Stress Baking's first ever viral recipe: Jack and Coke Cupcakes! Rich chocolate cola cupcakes filled with a Jack Daniel's whiskey chocolate ganache and topped with a creamy whiskey buttercream frosting.
1 ½cupsCoke, don't use Diet or Coke Zero! You need the sugar that's in the original
½cupunsalted butter
1cupunsweetened cocoa powder
1cupsugar
½cuppacked dark brown sugar
2cupsall-purpose flour
1teaspoonbaking soda
½teaspoonsalt
2eggs, room temperature
Ganache Filling
½cupsemi-sweet or dark chocolate chips
⅓cupheavy cream
1tablespoonbutter, room temperature
1teaspoonJack Daniels whiskey
Frosting
6tablespoonsstick unsalted butter, room temperature
3cupspowdered sugar
3tablespoonsJack Daniels whiskey
1teaspoonvanilla extract, optional
24gummy cola bottles or 24 lime fruit slices, garnish, for adorableness
Instructions
Cupcakes
Preheat oven to 350° F, and line 24 cupcake cups with aluminum liners (or use silicone cupcake holders). Set aside.
In a medium saucepan, combine Coke and butter and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Add cocoa powder, sugar, brown sugar and whisk until sugars are dissolved and mixture is smooth. Set aside to cool for 15 minutes or so.
1 ½ cups Coke | ½ cup unsalted butter | 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder | 1 cup sugar | ½ cup packed dark brown sugar
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
2 cups all-purpose flour | 1 teaspoon baking soda | ½ teaspoon salt
In a large bowl, lightly beat eggs. Add cooled cocoa mixture and stir to combine. Add flour mixture and stir until just combined.
2 eggs
Pour batter into cupcake liners, filling them ¾ of the way. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean. Transfer cupcakes to wire rack to cool completely.
Ganache
Place the chocolate chips in a small heatproof bowl. In a small saucepan, heat the cream until it's simmering and then pour it over the chocolate in the heatproof bowl. Let it sit for one minute and then stir until smooth. Add the butter and whiskey and stir until combined.
½ cup semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips | ⅓ cup heavy cream | 1 tablespoon butter | 1 teaspoon Jack Daniels whiskey
Let the ganache cool enough that it won't give you trouble when you place it in a piping bag.
Cut the centers out of the cooled cupcakes - I used a small paring knife, but you could also use an apple corer or a cupcake plunger (if you're fancy schmancy and have one).
Put the ganache into a piping bag with a wide tip and fill the holes in each cupcake to the top. If you're like me and don't have a real piping bag, just put it in a plastic freezer bag and cut off a small corner.
Frosting
Whisk the butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer for a couple minutes. You want it to be light and fluffy.
6 tablespoons stick unsalted butter
Slowly add the powdered sugar, a few tablespoons at a time. Trust me - you don't want to pour it all in at once. For one, you'll make a gigantic mess because the sugar will explode all over your kitchen and make it appear as though a blizzard blasted through your window. Also, the frosting will be grainy and impossible to mix properly.
3 cups powdered sugar
Once you've used about half your powdered sugar, add in a bit of whiskey and then mix again. This will thin it out a bit, allowing you to continue mixing in the remaining sugar. Continue to add a bit of whiskey and mix until you've used all the sugar. Note: As far as I'm concerned, using more than 3 tablespoons whiskey is NOT a problem. I accidentally dropped 5 tablespoons in the bowl... and a few tablespoons in my mouth... oops.
3 tablespoons Jack Daniels whiskey
You can also add a teaspoon of vanilla extract if you want it to be less whiskey-y.
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes however you'd like. Top them with the little gummy cola bottles and voila - adorable, deliciously whiskey infused cupcakes!
24 gummy cola bottles or 24 lime fruit slices
Video
Notes
Keep in mind that elevation can affect your results, as well as the temperature of your ingredients.
Not a fan of whiskey? Swap it out for your favorite rum!
I recommend using aluminum liners or silicon cupcake holders. Paper liners coated with nonstick spray will still work, but aluminum liners are very easy to peel away from the cupcake.
You have to use regular Coca Cola. You cannot use any of the reduced or sugar free versions - it won't work for the purpose of this recipe. So, I repeat: use the original Coke.
When you're making the ganache, don't jump ahead and add the whiskey too soon. Make sure you add it right at the end, otherwise you're going to cook off some of that flavor!
I like to use a cupcake corer to remove the center of the cupcake, but you can also just use a small paring knife to carve it out. Save the cores and make some cake pops with them later!