It's a Classic

We travelled a lot when I was a child. We didn't take family vacations, but instead moved from Texas to Virginia, twice by car. Just the four of us, my mom, my brother and my sister in an '80's model Oldsmobile Cutlass- white with burgandy cloth interior with a trailer hitch. Trailing behind was a U-Haul trailer.

It's a long drive to Northern Virginia from the Texas Panhandle and we (I say we, but my mom is the only one who drove) would do it in about 24 hours. We didn't stop much except to eat or pull over so my mom could buy no-dose and a cup of jo.

When we did stop it was usually at Cracker Barrel because they were in every state we drove through- Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee- and they were open for 24 hours. We usually ordered breakfast no matter what time of day it was and we played that little triangle/golf tee game they left on the tables. When we were done, we were allowed to browse through their gift shop (which I still love today) and we could get one thing. We either got those 10 cent multi colored spiral candy sticks or rock candy and we'd trade in the car.

I still love Cracker Barrel and all it's coziness, but sadly my husband is not a fan. He grew up on Luby's Home Cookin' and he always gets the same thing- fried fish, mac and cheese and fried okra. When he craves home cookin' that's where we go. Every once in a while I can talk him into going to Cracker Barrel, but it's not often.

I knew if I wanted to try this Coca-Cola cake at the restaurant, I'd have to wait a while. So I searched the net and found this recipe. My husband loves coke, as we call it here in the south, so I knew he would enjoy this cake. It tastes very much like the Texas Fudge Sheetcake, I make for him every birthday, except it has marshmallows and not nuts. It was a little gooey-er from the frosting that melted into the marshmallow topped cake, but it was really good. It had a mild chocolate taste and was very tender and moist, but I couldn't really taste the coke in the cake or the frosting. My husband had 2 servings in one night (and every night there after til it was all gone), not bad for a man who's not a fan of Cracker Barrel. Hopefully I've changed his mind.

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Coca-Cola Cake

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 3 tablespoons cocoa
• 1 cup butter or margarine
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 cup Coca-Cola®
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 13 x 9-inch baking pan.

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Heat butter, cocoa and Coca-Cola® to boil and pour over the flour mixture. Mix well. Add eggs, buttermilk, vanilla extract and marshmallows and blend. The batter will be thin with marshmallows floating on top.

Bake for 45 minutes.

Frosting:

• 1/2 cup butter or margarine
• 3 tablespoons cocoa
• 6 tablespoons Coca-Cola®
• 1 box confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Boil first three ingredients. Remove from the heat and blend in the sugar and vanilla extract. Spread on warm cake.

NOTE: I added half a teaspoon of cinnamon to the frosting to bring out the chocolatey-ness. Yum!