From Ice Cream Soda to Cake: Root Beer Float Cupcake

The cupcake craze seemed to make cupcake an industry in itself. It has been featured in entertainment television programs, generated books dedicated to endless recipes on cupcake, and even resulted in cute, chic cupcake shops.
In stores, though, you'd find that some cupcakes are just so-so: the cake dry, the frosting just ordinary, the cost more than it's worth---reasons why it's always a good thing to bake your own cupcake at home.
Play around with various combinations of flavours, such as vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, pumpkin, coffee, or red velvet. Or, since you're already at it, break the monotony of these cupcake flavours and come up with something new.
Here's a sample recipe of a cupcake that you can do at home. Bring out the kid in you and whip up a batch of this root beer float cupcakes:
Root beer float cupcakes
Serving: 12 cupcakes
Cupcake
Ingredients:

• 144 g all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 32 g dark cocoa powder
• 165 g brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons root beer extract
• 75 ml root beer soda
• 5 ml heavy cream
• 113 g butter, melted
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sour cream

Preheat your oven to 176°C, and line the cupcake tins with paper. In a bowl, whisk the egg and sugar until smooth. Add heavy cream, butter, and vanilla. Mix until combined. Next, stir in sour cream. In another bowl, mix flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to the mixture. Finally, add the root beer extract and soda. Mix until batter is smooth.
Use a 1/5 cup measure and add batter to each cupcake tin. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a wire rack to allow complete cooling before frosting.
Frosting
Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 tablespoons milk
• 1 1/2 sticks butter, softened
• 800 g powdered sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon root beer extract

In an electric mixer bowl, beat butter until creamed. Starting on low speed, add sugar a little at a time, gradually speeding up the setting. Incorporate milk and vanilla extracts and combine thoroughly.
We'll have a separate root beer and vanilla frosting. Leave about 1/3 to 1/2 cup of frosting in the mixer and set aside the rest. Add root beer extract on the remaining frosting and mix.
Apply the root berry frosting to the cupcake, using a spoon or pastry bag, and then top it off with vanilla frosting. To make it look and taste yummier, add hot fudge, cocoa syrup, or maraschino cherries on top.