Share a Coke Cake Recipe

May 19, 2015 by Kelly Dedeaux

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #ShareSmiles #CollectiveBias

Since our year with Cat Woman is coming to a close, we wanted to something special to celebrate our time with her. Since her favorite drink is Coca-Cola, I decided it’d be great to Share a Coke Recipe – plus recycle some of the bottles for a fun cake display!

For those that don’t know, Cat Woman is our exchange student that we’ve been able to include in our family since last August. With the school year ending, she goes back home to Thailand in just a few weeks! We’re going to miss her like crazy, but glad she’ll get to see her home again. It’s been such a fun year with her, so our little family party was themed after her favorite Coca-Cola! And chocolate cake, of course!

Be sure to grab some Coca-Cola at Brookshire’s, looking for either some names of your guests or friends, or some phrases such as our BFF! It’s more fun when you Share a Coke, so grab plenty! Keep an eye on Brookshire’s Facebook page for a chances to win yourpoints, offers, fun and conversation.

First, let’s get the baking out of the way – then we can quickly put together the fun cake stand!

Ingredients – Cake

Box Cake Mix of choice (dark – so chocolate)
1 cup Coca-Cola

Directions – Cake

Preheat oven according to box mix directions. Spray a round baking pan, set aside.
In a bowl, whip the mix and the Coca-Cola until smooth. Pour into the pan and bake according to the package directions.

Ingredients – Frosting

1/4 cup Baking Cocoa
6 tbsp. Coca-Cola
1/2 cup (1 stick) Butter
3 3/4 cup Powdered Sugar (plus more if wanting more firm)
1 tsp. Vanilla

Directions

In a little saucepan, mix the cocoa, Coca-Cola and butter over medium heat until it reaches a boil and the butter is melted. Remove from the heat.
Stir in the powdered sugar until smooth, then add in the vanilla. Allow to cool completely before using. If you want your frosting more firm, add more powdered sugar.

Now let’s work on that cake stand!

Supplies

2-liter Coca-Cola Bottle, emptied and dried
Black Spray Paint
Ribbon of choice
Hot glue
Foam circles of choice
Spiral centerpiece for decoration, if desired

Directions

Spray your 2-liter and allow it to dry, then cut off the top part.
Add a piece of ribbon around the middle for some cute decoration, then hot glue the top rim of the 2-liter to the bottom of your foam circle stack (I stapled 3 pieces together). NOTE: if you want it VERY sturdy, such as for cupcakes, then add a piece of cardboard or two in the middle of your foam pieces.
Place your finished cake on top, decorate as desired, and top it off with a fun paper spiral (with coke lid glued in the center) if you’d like!

Who will YOU Share a Coke with?

St. Patrick’s Day Soda Bottle Printables

February 20, 2015 by Kelly Dedeaux

I don’t know about you, but there’s certain holidays that I just don’t do much for. St. Patties day is one of them, usually, but this year I’ve had a few fun ideas I wanted to play with, and now I get to share them with you! So whether you’re attending or hosting a big party this year, need a cool favor or gift, or simply want something festive, these St. Patrick’s Day Soda Bottle Printables will be a huge hit!

As you’ve probably noticed, I love creating fun printables, especially to spruce up some soda bottle packs! They’re perfect gifts, such as the Graduation Bottle set or even our SUPER awesome Superhero Soda prints! I love how fun they are, plus can be used for a TON of different things!

Feel free to print these off, as many as you need, for your personal use. Give them as gifts, keep them as party decor, or just have fun with it. They’re made to print on an 8.5×11 sheet, and I allowed plenty of margins for easier sizing.

Download END Sheet Here

Download BOTTLE WRAPS Here

Note: these bottle wraps look blue, but that’s just my printer having ink issues. They’re matching green like the casing prints 🙂

Download SIDE Sheet Here

Download TOP HANDLE Sheet Here

Print your pages, cut out the whole design, then use glue or double sided tape to secure them on to your soda pack. Trim around the edges so it’s a perfect fit (this is why I left plenty of margin, so it’s easier!) and you’re good to go!

Some of these only fit one print per 8.5×11 page, so for most you’ll need to print 2 pages. The bottle wraps fit a couple per page, so you only need 2-3 prints, depending on how many bottles you’re doing.

Real Magic Holiday Gift Basket

December 16, 2014 by Kelly Dedeaux

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #RealMagic #CollectiveBias

I love how giving everyone is during the holidays. I know it should be this way all year long, but realistically people are just more thoughtful and caring for others around Christmas. They want to do more to help those who may be needing some extra support, or even just need a little extra smile! Our family is trying very hard to focus on the GIVING this season instead of the receiving, and have ‘adopted’ a few families nearby who have had a rough time lately. One of the things we’re doing to share a smile is with this fabulous Real Magic Holiday Gift Basket!

