Monday, March 19, 2012

Root Beer Float Cupcakes

leaves and flours vegan 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.

leaves and flours vegan root beer float cupcakes

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?

6 comments:

  1. Yum!
    I wish I could push more things until later so I had time to bake. Hopefully this summer I can try some new recipes.

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  2. I've never liked root beer, but these look tempting! I love the topping too - it looks like a blob of whipped cream :D

    I don't have anything on my to bake list right now (I'm all baked out), but I'll probably be back on the wagon soon enough. I have a lot of other things going on too - laundry being my biggest pain in the butt right now!

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  3. Ooo! These cupcakes look awesome! :) I love root beer.

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  4. RB is the best! have you ever tried to make root beer frosting? i haven't had root beer flavored anything yet but i really want to try these sometime! that plate is adorable, i thrifted a couple last weekend and thought of you. . . next up, diy cake stands!! ps. maybe stick a tiny drinking straw in them next time if you can even stand to amp up the cuteness?! miss youuu

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  5. These cupcakes look so delicious. I love your little white plate...it's so cute !

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  6. Beautiful! They look so much prettier than mine. ;) Now I'm curious about the addition of cocoa... I've gotta try it next time. That cupcake just never gets old.

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