Soda Cake Recipe
Soda cake is a box of cake mix stirred with one 12-ounce can of soda and baked. No eggs, no oil. Which soda goes with which mix, and what to expect.
- Total
- 1 hr 5 min
- Serves
- 12
- Calories (est.)
- 165
A soda cake is a boxed cake mix stirred with one 12-ounce can of soda and nothing else. The soda stands in for the eggs, the oil and the water on the box. Whisk the two together, pour the batter into a greased 9x13-inch pan and bake at 350°F for about 30 minutes. The cake comes out a little denser than usual, moist and springy.
Why a soda cake works
A boxed mix already holds the flour, the sugar and the leavening. Chowhound explains the rest: the carbonation of the soda is enough to set off the leavening in the mix and help the batter rise, so one box and one 12-ounce can are all it takes, baked by the directions on the box. The result, the article says, may be a bit more dense but is still bouncy and moist.
What is missing is the fat and the egg. A soda cake has a lighter, slightly sticky crumb and less richness than the same mix made the regular way. A twelfth of the cake comes to about 165 calories by USDA figures.
Recipe
Soda Cake
A two-ingredient cake — a box of yellow cake mix stirred with a 12-ounce can of lemon-lime soda and baked in a 9x13-inch pan, without eggs or oil. Twelve pieces.
- Prep
- 5 min
- Cook
- 30 min
- Total
- 1 hr 5 min
- Serves
- 12
- Cuisine
- American
Ingredients
- 15.25 ounces yellow cake mix (1 box)
- 12 ounces lemon-lime soda (1 can)
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 350°F and grease a 9x13-inch baking pan.
- Put the dry cake mix in a large bowl. Pour in the soda slowly, because it foams, and whisk for about 1 minute, until no dry mix remains. Do not add the eggs, oil or water listed on the box.
- Pour the batter into the pan at once and bake for 28 to 33 minutes, until a toothpick pushed into the middle comes out clean.
- Let the cake cool in the pan for 30 minutes before cutting or frosting.
Nutrition
- Calories:
- 165
Calculated from the ingredient quantities above using the USDA FoodData Central database, then divided by the number of servings. It is an estimate and will vary with the exact products you use.
Which soda with which cake mix
The soda adds its flavour as well as its bubbles. Chowhound suggests cola for chocolate cake, Dr Pepper for red velvet, ginger ale for carrot cake and lemon-lime soda or cream soda for vanilla cake. More pairs along the same lines:
| Cake mix | Soda |
|---|---|
| Yellow or white | lemon-lime soda, cream soda, orange soda |
| Chocolate | cola, cherry cola, root beer |
| Spice | ginger ale, cream soda |
| Strawberry | lemon-lime soda, strawberry soda |
| Lemon | lemon-lime soda |
A dark soda turns a yellow cake brown; a clear one keeps the colour of the mix. Dr Pepper in a glass, with cream, is the Dr Pepper cream soda.
Diet soda, and what it changes
Diet and zero-sugar sodas work the same way, because the sugar that the cake needs is in the mix. The cake is a little less sweet and has about 13 fewer calories a piece with a diet lemon-lime soda.
Getting the soda cake to rise
- A fresh, fizzy can. Flat soda leaves the cake heavy.
- Mix and bake at once. The bubbles start leaving the batter as soon as it is stirred. Have the oven hot and the pan greased first.
- Whisk by hand. A minute is enough. An electric mixer beats the gas out.
- Cupcakes: fill 24 lined cups two thirds full and bake for 18 to 20 minutes.
Frosting and keeping
The cake is soft and a little sticky on top, so let it cool completely before frosting. Whipped topping or a simple glaze of 1 cup of powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons of the same soda suit it. Covered, the cake keeps three days at room temperature.
Other cakes with few ingredients on this site are the cheesecake dump cake, which also starts with a box of mix, and the one-bowl plum cake.
Did you make this?
Let others know how it turned out.
