Triple Dog Dare Coca Cola Salad

I think maybe a new category of recipe has been born this week by way of a dare… a triple dog dare in fact. Serious business! It all started when a couple of friends of mine started sharing strange recipes from old cookbooks on Facebook. In particular this one:

The thread following this recipe post got me laughing as jokes were made about the name of the author, Charlotte Stubblebine and how nasty this recipe sounded. I was curious though. Could this work??? Someone has to try weird things to know if they’re good or not. Otherwise, coffee wouldn’t exist!! Whoever thought to pick beans, dry them, roast them, grind them up and pour hot water through them was genius. I didn’t have hopes that high for this but I did decide to give it a go.

I assembled the ingredients. I decided to use my bundt cake pan since the short recipe did mention a mold and that’s the closest thing I had. I also let the cream cheese reach room temperature before beginning.

With the cream cheese at room temperature, I “dusted” it with the orange jello powder.

I then mixed the powder into the cream cheese which may have had an effect on the outcome of the recipe. I realized later that the recipe didn’t say to do this.

Someone pointed out that a large Coke, back in 76 was 10 oz, so I was sure to measure out half of a large Coke today.

Heat Coke until boiling.

Pour Coke over cheese and Jello. Notice Daniel is looking a bit skeptical at this point.

Add a half cup of nuts. I went with pecan pieces. If you didn’t know any better, this looks like a delicious sweet potato casserole in the works!

Mix it up and pour into mold. It says to let the mixture sit out for 1-2 hours so that it would separate into 3 layers. I did as directed and then put it in refrigerator for another 2 hours until the girls got home from school.

Finally it was time for the moment of truth. It wasn’t easy getting this out of the mold. I had to carefully use my knife around the edges to make it come out easier. Once I felt it plop down on the plate, I lifted up my pan to survey what you see below. First of all, it did not separate into layers AT ALL!!!! This may have had something to do with the fact that I mixed the jello into the cream cheese first. Second of all, does that look at all appetizing to you?? I tried to hide my discust in front of the kids. I wanted them to have an open mind. I really couldn’t stop laughing though.

Unfortunately my kids are not adventurous eaters at all. They are really turned off by the appearance of something. I’m sad to say I was unsuccessful in getting Daniel or Maddy to come close to taking a bite. Jordan was my brave taste tester, but her opinion was already convinced it wasn’t going to be good.

See Daniel in the background hiding? That’s after I chased him around with a spoon.

Yes I tried it too. Honestly, it tastes pretty much how you might imagine it to taste. Ironically, Coca Cola is not a prominent taste at all despite the recipe name. Orangy cheese with nuts in gel form is the best way I can describe it. It wasn’t awful, but no I wouldn’t make this for anyone. The kicker? My husband tried it and liked it, as well as my mother-in-law and a kid neighbor (who said it would be better without the nuts).

Check the video. Jordan is hamming it up a bit for the camera I’m sure.

So here she is folks, in all her glory with a touch of kale for presentation. It is a salad after all.

Thank you Grace Piper for the recipe! It was fun to do either way and now my curiosity is satisfied. This is just weird. Mrs. Phillip Thornberry (Charlotte Stubblebine) would be proud.