Topic: Cup conversion for Coca Cola cake

[lisaparkin]

I'm hoping someone one here can help...

It's my daughters 19th b/d next week and she has found a recipe for a Coca Cola cake that she wants to make for her b/d cake, problem is it is American and it is all measured in cups.  I have found an on-line converter but I'm struggling a little with this ??? 

I'd be so gratful if someone can help me with this  :D

Ingredients:
2 cups self-rising flour
2 cups sugar
3 tablespoons cocoa
1 cup Coca-Cola
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
.
Frosting:
1/2 cup butter
1 tablespoon cocoa
6 tablespoons Coca-Cola
1 box confectioner's sugar, (1pound)
1/2 cup chopped pecans
Preparation:
Grease and flour a 9 x 13-inch pan and set aside.
In a large bowl combine flour and sugar. In a saucpan combine the cocoa, Coca-Cola, butter, and marshmallows; bring to a boil. Combine the boiled mixture with the flour and sugar mixture.

In a separate bowl mix eggs, buttermilk, baking soda, and vanilla; add to the first mixture. Pour into prepared pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes, until cake tests done.

Frosting: In a saucepan, bring butter, cocoa, and Coca-Cola to a boil. Stir in the sugar and mix well. Stir in nuts. Spread over the cake while both cake and frosting are still warm.
Serves about 16.

[lisaparkin]

Also, what is buttermilk? Can I buy it? Can I use 'normal' milk?

[Paulines7]

Also, what is buttermilk? Can I buy it? Can I use 'normal' milk?

Buttermilk is sold in most supermarkets, but there is a substitute.

Making a recipe that calls for buttermilk? Use this simple substitute, and you won't need to buy any:
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 5 minutes
Ingredients:
    * Milk (just under one cup)
    * 1 Tablespoon white vinegar or lemon juice

Preparation:
1. Place a Tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice in a liquid measuring cup.
2. Add enough milk to bring the liquid up to the one-cup line.
3. Let stand for five minute. Then, use as much as your recipe calls for.

However, this site says that substitution is not as good as the real thing and also says yoghurt can be used instead.

http://homecooking.about.com/od/foodequivalents/a/buttermilkequiv.htm

I have been searching all morning for recipes that need buttermilk as I have some in the fridge to use up. 

I came across a lemon tart recipe but it is also in cups and I have no idea about conversions.  I will do a search on here though as I think this question has come up before.   

[Sparkly]

Ingredients:
2 cups self-rising flour = 250g
2 cups sugar = 450g
3 tablespoons cocoa
1 cup Coca-Cola = 250ml
1 cup butter = 230g
1 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows = about 30 marshmellows (mini)
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup buttermilk = 375ml
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
.
Frosting:
1/2 cup butter = 115g
1 tablespoon cocoa
6 tablespoons Coca-Cola
1 box confectioner's sugar, (1pound)
1/2 cup chopped pecans = 65g

You can buy buttermilk in any supermarket. It is normally in the cream/creme fraiche bit. I wouldn't replace with just normal milk as it has a soured taste. I did read once that you could put a squeeze of lemon juice into the volume of milk required as a replacement, but you shouldn't have problems buying it.

[Melbourne12]

First of all, the best conversion database anywhere is the USDA Nutrition Database.  It's intended to give you details on the nutrient content of foods, but it handily also converts cups to grams.  It's here http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/index.html

1 cup flour = 125g
1 cup granulated sugar = 200g
1 cup cola = 240ml (call it 240g if you're weighing it)
1 cup butter = 227g
1 cup miniature marshmallows = 50g (or 240ml or 8fl oz if you're using a measuring jug)
1 cup buttermilk = 245g (or 240ml or 8 fl oz in a measuring jug)
1 cup chopped pecans = 109g

You can buy cultured buttermilk in supermarkets.  Our local Morrisons certainly has it.  Or if stuck, try half yoghurt, half milk.  Or "drinking yoghurt".


Edit: Sparkly beat me to it, except I think has given you the conversion for one and a half cups of buttermilk, not one half.

[galina]

The Americans use cups to save time weighing ingredients.  An American cup is very close to a 250ml mug, which you probably have already.

I make American recipes with my 'approved' mug rather than converting and cut back on the sugar, because they are usually too sweet and they seem to come out ok. 

