Well BS’ers it looks like I’ve been challenged to another ‘Iron Chef’ recipe – to make Dr. Pepper flavoured cupcakes for a pregnant lady at work whose had non-stop cravings for DP. So L, these cupcakes are for you and the soon-to-be-Dr.Pepper’s-Number-One-Fan. All the best in the last few days of your pregnancy and can’t wait to meet the little turk! Let’s get to the recipe….
For the cake batter, I once again went back to the reliable Saucy Sprinkle’s basic cupcake recipe, but this time, substituted Dr. Pepper for the water:
- 1 box of chocolate cake mix
- 1/2 cup of melted butter
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup of Dr. Pepper
- 1/2 cup Butter
- 1 kg bag+ of Icing Sugar
- 2 tbsp Dr. Pepper
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 tsp Maraschino cherry juice
- dashes/to taste: finely, finely, finely, finely ground pepper
- dashes/to taste: nutmeg
- dashes/to taste: ginger
- dashes/to taste: grated liquorice pipes
- dashes/to taste: lemon juice
- dashes/to taste: apple flavouring
- Dr. Pepper Reduction (bring 2 cups of Dr.Pepper and 1 cup of sugar to boil and reduce to a simmer for 30 minutes) – add to taste
**UPDATE** It seems that some people are having trouble with the reduction (they can be tricky!), when you are making your icing, and have completed the reduction, carefully add it into the icing. If you add too much, your icing may end up being too runny, so slowly add, and stop once you have reached your desired consistency. Drizzle the rest of the reduction over your cupcakes like in the photos! If the reduction scares you, it’s perfectly okay to omit it, the cupcakes will still taste awesome!
I was born, raised and live in Texas where Dr. Pepper is really really popular! So my daughter and I were excited to see this recipe on Pinterest. We made it today and the cupcakes came out great although they don’t really taste like DP but the flavor is a little different than just a chocolate cake. (I used BC Chocolate Fudge cake mix.) The frosting was another thing entirely. My reduction came out fine. (I followed your directions and let it simmer for 30 minutes after it started boiling.) I used a 2lb (907g) bag of confectioners (powdered) sugar. I converted the 2kg in your recipe which came out to 2lbs 3.something ounces. All my other ingredients were the same as the recipe. After adding the reduction the icing was sort of a soft taffy-like consistency and the only flavor that really came through was the taste of the powdered sugar. BTW I had about 1/4 cup of reduction left. Did I use too much powdered sugar? I didn’t have time to start over on the icing today so, we just used some left over buttercream I had in the refridgerator and drizzled it with the reduction. It was okay but I’d really like to get more of the DP taste! Any suggestions?
Hi Janet!
Thanks for trying out the cupcakes. I think some people are missing the carbonated taste of the cupcakes. Sounds like you did everything right. Next time, taste as you, adding in more as your taste buds agree. You can also try adding less reduction to the icing and use it to top the cupcakes more. Sorry we don’t have a more concrete answer!
Carlene
Im making these for my husbands birthday and I’m not a baker so I’m having a hard time finding a few thing; apple flavoring and black grated liquor ice pipes. Please help! Thanks.
Hi Lexi,
For the apple, you can try adding a bit of apple juice or just omit and for the liquorice, you can use any type of black liquorice (or grind fennel seed into a fine dust as it has a strong liquorice taste.
Let me know if that works!
Carlene
I was wondering if this cake ACTUALLY taste like Dr. Pepper because I heard that it just tastes like choclate????
Hi Savanna,
The cake has a hint of Dr. Pepper, but the true emphasis on Dr. Pepper is in our flavour packed icing! If you want to oomph up the cake flavour, try adding in the spices into the cake that were added into the frosting.
Carlene
I was feeling pretty confident about my frosting, until I added the reduction. Then it all went downhill. I’m completely new to baking. How is the reduction supposed to come out, and what might I have done wrong?
Hey Alison,
Reduction with sugars can be challenging – was it too hard? or too soft? My best advice is to continually watch it until you get a consistency you are happy with. However, for this recipe – it is perfectly okay to omit.
Hope that helps,
Carlene