Cracker Barrel's Most Popular Cake Was Invented By Accident

Sometimes the best results happen by mistake. Such is the case of the crowd-favorite chocolate cake served up at Cracker Barrel. For years, the rich dessert has tantalized dinners with its fluffy texture and sweet taste. Originally the dessert was made as a temporary offering, but the cake was such a hit that the company reintroduced the order as an anniversary celebration marking the establishment's 40th year of operation. Since then, Double-Fudge Coca-Cola Cake, a chocolate fudge cake served warm with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream, has remained a permanent fixture on the Cracker Barrel menu.

Not only was the original appearance of the cake a temporary offering, the cake recipe itself was a bit of an anomaly. Though Cracker Barrel's doubling of the fudge called for in the recipe wasn't on purpose, the mishap worked. The resulting cake has since garnered dozens of copycat recipes online, all seeking to replicate the rich, moist fudge flavor this decadent treat delivers. Some add extra twists with chopped nuts, flavored soda (like Cherry Coca-Cola or Dr Pepper), cinnamon, or cherries as colorful garnish. Coca-Cola might sound like a surprising inclusion in cakes, but the soda can transform desserts. 

Not only can Coca-Cola soda tenderize meat and flavor rice dishes, the fizzy ingredient can also rest comfortably in recipes for baked goods. Since the 1950s, Coca-Cola layer cakes have graced tables, as the presence of the soda boosts the sugar content of a cake without impacting flavor. In the 1960s, recipes for cakes with soda in their list of ingredients started to appear in American newspapers and became a favorite of many homemakers. Similar to a Texas sheet cake, variations of soda-enhanced cakes — the 1957 Velvet Cola Cake and the 1959 Spiced Coca-Cola Cake — preceded Cracker Barrel's dessert. 

The flavor of Coca-Cola in a cake is subtle, but the soda has a huge impact on the overall texture of a moist, fluffy dessert. It would take a trained palate to detect the inclusion of Coca-Cola in a cake. Heavy, rich, and moist, one bite of cola cake, like the one at Cracker Barrel, is enough to win the hearts of sweet-eaters.