Chocolate Root Beer Cake

This root beer cake is a moist and delicious chocolate bundt cake with a root beer float glaze that will take you back to your childhood, slurping up those frozen root beer floats!

I spent most of my youth in Texas. I grew up in the suburbs of Houston with my brother and parents. My brother had just begun dabbling with computers (hello TRS-80) and with two professional parents working, my summers were left for to figure out.

My dad, the American, introduced me to root beer and I quickly fell in love with it. My mom is Persian and didn’t care for the stuff. This chocolate root beer cake always takes me back to those long lazy summer days of my childhood.

What is a root beer float?

Not surprising, I introduced root beer to my kiddos. My boys love it, my girl isn’t so keen on it. It was a hot and boring summer day when I really changed my kids’ lives and introduced the root beer float to them.

If you are not from the US, you may not have heard about a float. Basically, you get a tall glass and add a couple scoops of vanilla ice cream. Then slowly pour root beer over the ice cream and watch it foam. 

Now, happily and carelessly drink it all up! Yes, my kids’ lives were magically changed after that. And I quickly regretted introducing them to a root beer float because they’ve been wanting it everyday for the rest of that summer!

That creamy old fashioned root beer float you see here? That’s made by my friend Jenni and she has a delicious recipe that also uses whip cream to make it the best root beer float recipe!

How about a root beer float cake?

I saw this recipe for root beer cake in a cookbook (see recipe below) and I fell in love! It is a super moist chocolate bundt cake with root beer baked into it. Simply combine root beer, cocoa powder and butter in a saucepan and heat them up together.

Mix in the sugar and let it dissolve. Then let the cocoa mixture cool before whipping in the flour, eggs and remaining ingredients. I baked this into a bundt ban, but you can also bake this in two 8 or 9-inch round cake pans to make a layered cake. 

How to serve your root beer cake

My favorite part of this cake is the final chocolate root beer float glaze that gets drizzled all over it. I made this cake for the Professor’s 10th birthday and he and his friends ate it all up. We were licking our plates clean, it was that good.

I upped the sugar factor and served it with a glass of root beer. It’s a birthday thing, you know. You could even add a scoop of vanilla ice cream with a cherry on top!

Use your favorite root beer in this recipe. It can be A&W, Barq’s, Dad’s or IBC. Even locally made root beer is fine. Just choose the flavor you personally like and let it shine in this root beer cake!

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Yield: serves 10-12

Chocolate Root Beer Cake

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This root beer cake is a moist and delicious chocolate bundt cake with a root beer float glaze that will take you back to your childhood, slurping up those frozen root beer floats! Adapted from the cookbook, Baked: New Frontiers in Baking.

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes

Additional Time 2 hours

Total Time 3 hours 5 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cup root beer
• 1 1/3 cup dark unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 2 cup all purpose flour
• 1 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 TBS unsalted butter, softened

Instructions

1. In a small sauce pan, combine 2 cups root beer, 1 cup cocoa powder and 1/2 cup butter over medium heat.
2. Stir often until the butter is melted.
3. Whisk in granulated and brown sugars until dissolved.
4. Remove from heat and let cocoa mixture cool to room temperature.
5. Position an oven rack to the lower third of the oven and preheat it to 325ºF.
6. Spray a 10-inch Bundt pan generously with nonstick cooking spray.
7. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and 1 tsp salt.
8. Whisk in eggs into cooled cocoa mixture.
9. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, and slowly pour in and stir the wet ingredients into the dry. The batter will be slightly lumpy.
10. Don't overmix the batter. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan.
11. Bake the cake until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean, about 45-50 minutes.
12. Let the cake cool for at least 30 minutes in the pan before gently loosening the sides of the cake from the pan and inverting it onto a wire rack to cool completely (spray the rack lightly with nonstick spray before inverting the cake to prevent it from sticking as it finishes cooling).
13. To make the glaze, whisk together powdered sugar, 1/3 cup cocoa powder, 1/4 tsp salt, vanilla, 1/4 cup root beer and 3 TBS butter in a medium-sized bowl.
14. You can adjust the glaze to your taste by thinning it (adding more root beer) or thickening it (by adding more powdered sugar).
15. Spoon the glaze over the cake and let it drip down the sides. Let the glaze set for 15 minutes or so before serving.

Notes

Serve alone or with a glass of root beer and a scoop of vanilla ice cream!

Recommended Products

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• 
  Baked: New Frontiers in Baking
• 
  10-inch Bundt Pan with Handles
• 
  A&W Root Beer Float Dessert Topper

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

12

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 418Total Fat: 12gSaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 59mgSodium: 396mgCarbohydrates: 73gFiber: 2gSugar: 51gProtein: 5g