Mountain Dew Merry Mash-up has been a popular holiday flavor for the soda company. The limited-time cranberry-pomegranate soda makes for an ideal addition to a meal or can be enjoyed on its own.
It also can go well with desserts. That’s what Mountain Dew set out to prove when it teamed up with Brooklyn’s Four & Twenty Blackbirds for a special fruitcake for the holidays. The idea for it was inspired by the online culture of home bakers making different desserts using Mountain Dew’s sodas.
“We love this concept of a mash-up,” Mountain Dew representative Jack Barbour told Patch.com. “We were trying to think of quirky holiday traditions that align with that concept and (everybody knows) fruitcake's reputation. Four & Twenty Blackbirds were our first choice because of their reputation for taking traditional items and reintroducing new flavors.”
Mountain Dew Merry Mash-up was used to make the glaze for the cake, which itself featured fresh and dry cranberries and a syrup mimicking a pomegranate flavor in order to highlight the Mountain Dew flavors.
Only 100 of the cakes were made, and they were mostly sent to Mountain Dew’s celebrity fans, such as Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Channing Tatum. However, anyone can make the cake, as Mountain Dew and Four & Twenty Blackbirds have shared the recipe (seen below).
Mountain Dew Merry Mash-up Cranberry Pomegranate Fruitcake
by Four & Twenty Blackbirds
Makes one 8” round cake or one 9” loaf cake
Prep Time – 40 minutes
Total Time – 3.5-4 hours
Serves – 12-16
Ingredients
Fruit
- ¾ cup dried cranberries
- ½ cup dried apricots
- ½ cup chopped dates
- 2 tbsp finely diced candied ginger
- 1 cup chopped fresh cranberries
Soda
- 1 20-ounce bottle Mountain Dew Merry Mash-Up – divided use
Toppings
- 1 navel orange
- ½ cup granulated sugar
Batter
- 5 ounces unsalted butter, at room temperature
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- 1 ¼ teaspoons salt
- ¼ teaspoon lemon zest
- 2 large eggs
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose unbleached flour
- 3 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
- ¼ cup pomegranate juice of Mountain Dew Merry Mash-Up
Directions
- In a microwave safe bowl, combine the dried fruits, fresh cranberries, and ½ cup Mountain Dew Merry Mash-Up. Microwave on high for 4 minutes. Cover and set aside for one hour. Set butter and eggs on counter to come to room temperature.
- Grease an 8” round tube pan, 8” round cake pan, or a 9” by 5” loaf pan – whichever you are using. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.
- In the bowl of a standing mixer, beat the butter, brown sugar, salt, and lemon zest on medium speed until creamy, 3-4 minutes. Add the eggs on at a time and beat well after each addition.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, allspice, and baking powder. In a liquid measuring cup, combine the pomegranate molasses and pomegranate juice (or Mountain Dew Merry Mash-Up).
- Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the mixing bowl, stir on low to combine, then add 1/3 of the liquid mixture, stir on low, then scrape down the bowl. In the same fashion, alternate adding the flour and liquid mixtures to the bowl in two more additions.
