Root Beer Float Cupcakes

When I first looked through Hannah Kaminsky's My Sweet Vegan, the first recipe I was drawn to was the root beer float cupcakes. Maybe it's partially because they were great enough that she chose them for the cover photo or maybe by minor obsession with root beer. Either way, it sent me scouring the internet for a bottle of root beer extract. I have tried three kinds of root beer extract, and my favorite was a random Amazon find from a store called Faerie's Finest. The other two were from small stores and both tasted incredibly artificial and their flavor baked out quite a bit. This root beer extract hasn't done me wrong. I have gone through several 2oz bottles, so last time I needed it I just made the plunge and bought an extraneous amount of extract.
The first time I made these cupcakes was over a year ago, and I was a little disappointed when they looked like a vanilla cupcake after baking. Since then I have added around 1/4- 1/3 cup of cocoa powder to the batter, which gives them that quintessential root beer color. I also normally don't drizzle ganache on top of the cupcakes, so the cocoa powder adds that hint of chocolate flavor that would be lacking. I also topped these cupcakes with vanilla bean frosting, because it reminds me the most of a scoop of vanilla ice cream.


I have had all sorts of other root beer flavored baked goods on my to make list lately. I saw a few really beautiful chocolate root beer bundt cakes & an adorable batch of root beer float cookies! Hopefully I have time to get that far down my never ending list soon.
Lately my list of things to do has been a lot less fun than turning on my stand mixer & oven. It's been a lot of laundry, errands, and avoiding doing my taxes. What's on your to bake list?