I’m just as addicted to cooking magazines as I am to cookbooks. From time to time I must go through them all and figure out what to save and what to toss since my magazine collection would run us out of the apartment if I let it. I bought a Betty Crocker Cakes, Bars, and Cookies one back in February and at the time I said I would make the root beer cake that was featured in there. Never did of course. Found it again last night.  One thing I like about the Betty Crocker food magazine special editions is that they have a photo of every recipe and I appreciate that. They had cute little root beer flavored candy sticks which I could not find anywhere. I then tried to find those little root beer barrels I used to eat as a kid, no such luck. So I used gummy colas, which are not root beer flavored, but they are in the same family.

I was picky about the root beer I used(shocking I know). I chose Sprecher Root Beer Soda. I love that root beer. It comes from Wisconsin and they use raw honey in the brew and it has a nice creamy flavor. The original recipe calls for whipped topping(like Cool Whip) but I chose to make real whipped cream with a little sugar. If I wasn’t making the cupcakes, I would have chopped up the cake and made a trifle out of it with the cake whipped cream and I would have boiled down the rest of the root beer to make a syrup to drizzle over it. I also would have put it in beer mugs(preferably clear ones) to make it extra special.

The cupcakes really do have the flavor of root beer but it not over-powering by any means. I think this would be a fun cake to make for a kids birthday party or if you have a root beer lover in the house, make it for them. To say these are easy to make is putting it mildly, so if you are not a big baker, these would be a great thing to practice on and build your confidence with.

Root Beer Float Cake

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter
3/4 cup rootbeer
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 egg

Heat oven to 350F. Grease bottom and side of 8-inch round pan with shortening, lightly floured. I chose to make mini cupcakes.
Beat all the ingredient in a large bowl with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, scraping the bowl constantly. Beat on high speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour into pan.
Bake 30-35 minutes(cupcakes took me 17). Cool 10 minutes, remove from pan to wire rack. Cool completely, about 1 1/2 hours…cupcakes cooled within 15.
Cut cake horizontally to make 2 layers. Spread whipped topping(or sweetened whipped cream) over bottom layer of cake. Add top of cake. Top remaining whipped topping. Store covered in fridge.

Source: Betty Crocker Cakes, Bars and Cookies, Volume 6, Number 1

P.S. Thank goodness we got more light today in Seattle, I was having a hissy fit yesterday with the bad lighting.