I’ve been mentioning a lot lately how much help and love my family has received over the years, so it’s very important for us to pay it forward for others. We especially want to instill in our kids how truly wonderful it is to give to someone else. They’ve really gotten into the giving spirit, and it’s been a lot of fun for our family as we’re planning things for our ‘families’. Seeing my kids eager to do something for someone else, even if it means less for them, has really been a blessing!

I was able to find all of the supplies I needed for this gift basket at Walmart, and was able to stick to my color scheme to go along with the classic Coca-Cola glass bottles I used for my ‘focal point’. The red, black, silver and white looked AMAZING! Kind of a twist on the typical red and green. The cardboard carrier for the bottles is even all Christmas themed, with Santa and everything; totally perfect!

Note: you don’t have to use EXACTLY what I did for your own Real Magic basket. Mix it up so it’s really what will make those receiving it smile!

Supplies

6-pack Coca-Cola glass bottles
Basket of choice
Colored Straws
Tinsel, Garland, Mini Bows, Ribbon, Accent decor, etc.
Tissue Paper
Holiday plate (or other fun holiday gift for a backdrop piece)
Treats and goodies (I wrapped mine in sparkly tulle to look like a snowman pouch)
Gift Cards
May need scissors or tape
Gift Tags – Free Printables below

Directions

Weave some tinsel and/or ribbon all around your basket. I went around twice so it was really ‘sparkly’.
The plate I found (on sale for $1!) wouldn’t stand up straight, so it looked kind of funny. If you have this problem, you can cut a slit in the back of the Coca-Cola carrier and slide it in. This helped it stand up straight and pretty for my ‘backdrop’.
I stuck in a silver accent piece for some fun dimension and some red and black striped straws for enjoying their Coca-Cola drinks.
One the sides I put some white tissue paper to hold things up, and placed my goodies (the ones wrapped in tulle to look like snowman pouches) on each side. I place some gift cards between some tissue paper so it showed, but wouldn’t fall out of the basket.
To add a bit to the bottles, I just wrapped a piece of ribbon near the tops.
Now stick in a few mini bowls for accent! All that’s left now is attaching a pretty holiday tag! Here’s some free ones you can enjoy….

Print This Tag Here

Or Print this Circle Tag Here

My kids are so excited to leave this on our ‘family’s’ porch! I did make sure to share a smile with my own kiddos and got some Coca-Cola bottles with straws for them, as well. They started calling it ‘the Santa drink’ because it has Santa on the package. Super cute!

That led us into the talk about how Santa’s always making everyone else’s holidays magical. But he does have some wishes of his own. No, he doesn’t want a new suit or sleigh, and is fine without some Lego’s. All he wants is for us to make someone happy. This time of year is full of magic, if you just know where to look. We can help Santa make a little more of that magic happen all around by sharing some simple ideas for bringing an extra sparkle to someone’s season. Coca-Cola wants YOU to share the magic by Tweeting or Instagramming a photo of how you’re making the holidays more magical with the hashtag #RealMagic. When you do this, you’ll get a special thank you smile in return plus you can earn extra rewards by sharing videos and photos from the My Coke Rewards website!

There’s so much good you can do with Coke Rewards, too…such as check it out their website and entering for your chance to win $50,000 PLUS a chance to tell them where to donate an extra $10,000! You can also win some neat prizes during the Twitter Party happening on Dec. 9th from 3-4pm EST with the #RealMagic hashtag. Don’t forget to check out even more fun by seeing Coke Rewards on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram!

Two Ingredient Fanta Cake & Dasani Bats Printable

October 20, 2014 by Kelly Dedeaux

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #SpookySnacks #CollectiveBias

You know how kids will change their favorite things so often, it’s sometimes hard to keep up? My 4-year-old Superman is NOT like that! Most of all is his favorite color: ORANGE. He’s so obsessed with the color that he insists he always gets it….the orange plate, the orange cup, the orange candies, and on and on. Can you image what his favorite soda is? Yup, Fanta Orange Soda! So with Halloween right around the corner, it’s the perfect time to embrace all things orange….including this delicious Two Ingredient Fanta Cake!

You heard that right…TWO INGREDIENTS! Can’t get much easier than that, right? So we can have our Orange Soda, Orange cake, and then just toss in a few other items (there IS such a thing as too much orange!) like these adorable Dasani Bats! Don’t worry, I’ve included a free printable for those below, too. You’re welcome!

