Root Beer Cupcakes

I teased you with these the other day. Here's the recipe! I made these over the weekend for my birthday. I had actually been planning on making vanilla pistachio cupcakes, but the store on my corner had all these cute summer displays with root beer bottles and I couldn't resist. The bite I did manage to have was pretty good. Since I didn't use root beer extract or schnapps in the batter, you don't really get a lot of root beer flavor, but it does give the cake a nice richness and the cakes are moist. I had trouble really getting a good root beer flavor in the frosting too, so I kept adding more which made the frosting a bit soupy in the warm weather, but I did enjoy the flavor. The original recipe is intended to make a large bundt cake, but I cut the recipe in half and did cupcakes because big cakes made for me make me nervous (I don't know why).

I'm sorry it is still taking me a little while to reply to comments and visit your pages. Besides the crazy weekend last weekend, I am also moving this weekend and next. Hopefully I will return to a normal schedule in a couple of weeks!

Root Beer Cupcakes
(Adapted from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking)

Makes 12 cupcakes

For the cake:
1 cup root beer (not diet)
1/2 cup dark unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg

For the frosting:
1 ounce 60% cocoa, melted
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons - 1/4 cup root beer
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar

To make the cake:

Preheat even to 325 degrees F. Line a muffin pan with paper liners.

In a small saucepan, heat the root beer, cocoa powder and butter over medium heat until butter is melted. Add sugars and whisk until dissolved. Remove from heat and let cool.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt.

In a small bowl whisk the eggs until just beaten. Then whisk into the cocoa mixture until combined. Gently fold the flour mixture into the cocoa mixture. The batter will be slightly lumpy. Don’t over beat the batter or it could cause the cake to be tough. The batter is very loose.

Pour the batter into the pan, filling each cup about 3/4 of the way full and cook 20-25 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking until a sharp knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the frosting:
In the bowl of a stand mixer, or using an electric hand mixer, beat softened butter and cocoa powder. Once combined add the melted chocolate, salt, powdered sugar and root beer. Beat together until smooth. Spread on top of cooled cupcakes.

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