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Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Root Beer Float Cake with Root Beer Glaze



I had a yellow cake mix that I needed to use soon, but I wanted to do something different with it. I found this recipe last week and decided to try it at Richard's request for his and Ben's birthday party on Sunday. I'll give you the recipe as written and add some comments onto the end.



Ingredients

1 (18.25 once) package yellow cake mix
12 fl. ounces root beer
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
3 tablespoons root beer

Root Beer Glaze

Combine the confectioners sugar and 3 tablespoons of root beer in a small bowl. Beat until smooth.

Cake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 10 inch Bundt pan. *I greased and "sugared" our Bundt pan instead and I recommend this because it adds a lovely caramelized crunch to the outside.

In a medium bowl, stir together the cake mix, 12 ounces root beer, oil and eggs until smooth. Pour batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool cake in pan for 15 minutes before inverting on to a wire rack to cool completely. Poke holes in the cake with a skewer at 2 inch intervals. Pour Root Beer Glaze evenly over the cake.

Serve with vanilla ice cream to make it a "root beer float." Serves approximately 14, or one, 10-inch Bundt cake.


***Here are some things I noticed and did differently and some other suggestions given by reviewers of the original recipe:
  • Many people complained online that the cake didn't have enough of a root beer flavor. If you'd like a little bit more of a root beer flavor, I suggest adding 1 teaspoon-1 tablespoon root beer extract to the cake batter.
  • We tripled the root beer glaze. This made the cake nice and moist and gooey and increased the root beer flavor. I suggest at least doubling it. If you add more root beer it will be more of a sauce, if you add more confectioners' sugar, it will be more of a frosting.
  • One reviewer suggested removing the cake, pouring the glaze in the pan, then putting the cake back in the pan (up side down) and letting the cake soak up the glaze. To increase the distribution of the glaze, I poked about 2-3 times as many holes in the cake as the recipe suggested and I thought this worked really well.
  • Instead of a glaze, one reviewer adds root beer to whipped cream.
  • The person who submitted the recipe online crushes up root beer candies and sprinkles them on the top when she serves her cake.
  • Nutrition Information: 240 calories, total fat: 9.3 g, cholesterol: 46 mg.

6 comments:

  1. This does look fun and I'd like to try it. I even have all the ingredients. Thanks Marijke!

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  2. This looks really interesting. Did you guys like it?

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  3. I'm trying it tonight with some root beer floats...some friends are coming over so I hope I get it right!! Sounds really good. Thanks!

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  4. I bet kids would love making this cake! Somehow, I don't think the folks in London will like it as much (I've heard their medicine is flavored like root beer). It's so fun to read this blog! Some day I'll get brave and make some of this yumminess.

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  5. Alison, i wasn't too sure about the idea when I first found the recipe, but I was really surprised and happy with outcome. We all liked it and there weren't any leftovers.

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