
As someone with a strong sweet tooth and a mother who’s amazing at baking, dessert is one thing I always feel homesick for. Unfortunately, finding something freshly baked on campus is like finding a unicorn — and, like a lot of other students, I mainly get by on things I can buy on campus.
When I came back this semester to see that Stony Brook had switched to being a Coca Cola campus, I was beyond excited — not for the soda itself, but for one of my favorite desserts: Coca Cola chocolate cake.
There is no easier dessert recipe to make in a dorm. All the ingredients can be purchased without stepping foot off campus — I bought mine right in the East Emporium! It doesn’t require any fancy utensils or ingredients, so it’s a recipe for the most basic of dorm bakers.
Classic Cake
Ingredients
-1 box of Devil’s Food Cake cake mix
-12 fluid ounces of Coke
-Powdered sugar or 1 can frosting, by preference
(Yes, that’s seriously the entire ingredients list!)
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 F for glass or shiny metal pans, or 325 F for dark or non-stick pans
- Mix together the cake mix and 12 fl oz of Coke in a large mixing bowl – do not add any of the additional ingredients listed on the box, as the Coke replaces these ingredients.
- Prepare your pan of choice (13” x 9”, 8” round, or cupcake pan) with spray, butter, or cupcake papers.
- Bake per pan instructions on the box, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow the cake time to cool.
- To top off the cake, you can use chocolate frosting, though it’s moist enough not to require it- a topping of sprinkled powdered sugar is yummy, too!
Microwave Cake
The microwave method of making a chocolate cola cake is a little more experimental, but it’s just as yummy. For those students who don’t have cake pans at their disposal (like me), a coffee mug in the microwave is much simpler, and is perfect for those late night study sessions when your sweet tooth starts acting up.
Directions
- With your mug of choice, scoop in cake mix until it fills roughly ⅓ of the mug.
- Pour in Coke in small amounts, mixing as you go, until the mix reaches a cake batter consistency. The batter shouldn’t fill the mug more than half way, as the cake rises quite a bit.
- Microwave for 1 ½ – 2 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick (or, like I used, a plastic knife from East) comes out clean. Be careful! The mug comes out hot, let cool for one minute.
- Eat with powdered sugar, frosting, or plain — it’s yummy any way you eat it!