Sasha's Kitchen: Root Beer Float Cupcakes

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I love root beer, from Saranac to Virgils to plain classic A&W. So when I saw that had bottles of root beer extract for sale at The Brooklyn Kitchen in Williamsburg a couple weeks ago, I knew that root beer cupcakes would be my next cupcake.  I figured I could make a rootbeer flavored cupcake, combine with a bit of chocolate (in the form of chocolate chips) and decorate it like a sundae or a float - with some root beer flavored frosting, whipped cream, little straws, and a cherry on top - kind of a cross between a float and a sundae, I suppose. Just a note - whipped cream will break down in a couple hours, so I don't recommend adding the whipped cream, cherry and straw until you are ready to serve the cupcakes. I was really happy with how these came out - I think they are pretty darn cute. The chocolate chips with the root beer cupcakes worked out well. Without them, it might have a bit too much rootbeer so this gives them some texture and varies the flavors a bit in a nice, complementary way.

Sasha's Root Beer Float Cupcakes

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp root beer extract

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup of milk

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips with a tsp of flour to coat

Sasha's Root Beer Buttercream

1 1/2 sticks of butter

1 small box (about four cups) of confectioner's sugar

1 T milk

1 tsp root beer extract

For Decorating

Jar of maraschino cocktail cherries

whipped cream

long striped straws, cut into small pieces

To make the cupcakes, beat the butter with the sugar in the basin of your stand mixer until well blended and slightly lightened in color, about three minutes. Beat in the eggs, vanilla extract and root beer extract. Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl and alternate adding the milk and the dry ingredients. Beat until combined. Toss the chocolate chips with a teaspoon of flour (this keeps them suspended, rather than sinking to the bottom of the cupcakes) and stir them into the mixture with a spoon. Fill cupcake liners in a silicon cupcake tray about 3/4 full. 

Bake at 350, in a preheated oven. This should take about 30-35 minutes, but it will vary with your oven. You know they are done when a toothpick comes out clean, which is before they will start to brown.

Tp make the frosting, beat the butter and confectioner's sugary until whipped and creamy, on the highest speed of the mixer, for about 3-5 minutes. Beat in the root beer extract, which will give the frosting a light root beer flavor, as well as a lovely ivory color. If the color is not ivory enough for you, you can add some Ivory colored gel food color (Americolor carries one, which I used a drop of).

Frost the cupcakes using a frosting bag. When you are ready to serve them, top with the whipped cream, cherry and slide in a bit of the straw, after trimming with scissors. Happy Sunday!