Food and Recipes Desserts Cakes 10 Soda Cakes That'll Take You Right Back to Your Childhood By Zoe Denenberg Zoe Denenberg As a professional baker, Zoe Denenberg has spent the past two years traveling across the country—from Alabama to Hawai'i—working in farm-focused pastry kitchens. She has written about food, travel, and culture for Southern Living since 2019. See more of Zoe's work at https://zoedenenberg.wixsite.com/portfolio and follow her on Instagram. Southern Living's editorial guidelines Updated on August 13, 2019 Share Tweet Pin Email Trending Videos Photo: Antonis Achilleos; Food Styling: Emily Nabors Hall; Prop Styling: Kathleen Varner Soda cakes are a historic staple of Southern baking, and now they can be a part of your own family baking tradition. Featuring beverages like Coca-Cola, 7UP, Cheerwine, Cream Soda, and more, these cake recipes incorporate some of your favorite soft drinks into elegant desserts. These cakes are packed full of nostalgic flavors that'll take you right back to hot childhood days by the pool, afternoons at the roller rink, and family pizza dinners. Kids and adults alike will love the subtle, sugary flavor soft drinks bring to these cakes. Although we love adding soda to our cake for its robust flavor alone, the soft drinks are also key in keeping these cakes moist and delightfully airy. The carbonation helps the cakes to rise, acting as a leavening agent in the desserts. So whether you like vanilla or chocolate, layer cakes or sheet cakes, these soda cake recipes have something for you. 01 of 11 10 Soda Cakes That'll Take You Right Back to Your Childhood 02 of 11 Coca-Cola Chocolate Cake Antonis Achilleos; Food Styling: Emily Nabors Hall; Prop Styling: Kathleen Varner Recipe: Coca-Cola Chocolate CakeRecipe: Fudgy Coca Cola Cake Frosting Coca-Cola adds moisture and a light, airy texture to this decadent chocolate layer cake. Pair with Fudgy Coca-Cola Frosting for the ultimate throwback treat. 03 of 11 Dr Pepper Texas Sheet Cake Antonis Achilleos; Food Styling: Emily Nabors Hall; Prop Styling: Kathleen Varner Recipe: Dr Pepper Texas Sheet Cake The classic Texas Sheet Cake gets a sweet upgrade with the addition of fizzy Dr Pepper. The soda's subtly spicy cherry flavor goes well with the cake's combination of pecan and chocolate. 04 of 11 Cheerwine Cherry Cupcakes with Cherry-Swirl Frosting Antonis Achilleos; Food Styling: Emily Nabors Hall; Prop Styling: Kathleen Varner Recipe: Cheerwine Cherry Cupcakes with Cherry-Swirl FrostingRecipe: Cherry-Swirl Frosting Cheerwine is one of those sodas that's distinctly Southern. Starting with a base of boxed white cake mix, these cupcakes are refreshingly easy to make and take on an absolutely gorgeous pink color. 05 of 11 Nehi Orange Poke Cake Antonis Achilleos; Food Styling: Emily Nabors Hall; Prop Styling: Kathleen Varner Recipe: Nehi Orange Poke Cake A zingy orange curd made with Georgia's favorite soda brings bright, acidic flavor to this poke cake. Adding sour cream to the cake batter helps make the cake extra-soft and fluffy. 06 of 11 Coca-Cola Sheet Cake Southern Living Recipe: Coca-Cola Sheet Cake This Coca-Cola Sheet Cake is a great way to feed a crowd. Adding mini marshmallows directly into the cake batter helps the cake maintain its moist, fluffy texture while also bringing a pop of sweetness. 07 of 11 Peanut-Cola Cake Photo: Ian Bagwell; Prop Styling: Annette Joseph; Food Styling: Cynthia Groseclose Recipe: Peanut-Cola Cake Take me out to the ball game. This cake combines two of our favorite ballpark treats – honey-roasted peanuts and Coca-Cola – into a decadent dessert. 08 of 11 Cream Soda Confetti Sheet Cake Photo: Greg DuPree; Prop Styling: Mindi Shapiro Levine; Food Styling: Torie Cox Recipe: Cream Soda Confetti Sheet Cake The distinctive sweet flavor of cream soda sponge meets fresh strawberry icing in this playful confetti cake. It's sure to be a hit at any child's birthday party– and with its nostalgic flavors, all the adults will be asking for a slice, too. 09 of 11 Mini Bourbon-and-Cola Bundt Cakes Iain Bagwell Recipe: Mini Bourbon-and-Cola Bundt Cakes Transform Dad's favorite drink into elegant, bite-sized desserts with these miniature Bourbon-and-Cola Bundt Cakes. They're the perfect addition to any party spread. 10 of 11 Coca-Cola Cake Micah A. Leal Recipe: Coca-Cola Cake Coca-Cola is the perfect summer refresher, and the classic soda undoubtedly stars in this simple Coca-Cola Cake. 11 of 11 7-UP Bundt Cake Antonis Achilleos; Food Styling: Emily Nabors Hall; Prop Styling: Kathleen Varner Recipe: 7-UP Bundt CakeRecipe: Lemon-Lime Cream Cheese FrostingRecipe: Sugared Lemon-Lime Zest Bundt cakes are notoriously dense and heavy, but lemon-lime soda adds lightness to this nostalgic Bundt cake. Top with thick ribbons of Lemon-Lime Cream Cheese Frosting and sophisticated Sugared Lemon-Lime Zest for an elegant, playful presentation. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit