Root Beer Float Cupcakes

I made these cupcakes for a going away party at work once and everyone loved them. I was trying to think of something special for the person that was leaving and remembered that she really like root beer.  So I got the idea to find a root beer cupcake and made these. They are fun and a little bit different than an ordinary chocolate cupcake.

Cupcake Ingredients:

* 1 1/8 Cup Flour
* 1/4 Cup Dark Cocoa Powder
* 1 1/4 Teaspoon Baking Soda
* 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
* 3/4 Cup Brown Sugar
* 1 Egg
* 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
* 2 Teaspoons Root Beer Concentrate
* 1/3 Cup Root Beer
* 1/2 Cup + 1 Tablespoon Heavy Cream
* 1/2 Cup Butter, melted
* 2 Tablespoons Sour Cream

***I accidentally used Baking Powder instead of Baking Soda. Glancing at the directions, I saw baking and got powder from the Cocoa Powder in the line above. Oops. The cupcakes seemed to come out ok, but Baking Soda is used to counteract the acid in ingredients and make the finished product rise. So yeah, just ignore the Baking Powder in this picture and pretend its Baking Soda instead! and word to the wise, make sure you read the ingredients and directions of whatever you are making carefully before starting!!!***

***Root Beer Concentrate was actually very hard to find. I checked everywhere, Target, Ralphs, Albertsons, Whole Foods, Trader Joes. I finally found it at Walmart of all places.***

* Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line one muffin pan with 12 liners.

* Sift together the Flour, Baking Soda, Salt, and Cocoa Powder and set aside.

* In the bowl of your mixer combine the Egg and Brown Sugar until smooth.

* Add the Heavy Cream, Melted Butter, and Vanilla and mix until combined.

* Stir in the Sour Cream.

* Mix in the dry ingredients.

* Add the Root Beer Concentrate and Root Beer and mix until smooth.

* Fill muffin pans and bake about 20 minutes.

***For some reason these cupcake liners were taller than normal, so it looks like I didn't fill these very full. In a normal sized cupcake liner, they you would about 3/4 full. I divided the batter pretty evenly between the 12 liners.***

* Cool before frosting.

***Comparing this picture to the one above with the batter, I think they rose pretty well considering I used the wrong ingredient!!***

Frosting Ingredients:

* 3/4 Cup Butter (1 1/2 Sticks)
* 4 Cups Powdered Sugar
* 1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
* 2 Tablespoons Milk
* 1/2 Teaspoon Root Beer Concentrate

* Cream Butter until smooth.

* Add Powdered Sugar, 1 Cup at a time.

* Add Milk and Vanilla and beat until smooth.

* Remove almost all of the frosting from the bowl, leaving behind about 1/3 or 1/2 cup.

* Add Root Beer Concentrate to remaining frosting in mixing bowl.

Decorating:

* The smaller bowl of Root Beer Frosting goes in the middle of the cupcakes. You can either core out a hole and put some in that way. I like to inject the cupcakes with the frosting.

***This is actually a flavor injector for meat, but I think it works perfectly well for my this purpose.***

* Next Frost the top of the cupcakes with the Vanilla Frosting.

* I found Root Beer Candy that I put on top after the frosting.

* And for the finishing touch, I cut down a straw and stuck it into the cupcake like it was an actual root beer float.

* Enjoy!!!