Since our soda stash had run dry (I know, sinful, right?) Green Lantern and I swung by Walmart while the twins were at preschool. Although I could probably find the soda aisle blindfolded, it’s super easy to find with their well-marked signs. I even found some fabulous coupons on some of the packs – Woot Woot!

Even though he isn’t totally obsessed with orange like his brother, Green Lantern was still SUPER excited to restock our pantry – he almost didn’t let go of the 2-liter!

I don’t know what was more fun…making the cake, or seeing their couldn’t-grin-any-bigger faces covered in this fun Halloween snack! Another great thing about this recipe? When you pour in the soda, it all becomes a ‘bubbly brew’ and the kids think it’s the neatest thing ever! Even I think it’s fun…I mean, look at all those bubbles….

Ingredients

2 boxes White or Vanilla Cake Mix
24 oz. Fanta Orange Soda

Directions

Preheat the oven according to cake mix box directions. Spray a 9×13 pan (or multiple smaller pans), set aside.
Dump the cake mixes into a LARGE bowl (remember, it bubbles up!) Pour in the soda and mix well. Spread into a sprayed 9×13 cake pan (or multiple smaller pans).
Bake according to package directions. Allow to cool completely.

When your cake has cooled, decorate it all festive for a fun Halloween snack! Let the kiddos help, or just take over the creativity by yourself. Notice ours has plenty of orange….ya, it’s definitely a good month for Superman’s color obsession!

I love how moist this cake turns out…plus it’s full of yummy Fanta flavor inside! I paired it with a cream cheese frosting….and even added a bit of Fanta soda into that to spread more of the great taste. If it makes it runnier than you’d like, a bit of powdered sugar mixed in will thicken it right up.

Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about the cute Dasani Bats! Since you never know when you’ll need it, we like to keep bottled water on-hand to just ‘grab and go’. Especially the smaller 12 oz. size…it’s perfect for my kiddos! Whether it’s racing out the door to dance lessons, heading to the park or even just as an emergency back-up in our vehicles, these mini bottles have saved us on more than one occasion! I also love that they’re specially designed to stand upright easily….not falling all over the shelves in the fridge!

Now, imagine passing out these fun bats this Halloween! We made plenty to hand out, so our trick-or-treaters can have a quick drink in the middle of their walking. All you have to do is Print This Page for the shapes, then put it together in a snap!

Wrap a piece of black paper around the Dasani bottle and tape into place.

Cut out the shapes onto black paper, and tape onto the center of the bottle. Glue on googly eyes and you’re done!

Want to join in the fun with Fanta and Dasani? Head over and follow them on their social channels!

Fanta: Facebook and Twitter

Dasani: Facebook and Twitter

If you’re up for extra fun, there will be an in-store demo at select Walmart locations October 24-26th featuring Fanta, as well as Wheat Thins and Halloween Oreos. Free sample Halloween snacks…why not, right?

We’ve been having a blast this Halloween season, and hope you and your family are, too! Even if your favorite color isn’t orange like Superman, it’s still super fun getting into the festive spirit. Happy Halloween!

Orange Pop Cake

September 7, 2013 by Kelly Dedeaux

Wow, I’m getting all nostalgic this week remember all the fun things we did this summer while visiting family. Monday I shared the awesome Monster’s University Pre-Party we had, and all those fun food ideas. Here’s ANOTHER fun recipe we pulled together: Orange Pop Cake. Seriously, soda pop in cake? Now THAT is awesome!! It’s so flavorful, moist and just plain fun. Who could resist? Not me, that’s for sure! Can’t wait to try it with some other soda flavors 🙂

I sincerely apologize, but I do not know who to credit the recipe to – it was made for the teacher’s and staff at the school my mom works at, and they gave out papers with the recipe. So please know: this is NOT my own recipe, and whomever did come up with it is a GENUIS. I will credit him/her if I do find out their name.

Ingredients
2 boxes Cake Mixe (White or Vanilla)
24 oz. Orange Soda
1 tub Cool Whip Frosting
1 pack Frosting Creations Mix-ins (Orange)

Directions
Preheat oven according to cake mix directions.

In a large bowl, mix the Cake Mix and Soda until well combined. Remember the soda will bubble up, so use a large enough bowl!

Pour batter into a sprayed cookie sheet or 9×13 baking pan. Bake as directed on cake mix box.

When done cooking, remove and allow to cool completely.

Stir the Frosting Creations Mix into the Cool Whip Frosting, then spread evenly over the cake.

Enjoy every single bite – we sure did!!!