Soft, rich and boozy Jack Daniels cupcakes with a swirl of cola flavoured buttercream frosting. Vegan, easy and deliciously decadent!

I made these Jack Daniels and  Cola Cupcakes for two reasons.  First because I’d been given a bottle of cola flavouring from Foodie Flavours to play around with and second because Phil is a whiskyophile.  If that’s even a word.  What it means is he LOVES his whisky.  One day I’ll show photographic proof of a particular New Year party he REALLY loved his whisky.  Says he can’t remember much of it though.

The cola flavour from Foodie Flavours is really interesting.  It smells like those chewy cola bottles you got as kids – one sniff and I was taken back 40 years.  How to use it in a recipe though?  Well what goes together better with coke than whisky?  I’ve never used a cola flavouring in cooking before, or even cooked with a bottle of actual cola.  I wasn’t sure if it would taste ‘odd’.

24 cupcakes scoffed between us later I can absolutely confirm it doesn’t taste odd in the absolute slightest.  It has a delicately spiced, citrusy flavour that sits so well with the sweet and boozy cupcakes.  As with all Foodie Flavours essences and flavourings you can add as little or as much as you like.  Especially with something like frosting where it’s easy to taste as you go and adjust quantities.

How to make Jack and Cola Cupcakes

Mix the milk with the vinegar.  This makes a sort of vegan buttermilk, giving the finished cupcakes a lovely, richer flavour.

Stir together your dry ingredients.  All you need is flour, sugar, baking powder and baking soda.

Add the oil and whisky to the milk.  Then add to the bowl of dry ingredients, stirring it all together.  The secret to any good cupcake is not to over-mix.  Stir together until it’s just combined.  Over-mixing can lead to a tougher finished texture once baked.

Don’t like whisky?  Swap for something like rum or brandy!

Spoon into your cases and bake.  They take between 20-25 minutes.  Mine took exactly 24 minutes.  I checked after 20 minutes and they still felt a little soft to the touch but another 4 minutes was perfect.  Test your cupcakes after 20 minutes by using a toothpick inserted in the centre.  If it comes out clean your cupcakes are ready.  If it still has raw cake mix clinging to the toothpick put the cupcakes back in the oven for a few more minutes.

Leave to cool completely before icing.  Make the icing while they’re cooling.  Really whip that butter before adding the icing sugar.  I use a stand mixer to make buttercream frosting but you can use a whisk if you use softened butter.  I also prefer to use the block style butter over tub margarine as I’ve found it just too soft when you have a few cupcakes to ice.  It warms up too easily in your hands as you’re piping and by the end it’s starting to turn a little sloppy.  The block butter also holds better storing the cupcakes at room temperature.

Add the cola flavouring – I started with 20 drops and ended up adding another 10 as the flavour was there but quite not enough.  Taste as you go.  As my mum always used to say “you can add to, but you can’t take away”.  Dear old mum.  Miss you.

These cupcakes are sweet, unctuous, rich and thoroughly decadent.  I also don’t think you’d know they were vegan.  These days everyone I take food to knows what they’re getting is vegan so there’s no real “ta-da they’re vegan!” moment.  Everyone loved these cupcakes though, especially the whiskyophile 😉

Some of our other favourite (and most popular!) Foodie Flavours recipes (all vegan too!):

• Raspberry, Apricot and Almond Baked Oats – a breakfast standby in our house!
• Pistachio Cake with Orange Caramel Syrup – sticky fingers heaven!
• Vegan Jaffa Cakes – even better than the original!
• Creamy Basil and Lemon Pasta – not just limited to the sweet stuff!

I’d love to hear from you if you give this Vegan Jack Daniels and Cola recipe a try!  Just leave a comment as it’s so helpful and I love to hear how the recipe worked out for you!  Thank you so much 🙂

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