A Fluffy Coke is simple to make. You line the inside of a glass cup with marshmallow fluff and then fill it with Coca-Cola. What happens after you make it on camera is, well, much more complex.
I made fluffy Coke for Annie's Cafe—a video series where I recreate the internet's favorite complicated, confectionary coffees. While a beverage consisting of soda and whipped marshmallow is, of course, not coffee, my version—which includes an oat milk cold foam and a splash of vanilla syrup—aligns with the series' spirit: It's sweet, drinkable, and trending online.
Here’s the long story short: I posted this video to Food52's Instagram and TikTok accounts. Commenters—of which there were thousands—immediately had all sorts of opinions, including suspicions that I was sponsored by the marshmallow industry (I wish! Run me my money!) to claims that I was promoting unhealthy eating. From licensed doctors to anonymous haters, my harmless Fluffy Coke video became the talk of the internet and the talk of the Food52 office.
Then, to make matters worse (or better), someone sent me a link to a New York Post article where my fluffy Coke duck face portrait was the cover image.
The article presumptuously dubbed fluffy Coke “the beverage of the summer” while also comparing the drink to “diabetes in a cup.” Somehow, my face, along with a handful of other viral videos from other fluffy Coke enthusiasts, was at the center of an anti-sugar debate. The article made its way to my mom and my family now lovingly calls me a “fluffy coke celebrity.”
What perplexes me about the fluff hatred is its dependence on anti-sugar arguments. When you compare a Coke with marshmallow fluff to any other dessert treat—say, a few scoops of ice cream or a brownie a la mode—it's not all that different “health”-wise, whatever that may mean to you. Also, people’s insistence that fluff is made of “chemicals” or “poison,” I ask you: have you never had a S’more? A processed candy bar? Have you never known joy?
If you want to learn how to make your own fluffy coke with homemade marshmallow fluff, I have just the recipe for you. Plus, you can use it in a wide variety of other sweet treats like these homemade Hostess cupcakes, a S’mores chocolate tart, or oatmeal creme pies.
Happy fluffing!
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