECIPES AND HACKS", points to "2 Ingredient Strawberry Lemon-Lime Cake".
Significant mixing instruction-""thoroughly combine cake mix and soda".
The output is a 9 x 13 single layer, with suggestion of powdered sugar
dusting.
Additional Recipes with Nod to Blending Ingredients and Yields
"2 Ingredient Soda Cake - Unreal!"
shows the process from start to finish (using whisk), suitable for new
bakers. It makes a 9 x 13 sheet cake, subdivided and minimally
whip-creamed.
"2 Ingredient Chocolate Coke Cake"
prefaces the recipe with some background. Might be useful when a baker
is first exploring making such a cake. Scroll down to the details. She
suggests using a mixer instead of a whisk. The output is a 9 x 13 sheet
cake, undecorated.
"Bill shows us how to make 2 ingredient cupcakes!" demonstrates his recipe. Bill is the host for Toon In with Me
cartoon show that airs weekdays. His sidekick is a talking tuna
puppet. The demo was a bit amateurish and lacking in some details, but
possibly endearing to audience who might think, "Hey, I could do that!
He whisked diet orange soda and vanilla cake mix (both room temperature)
in a bowl. Some of the batter went into lined cupcake cups. The use of
an air fryer is different. Would-be bakers can refer to other soda pop
recipes for filling in blanks.
"NO EGG BOX CAKE"
is a nicely short video. She uses a spoon for her stirring. The process
veers oddly with batter pour into a greased pan that transitions to a
drizzled Bundt cake. She commented later "Same Cake, Different Pan."
"Soda Cake Recipe! 2 Ingredients"
is over 10 minutes long, but contains caveats to squash cake mix lumps
and to not overbeat. Interestingly, her instructions to stir about 30
seconds conflict with Betty Crocker box instructions for one-minute low
speed, the 2 minutes on high. BTW, her yield is 12 cupcakes per recipe.
"3 INGREDIENT VEGAN CAKE HACKS | Can I Make A Vegan Cake Using Soda?!"
finally shows the soda pop cake recipe starting about 5:12. She uses a
tilt-head mixer (maybe KitchenAid). Interestingly, at the batter pour
near 6:30, she prepares two 9-inch springform pans. starts out with two
pans, At 7:00, she decides to use only one pan. After bake and cool, the
frosting goes on only the one layer, even though she plan-b intended to
slice the layer and put in a middle layer of frosting.
Calories and Sodium
I’m always curious about the calories and sodium in my cakes and
cookies recipes. The soda pop cake stats can seem rather indulgent, but
the calories compare favorably against standard box cake recipes that
use eggs/egg whites and oil.Using soda pop (140 C) instead of box's ingredient adds of egg whites
(51 C) and oil (400 C) saves loads of calories. Even more calorie
savings if passing on standard recipe that calls for water, oil (533 C),
and eggs (210 C). If using standard box cake recipes and frosting, the
total calories bump up ~450 to 750 calories. Noteworthy: Using diet soda
instead of sugar soda saves about 10 to 15 calories a slice. Rec:
Indulge with the sugary stuff.
My profession had been technical writer/editor. Through TheWriteJob clublet (blog at http://thewritejob.blogspot.com), I have been exploring my inner creative writing, which includes mostly language enlightenment, entertainment, and a-muse-meant. Over time, I have become more active with images and my YouTube channel.
