Dr Pepper Chocolate Cake

Dr Pepper in a cake you say? I say, can you think of any good reason why not to add Dr Pepper to a cake, especially when it makes it taste so good?

I found this recipe on Tasty Kitchen posted by missamy. I printed it several weeks ago and have been waiting patiently for a reason to bake it (other than to satiate my cravings for cake).

Bake sale patrons, you will not be dissapointed tommorow if you plop down some cash for one of these babies, I know I'm going to!

Dr Pepper Chocolate Cake
From Tasty Kitchen

For the cake:
1 1/2 cups Dr Pepper Soda (this is exactly one full can of Dr Pepper, don't take any sips first!)
1/2 cup Vegetable or Canola Oil
1 stick Butter, Salted (8 tablespoons)
4 tablespoons Cocoa Powder (they recommend dark cocoa powder, I used the regular old stuff - it's still good)
2 cups Sugar
2 cups All-Purpose Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
2 whole Eggs
1/2 cup Buttermilk

For the Frosting:
1 stick Butter, Salted (8 tablespoons)
4 tablespoons Cocoa Powder (again they say dark, I say use whatever)
8 tablespoons Milk
4 cups Confectioners Sugar (powdered Sugar)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and grease or spray with cooking spray a 13x9x2" baking pan. (*I used the individual square portions pan and I greased and floured because I needed them to come out clean) Combine the Dr Pepper, oil, butter and cocoa powder in a large saucepan over medium heat. When it comes to a simmer, mix well and turn the stove off.
Mix dry ingredients together (sugar, flour, and baking soda); add to the mixture in the saucepan and mix well but don't over beat.
In a separate small bowl, lightly beat the eggs and buttermilk together, then add them to the saucepan and combine the batter well. (Note- My chocolate mixture was not completely cool, so I added a couple of spoonfuls to the egg mixture to tempur it before adding the eggs to the rest of the mixture. Avoiding curdled eggs is a GOOD thing.)
Pour into a greased baking pan and bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Directions for the frosting:
In a saucepan, combine the butter, cocoa powder and **milk together over medium heat, stirring occasionally until melted and smooth. Add in the powdered sugar a little at a time, combining after each addition until smooth. Pour over the warm cake.

*Cooking time was relatively the same for my small squares, I would check it at 20 minutes and then add time as needed if you are going to cook it this way. My pan has 12 small squares and I had enough batter to make 7 additional cupcakes which cooked for the same time as the squares.
**Next time I will add less milk to the frosting if I am using the small square pan. Because each cake was domed on top most of the frosting ran off the sides and dripped off. Less milk would make it less runny, more likely to stick to the cake.