Coca Cola Cake Recipe {Easy Homemade Chocolate Cake with Frosting} (2024)

A coca-cola cake made at home…and better than Cracker Barrel! This easy chocolate cake recipe has a fudge frosting…with co*ke!

We have a dark chocolate cake recipe that we love. It’s seriously the best and gets rave reviews. But this coca cola cake? It comes in close second.

It’s an easy chocolate sheet cake that uses cola for sweetness and flavor.

Cracker Barrel Coca Cola Cake

Have you ever had the chocolate coca cola cake at Cracker Barrel? If you have and love it, you’re in luck! With this easy copycat recipe, you can now make it at home.

It’s a classic chocolate cake recipe. Rich, fudgy, moist and tender. And the fudge frosting on top? Unbeatable. It’s delicious on its own but we like to serve it with a scoop of ice cream like they do at Cracker Barrel.

What does cola do for cake?

You may have seen cake mix recipes that call for leaving out eggs and adding a can of soda instead. Strangely, it works. Although I’m not a scientist and don’t really know why.

This cake recipe still calls for eggs and butter, so adding the cola to the cake adds to the flavor but the carbonation also helps the cake rise.

If you happen to have a little leftover cola from a 2-liter, this is a great way to use it!

How to Make Coca Cola Cake

As I mentioned, this cake is from scratch, but it is one of the easiest homemade cakes to make so don’t let the list of ingredients scare you away!

• Preheat the oven to 350º Fahrenheit.
• Spray a 9×13 baking pan with cooking spray. You an also grease it with butter if you’d like.
• Whisk together flour and sugar in large mixing bowl. Set this aside.
• In a small saucepan, heat 1 cup butter, cocoa powder, and 1 cup cola to boiling. Don’t let it boil long, just bring it to a boil and then remove it from the heat.
• Pour the hot butter mixture over the flour and sugar and use a hand mixer to mix well. Scrape the sides of the bowl as you need to.
• Add buttermilk, eggs, baking soda, vanilla, and marshmallows. Then mix well!
• Pour the batter in the greased pan.
• Bake for 40 minutes or until the cake tests done. Ours took right about 40 minutes.

**Pro Tip: What do the marshmallows do for the cake? They’ll rise to the top during baking and just give a little bit of a chewier, sweeter texture to the top of the cake. Don’t skip them….it’s soooooo good!**

Fudge Frosting for Cola Cake

When the cake is almost done baking, you can start the fudge frosting. This frosting starts on the stovetop. Making the frosting this way makes it really easy to mix up. It ends up very smooth!

• In a small saucepan, melt butter, cocoa powder and cola. Heat over low heat just until the butter is melted. Make sure it does not get too hot at this point.
• Turn up the stovetop temperature slightly until the mixture is just barely boiling. Stir often.
• Take off the heat right at boiling.
• Place the powdered sugar in large bowl.
• Pour the hot butter mixture over the confectioners’ sugar.
• Use a hand mixer to mix well, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed.
• Spread the frosting over the cake while it is still hot. This makes the frosting soak into the cake slightly making it ever so delicious!

How to Store Cake

This cake is safe to store at room temperature for up to 48 hours in a sealed container. If you need to keep it longer, refrigerate it in an airtight container.

Can coca cola cake be frozen?

Yes! If you have leftovers of this cake it can be sealed in an airtight container and frozen for up to 2 months.

When you are ready to defrost the cake, simply remove it from the freezer and allow it to come to room temperature before opening the container. This keeps the moisture in the cake!

Other Chocolate Cake Recipes

• Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting
• Blackberry Chocolate Cake
• Sugar Free Chocolate Cake
• Gluten Free Chocolate Cake
• 4 Ingredient Chocolate Cherry Cake