Cherry Coke Float Cupcakes! Iron Cupcake Earth

Hey guys, so Ian and I just joined this challenge called Iron Cupcake Earth and as you can see the theme for this month was SODA, or in Canada... POP!! (Why don't we say soda?)

It turns out that we can win a ton of great stuff (see the super cute aprons, Hello Cupcake book, and other cupcake paraphernalia below)but we need your help... you need to click on the IRON CUPCAKE badge on the top right hand side of the blog and VOTE! The polls open on April 29 at 8 p.m. and will be open through Monday, May 4 at 12 noon. Thanks guys!


I tried to remember my favourite pop growing up and all I could think about was cherry coke floats. We even had an old school fridge in the basement dedicated to holding all things Coca Cola. My dad used to get out the big beer steins and drop a great big scoop of ice-cream into them. My brother and I loved seeing the pop fly everywhere; my mother on the other hand... did not.

These cutie cupcakes are made with cherry cola, and even have a cherry baked into the center of them! The cupcake was glazed with a cola icing for the “float”, then topped with cherry buttercream, the “ice-cream”…and a cherry of course!

If you want to be one of the cool kids and bake your little heart out with us you can sign up at http://www.ironcupcakeearth.com


The April ETSY PRIZE-PACK is from artists:
A creation by FRUITFLYPIE,
a pair of cupcake earrings from LOTS OF SPRINKLES.
a sweet surprise from Sweet Cuppin' Cakes Cupcakery
PLUS, IronCupcake:Earth can not forget our good friend, CAKESPY, who is now going to be doing a piece for our winner each month until further notice - sweet!
Last and certainly not least, don’t forget our corporate prize providers: HEAD CHEFS by FIESTA PRODUCTS, HELLO CUPCAKE by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson, JESSIE STEELE APRONS ; TASTE OF HOME books, a t-shirt from UPWITHCUPCAKES.COM . Iron Cupcake:Earth is sponsored in part by 1-800-Flowers, .

Cherry Coke Float Cupcakes
adapted from Nigella Lawson's 'How to be a Domestic Goddess'
makes 12 cupcakes

Cupcakes
1 1/2 Cups flour
3/4 Cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 large egg
1/2 Cup buttermilk
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3 Tbs cocoa powder
3/4 Cup Coca-Cola
1/4 cup marachino cherry syrup
24 marachino cherries

Cola Icing
1 cup Icing sugar
2 tbsp cola

Preheat the oven to 350 F.In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Beat the egg, buttermilk, and vanilla in a second bowl. In a saucepan, boil the Coca-Cola, and cherry syrup gently for five minutes. Melt in the butter and cocoa powder. Pour into the dry ingredients, stir well with a wooden spoon, and then add the liquid ingredients, beating until everything is blended.
Pour into the cupcake pans and push a cherry into the center of each cupcake. Bake for 15 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
When cool drizzle over the Cola Icing and let dry. Top with cherry buttercream and a cherry.