Soda Shoppe Sweethearts

Another week, another yumcake.  The title of today's post has a dual meaning to me.  One, it was the name of a show that yours truly performed during one of my summers at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom (now deceased).  Two, it is inspired by this weeks yumcake.   I have always preferred a coke float over a root beer float, but what fun is a coke float yumcake?  Its not.  However, a root beer float yumcake not only sounds yummy, but I will show you how to make this gem look yummy for a kid’s birthday, for your "Soda Shoppe Sweetheart" themed party, or just for when you need a pick me up :).

I am constantly searching online for different cupcake flavors that inspire me.  There is a lot of buzz about root beer cupcakes, so I thought, "Why not?"  The truth is, most of the recipes require a root beer extract.  I made up my mind before going to the grocery however that I didn't want to spend money on the extract; they are always so expensive.  (not to mention, who has ever seen root beer extract at the grocery store).  I thought I might be able to find it here in NYC, but then that makes it that more difficult for YOU to try my recipe, so I went in a different direction.  I continued my search and found another blogger who obviously had my same thoughts.  She took a root beer bundt cake recipe and made it into cupcakes. 

I really wanted to put my own spin on this new age cupcake, and almost all of the pictures I saw had straws sticking out of the cupcake (adorable!), but none of them were home made. A HA!  THAT’S where mine are going to be different.  Matt and I were recently watching an episode of Chopped where a guy made decorative sugar sticks by heating up sugar and water to a very high temp and then cooling and molding.  This was my plan of attack.  I have no candy thermometer, I’ve never made candy in my life, but this is what this is about right?  Challenging myself?  Pushing my boundaries?  YES!  Homemade sugar straws, here I come!

I ran into the grocery store after work, and just decided to glance and see if root beer extract existed at good ol’ Key Foods.  Not to my surprise, I didn’t find it.  Oh well, stick to the plan.  As I was standing in line chatting it up with my favorite check out girls, something caught my eye, chocolate covered biscuit sticks (also perfect for straws).  In case of a major sugar disaster, I put them up on the counter.

In my recipe search I saw a couple of recipes with Apple Cider Vinegar.  The one that I chose didn’t end up having it, but I decided to add it anyway.  I like to keep Apple Cider Vinegar in the house because it is delicious in soups and stews.  It is the ingredient that will make your dinner guests say, “What is that in there?”  It’s one of my secret ingredients that I am passing on to you!

Here is my recipe for 'Soda Shoppe Sweetheart' yumcakes 
(revised from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking)

350 F - 20 Min - 24 yumcakes

1 ½ cups root beer (don’t use diet, you need the sugar)

¼ cup apple cider vinegar

1 cup dark unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup (1 stick or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs

½ cup additional root beer

3 teaspoons additional sugar

1. In a bowl, let the vinegar and root beer sit together for 5 minutes, or while you are getting the next step together.
2. Combine the cocoa powder, butter and root beer/vinegar mixture n a saucepan and heat until butter is melted.
3. Wisk in both sugars until dissolved, remove from heat and cool
4. In a separate bowl sift together flour, baking soda and salt.
5. Whisk the eggs a little bit in a bowl and once the cocoa mixture is cooled, and I mean cooled (you don’t want to cook the eggs), whisk the eggs into the cocoa mixture.
6. Mix the flour mixture in with the cocoa mixture, a little at a time.  Again I like my cakes airy, so I would mix it well!
7. Put into lined baking cups and bake for 20 minutes.
8. Once the cupcakes are in the oven, heat the extra root beer and sugar on the stove until the sugar dissolves.  Once the sugar is dissolved, raise the temperature and bring to a boil.  Once you have reached the boil, lower the temp and simmer until the yumcakes are done. 
9. Once out of the over, brush the tops of the yumcakes with the root beer syrup...a couple of times.

Double, Double, Toil and Trouble

For Frosting:

3 sticks of unsalted butter, softened

1 ½ cups confectioner’s sugar

¼ to ½ cup milk (whatever you have in the fridge will work)

1. Combine the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
2. Slowly mix in the milk until the frosting has reached the consistency you like.
3. Mix on high for about 5 minutes.

For sugar straws:

1 cup sugar

½ cup water

½ teaspoon cream of tartar*

cookie sheet with sides

PAM cooking spray

*Cream of tartar is used as a stabilizing agent often.  It is used in angel food cake.  If you bake a lot I would suggest getting it.  It isn’t cheap, but it will go a reallllllyyy long way.

1. Combine the sugar, water and cream of tartar in a saucepan and bring to a boil.  Watch very carefully; do not let it turn brown.
2. While sugar is heating, completely cover the cookie sheet with the PAM
3. If you are a psychic then you can predict when the sugar is done, but if you’re like me, then as soon as you see it turning color take it off the heat and put it in the pan to cool.  If you are a pro, then it should be heated to 300 degrees
4. The sugar is ridiculously hot.  It will burn you.  If you have surgical gloves lying around the house (I took some from work), then you will want to have those to work with the sugar.  The sugar reminds me of hot glue.  Once it sticks to your skin, it doesn’t come off easily. Be careful!

**The sugar, once cooled, can be reheated so it will mold easily for you.

Now, lets talk baker to baker.  The cupcakes did not taste like root beer (at all really), which can only mean one thing, if you want to have root beer cupcakes; you have to buy the extract. L  Secondly, while I discovered a butter cream that I actually liked, it’s not right for this cupcake.  Simple vanilla whipped cream is the way to go, and if the heavy cream that I bought from the store wouldn’t have been curdled (don’t ever buy dairy on sale), I would have made that.  Now, onto the straws.  They were possibly the ugliest straws known to man, but tasted like Willy Wonka made them himself, delic!  So what have we learned boys and girls?  Sometimes we fail and what we are trying to achieve, but good things always come from it.  AKA: I found a butter cream I can stand, I played with sugar, and I discovered a really excellent chocolate cake recipe, none of which I planned to accomplish with this weeks yumcake.  On to the next yummmmmmy cake.

Soda Shoppe Sweetheart w/ homemade straws!

Soda Shoppe Sweetheart w/ better straws :)