Dr Pepper Cake Recipe: A Cherry Bundt Cake with Attitude

This cherry Dr Pepper cake recipe is made from scratch -- no boxed mixes here! The bundt cake is moist and buttery with a light pink color. The only topping needed is a dusting of powdered sugar. The recipe gives you the option to add chopped Maraschino cherries.
For this recipe you'll need: butter, all-purpose flour, baking soda, salt, sugar, eggs, vanilla, Maraschino cherry juice, Dr Pepper or cherry Dr Pepper, sour cream, Confectioner's sugar

We have a household of Dr Pepper drinkers here. I grew up drinking Dr Pepper and, despite the habit of calling everything Coke, I still tend to choose it over any other soft drink.

When I was in the military and stationed in California it became obvious that things outside Texas were a little different than things within the state. I was in shock the first time I ordered a "Coke" and they didn't ask me what kind I preferred. In fact, most of the restaurants and stores in the area didn't even carry it.

I was ready to click the heels of my Tony Lama's ( they make custom cowboy boots) and head home. Apparently someone else clicked the heels of my boots before I got a chance to because those boots disappeared the first week I was there.

Maybe they headed back to Texas on their own.

When I went home I drank a ton of Dr Pepper just to keep me going until my next visit. I don't remember when I first discovered a cake with Dr Pepper in it but I was immediately hooked.

I don't know if all of y'all have Sonic Drive-Ins or not but they are almost as good as Whataburger. In fact, when it comes to drinks (of the non-alcoholic variety) they are better. You can get a squirt of flavor in any kind of coke you want. My eldest daughter likes chocolate and Dr Pepper but I've pretty much always been a vanilla or cherry flavor with Dr Pepper fan.

Most of the Dr Pepper cake I've seen is made with chocolate. It's delicious but, as much as I love chocolate, I think that chocolate kind of masks the Dr Pepper flavor.

This bundt cake is based on my basic recipe but I've added Dr Pepper and a little Maraschino cherry juice to give it that "Be a Pepper" flavor. Sometimes I add chopped Maraschino cherries, too. That's up to you. You can also give it more cherry Dr Pepper flavor by using Cherry Dr Pepper.

The color of the cake depends a lot on the Maraschino cherry juice. Sometimes it's more pink than other times - just depending on what brand I use. If you want the color a little more pink you can always add a few drops of red food coloring.

This will stay moist for days if it's tightly wrapped. The flavor does get better if you let it sit overnight but it's good any time. It will also freeze for up to 3 months with no problems.

Here's the Dr Pepper Bundt Cake recipe! It's perfect for Valentine's Day or Mother's Day! So pretty.

📖 Recipe

Dr Pepper Cake Recipe: A Cherry Bundt Cake with Attitude

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Buttery moist bundt cake recipe make from scratch and flavored with Dr Pepper and Maraschino cherry. Will keep, tightly wrapped, at room temperature for 3 or 4 days or freeze for up to 3 months.

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour

Servings:16 servings

Calories:422

Author:Marye Audet-White

Ingredients

• ▢ 2 sticks unsalted butter
• ▢ 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
• ▢ 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ▢ ½ teaspoon salt
• ▢ 2 cups granulated sugar
• ▢ 2 large eggs
• ▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla
• ▢ 1 cup original Dr Pepper or Cherry Dr Pepper
• ▢ 2 tablespoons Maraschino cherry juice
• ▢ 1 cup sour cream
• ▢ ½ cup finely chopped Maraschino cherries, optional
• ▢ Confectioner's sugar for dusting

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 325F.
• Grease a large bundt pan and dust it with flour.
• Melt the butter.
• Blend the flour, baking soda, and saltin a small bowl.
• Set aside.
• Add the sugar to a mixer bowl.
• Add the butter and beat until smooth.
• Beat in the eggs and vanilla.
• Continue to beat on medium speed for about a minute.
• Mix the Dr Pepper and Maraschino cherry juice.
• With the mixer on low speed add the flour mixture alternately with the Dr Pepper mixture, beginning and ending with the flour.
• Beat on low speed until well blended.
• Fold in the sour cream until no what streaks remain.
• Fold in the chopped Maraschino cherries if using.
• Spoon into the prepared bundt pan.
• Bake at 325F for 45 to 50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
• Let cool completely and carefully loosen the sides and turn out of the pan.
• Cool completely.
• Dust with Confectioner's sugar.

You'll find more helpful tips and variations in the body of the post.

Nutrition Facts

Calories: 422kcal | Carbohydrates: 56.8g | Protein: 4.7g | Fat: 20.2g | Saturated Fat: 12.2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 53g | Trans Fat: 0.6g | Cholesterol: 81.5mg | Sodium: 226.2mg | Potassium: 3mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 34.7g | Vitamin A: 1000IU | Vitamin C: 14.9mg | Calcium: 40mg | Iron: 1.6mg

Nutrition information is estimated as a courtesy. If using for medical purposes, please verify information using your own nutritional calculator. Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

This recipe has been tested several times. If you choose to use other ingredients, or change the technique in some way, the results may not be the same.