Bake Along 5: Root Beer Float or Cake?

What isn't to love about a cake that combines chocolate and root beer?

No, seriously. What isn't there to love? I mean, it has root beer and chocolate in it. And you get to eat it with ice cream.

Bonus in that it takes roughly 10 minutes to make and doesn't need any special ingredients or tools (assuming you have root beer on hand, which I normally don't.)

Now I could barely taste the root beer in it (I used A&W), and no one else could taste it at all, (we had friends over, so I had extra tasters), but everyone commented that it was a good chocolate cake.

I wonder, if I used a "strong" root beer, would it stand out more?

This cake was the choice of Nic, part of the Bake Along "team" of Nic and Megan, and was a nice choice. I'm not sure if this is a cake I would have made if I'd randomly opened the cookbook and saw the title. Root Beer Bundt Cake doesn't exactly sound appealing. Which would have been my loss, as this cake is a keeper.

Btw, I had planned to making mini's for this cake, but ran late on time as I was out to do something super fun (and educational) within the Ottawa food scene. More about that later! With pictures!

Root Beer Bundt Cake

from Baked

2 cups root beer (do not use diet root beer)
1 c. dark unsweetened cocoa powder (dark cocoa? I don't think I have ever seen dark cocoa)
½ c. butter, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 ¼ c. granulated sugar
½ c. firmly packed dark brown sugar
2 c. all purpose flour
1 ¼ tsp. baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 large eggs

Root Beer Fudge Frosting
2 oz. dark chocolate, melted and cooled slightly
½ c. unsalted butter, softened
1 tsp salt
¼ c. root beer
2/3 c. dark unsweetened cocoa powder
2 ½ c. powdered sugar
To Serve:
Vanilla Ice Cream

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Generously spray the inside of a 10” bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray.

In a small saucepan, heat the root beer, cocoa powder and butter over medium heat until the butter is melted. Add the sugars and whisk until dissolved. Remove from the heat and let cool.

In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda and salt together.

In a small bowl, whisk the eggs just until beaten, then whisk them into the cooled cocoa mixture until combined. Gently fold the flour mixture into the cocoa mixture. The batter will be slightly lumpy - do not overbeat it, as it will cause the cake to be tough.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and bake for 35-40 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the cooking time, until a small sharp knife inserted in the cake comes clean. Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool completely. Gently loosen the sides of the cake from the pan and turn it out onto the rack.

Root Beer Fudge Frosting:
Put all the ingredients in a food processor. Pulse in short bursts until the frosting is shiny and smooth.

Use a spatula to spread the fudge frosting over the crown of the bundt in a thick layer. Let the frosting set before serving, with the ice cream on the side.

Bake Along 4: How do you eat your 'Reos?

Are you a dunker?


Do you take them apart to lick off all the cream inside?


Or do you just dig in with a big bite?

Personally, I'm a big bite, double stuffed Oreo kinda girl. And I try to not buy Oreos more than once or twice a year. Less often, if I can avoid the temptation.

So why am I here with the Megan and Nic doing a cookie bake along that is about Oreos? Well, it's Oreos! If I could make them, and have to put the effort into making this very stiff dough, rolling, flattening, chilling, baking, the torture of cooling the cookies while making the overly sweet vanilla icing, then I might be less tempted to buy them!


Do you think you could resist?

Faux-Reos - King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion (Can you buy King Arthur Flour at a regular grocery store in the US? I must investigate!)

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (7 7/8 ounces) granulated sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks, 6 ounces) unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups (6 1/4 ounces) unbleached all- purpose flour
3/4 cup (2 1/4 ounces) Dutch-process cocoa powder

FILLING
1/2 envelope (1 teaspoon plus heaping 1/4 teaspoon) unflavored gelatin
2 tablespoons (1 ounce) cold water
1/2 cup (3 1/4 ounces) shortening
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups (10 ounces) confectioners’ sugar

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Add the salt, egg, water, and vanilla and beat until smooth. Beat in the flour and cocoa until well combined; the dough will be very stiff.
Roll the dough into balls about the size of a shelled chestnut, or a “shooter” marble - the big marble you use to shoot at the little ones. (For those unfamiliar with either chestnuts or marbles, this is about 2 level teaspoons of dough.) Place the balls on parchment-lined or lightly greased cookie sheets and flatten each ball until it’s 1/8 inch thick, using the bottom of a glass dipped in cocoa powder. You may also use a cookie stamp, for a more realistic faux-reo effect. To get a nice crisp cookie, it’s important to press them thin use a ruler on the first one so you can see just how thin 1/8 inch is. (If you press them thinner than 1/8 inch, you run the risk of having them burn.) Place the baking sheets in the refrigerator to chill the dough for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Bake the cookies for 18 minutes. It’s important to bake them just the right amount of time: too little and they won’t crisp properly; too much and they’ll scorch. Watch them closely at the end of the baking time, and at the first sign of darkening edges or first whiff of scorching chocolate, remove them from the oven immediately: Remove the cookies from the baking pans and cool them completely on a wire rack.

TO MAKE THE FILLING: Soften the gelatin in a cup containing the 2 tablespoons of cold water, then place the cup in a larger dish of hot water and leave it there until the gelatin is completely dissolved and the liquid is transparent. Remove the gelatin from the hot water and let it cool until it’s room temperature but hasn’t begun to set.
In a medium-sized mixing bowl, cream the shortening, then beat in the vanilla and the confectioners’ sugar, a little at a time, beating until the mixture is light and creamy Beat in the gelatin.
Sandwich the cookies, using about 1 1/2 teaspoons for regular faux-reos, more for double-stuffed. (You’ll have some filling left over if you fill the cookies moderately.)

If you want the flavor variations, go see Megan's post. But don't tell me about them because, frankly, messing with the traditional vanilla icing is a terrible thing to do and I don't want to know about it.