I have often used the cheat's way of making buttermilk with lemon and ordinary milk, especially for muffins and cornbread, and it works out fine.  Sometimes I need to use a little more liquid because our flours are different.

Hope the cake will be a great success.

[Obelixx]

I often make muffins which ask for buttermilk but only ever have semi-skimmed milk on hand.  It works fine without any lemon juice.

American recipes are far too sweet so I would halve the sugar content in this recipe as it has even more sweetness in the coca cola.

[lisaparkin]

Wow...thank you very much for all your replies, they have helped alot  :D :D

I'll let you know next Thursday how it turns out  ;D

[valmarg]

Buttermilk is the residue from making butter, ie the whey.
valmarg.

[lisaparkin]

I got buttermilk from Morrisons, it was 52p I think.

Well it is made  :-\

The mixture was really runny, more like a batter mix, so I couldnt use my cake tin that the bottom comes out of incase the mixture leaked out.  I have no other cake tins big enough so had to put it in a ceramic dish.   It took forever to cook ???  It only turned out about 1" deep  :o

The frosting was really runny too so it just went everywhere...I'm hoping it tastes better than it looks :-(

[Melbourne12]

It's always annoying if things don't work out.  But it may be meant to be like that.  I've found the exact recipe on here http://www.bigoven.com/recipe/70606/coca-cola-cake and the picture shows a fairly thin cake.  It also says that the batter "doesn't look like cake mix".  So with luck it'll be OK.  :)

[Jeannine]

Lisaparkin, I am so sorry to hear that..may I offer a suggestion.

Have another go and follow the US recipe rather than convert, some things don't convert over as you would expect.

You can pick up a set of measuring cups from any tesco in the UK now for very little and they last a lifetime.

I have lived many years in Canada and the UK and I switch recipes all the time, with so many good ones on the net having the cups gives you the chance to try stuff without the worry and cups are so quick.

Actually you can use any recepticle that will hold 250ml or 8 fluid ounces and use it as  US cup for dry or wet ingredients.

If you want to let me know what measurements you usedfor your cake by converting I may be able to let you know where it went wrong.

I will also take a closer look at the cake recipe ansd see how t would convert.

XX Jeannine

[Jeannine]

Sparkly..i have just noticed an error on your conversion..just a typho I think.

Buttermilk..1/2 cup would be 4 fluid ounces   in a US fluid ounce cup , in a  mls cup system you would use a 125 ml cup

I use both ml cups and fluid ounce cups and it is barely a smidgen difference,when I taught folks we used either without worries depending on what they had.

XX Jeannine

[lisaparkin]

Thank you for all being so helpful :)

The cake did taste ok, though very sweet and sickley, we only had a small square each and that was plenty.
I did think there was an awful lot of sugar when I was making it, I would cut out some of the sugar if I made this again.
I'm assuming my measuring jug could be used to measure out the ingredients for the American cups, so I may try again without converting.

Next cake to make is begining of April for the other half's 50th B/d.....I'm going to try make an allotment cake (decorate the top like an allotment with little rows of veg etc.... ???
This will be a bog standard sponge cake decorated with coloured ready to roll icing.  I have 'googled' this on the net and have seen some fantastic photos of cakes others have made........what am I getting myself in to !!! :o ;D

[Obelixx]

Why not make a proper allotment cake based on carrots - loads of recipes out there and on this site - or a chocolate beetroot cake, also on this site somewhere in recipes.    They're easy to do and so much more interesting than a basic sponge and you can trust the sugar quantities.

Personally, I can't see why any cake that includes coca cola and marshmallows needs so much sugar.   See my advice above for next time.

[lisaparkin]

Photo0170 by lisaparkin36, on Flickr

[galina]

Thanks for showing us.  That doesn't look too bad.  Nice tall 'candles' - very elegant!

In a way it is often the 'homemade with love' type of cake that is most appreciated.  The cake I made for my son's 19th went fine, but I left the icing to the last minute.  I covered it with cocoa butter icing.   Had lots left and decided to ice a 19 on top and some decorations around the edge.  The chocolate sprinkles and edging  looked pretty, but then I could not find the nozzles on my icing bag for the numbers.  So I iced the 19 just with the bag.  That worked, nice fat numbers.  By the time they had dried a bit however, they looked exactly like something you need a poopa-scoop for :)

Never has one of our family cakes caused as many laughs as this one............... even I laughed in the end.