This post may contain affiliate links.
Dr Pepper Cupcakes Quick Look
- 🕒 Prep Time: 15 minutes
- 🌡️ Cook Time: 19 minutes
- ⏳ Total Time: 34 minutes
- 🍽️ Serving: 16 jars
- ⚡ Calories: 200kcal
- 🌶️ Flavor Profile: Chocolate cherry cola cake with sweet vanilla buttercream
- ✋ Difficulty: Easy, on par with our funfetti cupcakes
Quick Answer
Mix a devils food cake mix with 1 cup of Dr Pepper, water, melted butter, and eggs, then bake as cupcakes at 350 degrees for 14 to 19 minutes. Once cool, cut each cupcake in half, place a half in the bottom of a mason jar, brush it with more Dr Pepper, top with a swirl of buttercream, and repeat the layers two more times. Finish with mini chocolate chips and serve with a spoon.
Jump to:
- Dr Pepper Cupcakes Quick Look
- Quick Answer
- Why This Recipe Works
- Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Key Ingredients
- Variations and Substitutions
- How to Make Dr Pepper Cupcakes
- Recipe Tips & Tricks
- Serving Ideas and Suggestions
- Dr Pepper Cupcakes FAQs
- Other Recommended Cupcake Recipes
- Dr Pepper Cupcakes (Mason Jar Dessert)
Why This Recipe Works
Click to see the technique science
- Soda is a built in flavor syrup. Dr Pepper is essentially spiced cherry syrup with carbonation, using it as the batter liquid infuses all 23 flavors into the cake with zero extra work.
- The brush soak is the difference maker. Brushing the cut cake layers with soda works like a bakery simple syrup soak, guaranteeing a moist jar dessert even days later.
- Butter beats oil in a box mix. Melted butter adds milk solids and real dairy flavor the box formula lacks, moving the cake from box taste to homemade taste.
- Cutting cupcakes in half makes perfect jar layers. A halved standard cupcake is exactly the diameter of a wide mouth pint jar, so the layers stack cleanly without trimming.
- Jars are the make ahead secret. Sealed with a lid, the jars hold in moisture, these actually taste better on day two, which makes them the rare dessert you should make early.
- Carbonation lightens the crumb. The soda bubbles give the batter a small extra lift during mixing, keeping the chocolate cake tender rather than dense.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- They travel anywhere, screw on the lids and these survive picnics, tailgates, and road trips without a smudge.
- That cherry cola and chocolate combination is pure nostalgia in dessert form.
- They are the party trick sibling of our dr pepper black forest cake, same soda magic, individual servings.
Key Ingredients
Five ingredients plus frosting, that is the whole list. Here is why each one earns its place:
- Devil’s Food Cake Mix: The shortcut base. Its deep cocoa flavor is the perfect backdrop for the cherry and spice notes in the soda.
- Dr Pepper, Divided: One cup goes into the batter in place of most of the liquid, and the rest gets brushed over the baked cake layers so every bite tastes like cherry cola.
- Melted Butter: Swapping butter for the oil the box calls for gives the crumb a richer, homemade flavor.
- Eggs: Three eggs make the cake sturdy enough to layer in jars without crumbling into mush.
- The Best Buttercream: A double batch of our vanilla buttercream pipes into creamy layers between the soda soaked cake. Mini chocolate chips on top are optional but encouraged.
See recipe card for exact quantities.
Variations and Substitutions
This jar dessert formula works with almost any soda and cake pairing:
- Cherry on top: Add a maraschino cherry and a spoon of cherry pie filling between layers for full cherry cola sundae energy.
- Root beer float jars: Swap the Dr Pepper for root beer and use a vanilla cake mix, instant float in cake form.
- Chocolate buttercream: Trade the vanilla buttercream for chocolate to double down on the devils food.
- Classic cupcakes: Skip the jars entirely, frost the 24 cupcakes normally and brush the tops with Dr Pepper before frosting.
- Boozy version: Add a tablespoon of bourbon to the soda you brush on the layers, adults only jars clearly labeled.
- Whipped topping swap: Use stabilized whipped cream instead of buttercream for a lighter jar, more like our strawberry earthquake cake vibes.
How to Make Dr Pepper Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, mix the cake mix, 1 cup of Dr Pepper, water, melted butter, and eggs on low speed for 30 seconds, then on medium for 2 minutes. Fill prepared cupcake tins with about 3 tablespoons of batter each, this makes 24 cupcakes.
- Bake 14 to 19 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the tins on a wire rack for 5 minutes, then turn the cupcakes out and cool completely.
- While the cupcakes cool, make the buttercream. Cut each cupcake in half, place one half in the bottom of a pint jar, and brush it with a little of the remaining Dr Pepper.
- Top with a swirl of frosting and a sprinkle of mini chocolate chips. Repeat the layers two more times, cake, soda brush, frosting, ending with chips on top. Serve with a spoon and enjoy!
