Root Beer Float Cupcakes

I don't know what it is but I find something so therapeutic about baking. I love mixing the ingredients, experimenting with new flavors, and tasting the final product.

When I bake, I just kind of wing it. I usually start with a recipe, but then a few minutes later, I can't help but wonder about changing this, adding that, and mixing in this. While it's fun, I always feel bad when someone asks me for a recipe. I usually just tell people, 'What recipe? I just threw some things together and voila!' Or 'Kerplop,' depending on how my experiment worked.   

Since I post pictures of my creations and I have no plans whatsoever to open a bakery, I think it's only fair that I share some of my recipes. So presenting... drumroll please... My First Recipe!!!!!

Root Beer Float Cupcakes

Cupcake Ingredients:

1 cup original soy milk
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
1/3 cup vegetable oil
Vanilla extract
Root Beer extract
1&1/3 cup flour, sifted
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
Pinch of salt, or three quick shakes
 
Frosting Ingredients:
3/4 to1 stick of butter, room temperature
2-3 cups of powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 tbsp. root beer extract
Soy milk

1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tin with cupcake liners. Depending on how full you fill the cupcake liners, this recipe makes about 9 cupcakes, .

2). In a medium size bowl, whisk together soy milk, sugars, and oil.

3.) Next you are going to add the extract. I filled a 1/2 tbsp. measuring spoon 3/4 full with the root beer extract and then added the vanilla extract right into the same spoon, giving me a full 1/2 tbsp. of both extracts. You can experiment with this by adding a dash of each to the recipe or even a teaspoon of each. Adding both of the extracts makes the flavor oh so smooth, with just a hint of the warm vanilla. 

4.) Mix in the sifted flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt to the liquid ingredients.

5.) Fill cupcake liners. To fill the cupcake liners, I used a 1/2 cup measuring cup so my cupcakes would be roughly the same size.

6.) Bake for 15-20 minutes. Cupcakes are done when a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

The frosting was a little more buttery than normal, so when I make this recipe again, I will probably decrease the butter to 3/4 of a stick and adjust the powdered sugar accordingly.  

1). Mix butter with a mixer, until light and fluffy.
 
2.) Slowly add sifted powdered sugar, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed.

3.) Once the butter and powdered sugar are mixed, and while the mixer is still on, add a little bit of the root beer extract. Once the extract is mixed in, taste the frosting to see if you need to add more. The flavor should be smooth, and not too overpowering.

4.) Next, with the mixer on, add a few drops of soy milk (2-3 capfuls, one at a time) to the frosting. Adding the milk makes the frosting nice and fluffy, and a little easier to spread on the cupcakes.

When the cupcakes are cool, ice your cupcakes and enjoy!!! You can add sugar sprinkles to the cupcakes, accent them with a piece of root beer candy or maybe even a straw.

  


Have fun trying my Root Beer Float Cupcake recipe. Let me know if you have any question, and if you make some of these fun cupcakes, please share the photos with me as I would love to see what you make. Most of all, just have fun with recipe!