Chocolate Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper® Cupcakes

Remember those Orange Crush Cakes from a couple weeks ago? Well, I decided to go ahead and try a different combination of flavors with the same recipe since Duncan Hines® was kind enough to send me free samples of their new Frosting Creations™ products. One of the flavors I received was cherry vanilla, and that got me thinking... I wanted to try Dr. Pepper® in chocolate cake mix, and there IS such a thing as Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper®, sooo... that's how this combination was born.

Preheat the oven to 350ᵒF. You'll need the following ingredients.

1 (18.25 oz.) box of your favorite chocolate cake mix
1 (12 oz.) can* of Dr. Pepper®, room temperature
1 (16 oz.) can of Duncan Hines® Frosting Creations™ Frosting Starter
1 packet of Duncan Hines® Frosting Creations™ Cherry Vanilla Flavor Mix

*Again, I bought a 20 oz. bottle of Dr. Pepper® out of convenience (besides, I get to drink the remainder =P) and measured out 12 oz., which is 1 1/2 cups.

Combine the cake mix and room temperature soda; it will foam up.

Mix it up on low speed for about 30 seconds to get it started, then scrape the sides of the bowl and paddle as needed. Turn up the speed a couple notches and let it mix for a couple of minutes, scraping the bowl as needed. The batter will appear thicker than normal since we're using less liquid than is called for in the usual cake mix recipe.

Carefully spoon the batter into a paper-lined cupcake pan, filling each about 2/3 to 3/4 full. This time around I got 18 cupcakes total.

Bake at 350ᵒF for 18-20 minutes. The cupcakes are done when a toothpick comes out clean, or when you lightly press a cupcake with two fingers and it springs back up. Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for a bit before removing them and placing them on a cooling rack.

Once the cupcakes are completely cool, stir up the frosting as directed on the packages and frost the cupcakes as desired. Since the recipe yields fewer cupcakes than usual, I like to really pile on the icing. After all, I don't want it to go to waste! And I finished them off with some sprinkles and mini straws, just like with the Orange Crush Cakes. Of course, this is optional, but I think it's a cute touch. =) For the mini straws, just cut regular drinking straws into four equal lengths with a pair of scissors. When you stick the straws into the cupcakes, make sure the bottom of the straw does pierce the actual cake so that it will stay put.

Cute, huh?

I took these cupcakes to my Japanese class, and people seemed to really enjoy them. Yay, another success!

What other flavors of soda cupcakes might be good, do you think?

Your Cupcake,

~Jesia <3