Recipe Tips & Tricks
- Use flat, room temperature soda for brushing the layers, it soaks in evenly instead of foaming on the surface.
- Cool the cupcakes completely before layering, warm cake melts the buttercream into a slick between layers.
- Pipe the frosting with a zip top bag with the corner snipped, it fills the jar edges much neater than a spoon.
- Wide mouth pint jars are the perfect size, three half-cupcake layers fit with room for the final frosting swirl.
- Chill 30 minutes before serving if you like a firmer, icebox cake texture, or serve at room temperature for soft and fluffy.
- Lid on, fridge, 3 days, these are the ultimate make ahead party dessert, just add the chips on serving day for crunch.
Serving Ideas and Suggestions
These dr pepper cupcakes in jars are built for events, line them up on a dessert table with the lids on and a basket of spoons and you have grab and go dessert with zero cutting. We do exactly that next to a tray of monster cookie cupcakes for birthday parties.
For summer cookouts, they ride in a cooler without any frosting casualties, which is more than we can say for a frosted sheet cake. Pair them with lemon cupcakes so there is a fruity option too.
They are also a fantastic gift jar, tie a ribbon and a plastic spoon to the lid and you have a teacher or neighbor gift that beats another candle, the same move we pull with yellow cake slices at the holidays.
And if you are feeling extra, a tiny scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of the final frosting layer right before serving turns each jar into a cherry cola float.
Dr Pepper Cupcakes FAQs
Like a chocolate cherry cola in cake form. The devils food base brings deep cocoa, while the Dr Pepper adds a subtle cherry and spice sweetness you can taste but not quite name. The soda brushed layers plus vanilla buttercream land somewhere between a poke cake and an icebox dessert.
Yes, especially in the jar version. The soda in the batter adds background flavor, but brushing the cut layers with additional Dr Pepper is what makes the flavor unmistakable. If you want it stronger still, simmer a cup of Dr Pepper down to a quarter cup and brush with that syrup instead.
Absolutely. Bake the 24 cupcakes as directed, brush the warm tops lightly with Dr Pepper, cool completely, and frost with the buttercream. You lose the layered look but keep all the flavor. The jar assembly is really about make ahead convenience and portability.
Up to 3 days ahead, which is what makes them a party hero. Assemble the jars, screw on the lids, and refrigerate. The soda soaked layers actually improve overnight. Add the mini chocolate chips just before serving so they stay crunchy, and let the jars sit out 20 minutes for the softest texture.
Assembled jars with buttercream should be refrigerated and enjoyed within 3 days, the sealed lids keep them from drying out or absorbing fridge smells. Plain frosted cupcakes can sit covered at room temperature for a day, but the jar version holds so much moisture that the fridge is its friend.
Regular Dr Pepper works best in the batter, the real sugar contributes to moisture and browning. Diet versions bake fine but taste slightly less rich. Cherry Dr Pepper is a fantastic swap that pushes the cherry cola flavor even harder, especially in the layer brushing step.
For the full size soda cake experience, our dr pepper black forest cake is the one that started our soda baking obsession.
My bakery style chocolate cupcakes get their deep flavor from a splash of hot coffee in the batter.
My pancake cupcakes turn a pancake breakfast into a frosted dessert.
For a bakery style treat with almost no effort, my snickerdoodle cupcakes start with a cake mix.
Dr Pepper Cupcakes (Mason Jar Dessert)
Ingredients
- 1 package Devil’s Food Cake Mix
- 1 1/4 Cup Dr Pepper divided
- 1/4 Cup water
- 1/2 cup 1 stick unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
- 3 eggs
- Double Recipe of The Best Buttercream
- 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, mix together the cake mix, 1 cup of Dr Pepper, water, melted butter, and eggs. Mix on low speed with a hand mixer for 30 seconds until combined. On medium speed, mix for 2 minutes.
- In prepared cupcake tins, fill each section with about 3 tablespoons of the cake mix. Bake for 14-19 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. This will make 24 cupcakes. Let cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes, turn cupcakes out and let cool completely.
- While the cupcakes are cooling make the buttercream frosting, or frosting of your choice.
- To make the cupcake jars, cut each cupcake in half. Place one-half into the bottom of a pint-sized jar. Brush with a little bit of the remaining Dr Pepper. Top with a swirl of frosting. Add a sprinkle of chocolate chips. Repeat two more times.
Nutrition
Love This Recipe?
Follow @ThisSillyGirlsKitchen on Instagram and @danadevolk on Pinterest for more!
Hi my name is Rosemary Denice Nelson. I love to write recipes in my notebook. I call my notebook a cookbook notebook.
These are darling plus I love Dr. Pepper! I can’t wait to make them!
This recipe is just way too fun and a great treat for game days!