Root Beer Float Cupcakes are a fun & tasty spin on traditional Root Beer Floats! Root Beer flavoring in both the cupcake & the frosting make these soft & flavorful cupcakes perfect for a party!
These cuties have great flavor and my kids loved the festive touches. They’re perfect for Memorial Day barbecues and fun events. Made with a boxed cake mix base these cupcakes have been enhanced with root beer flavorings and soda so that every bite is incredible. The best part is that this recipe doesn’t require much effort and can easily be prepped in advance. Plan your next party or get together and remember to add these soda cupcakes to the dessert table.
What are root beer float cupcakes?
Rootbeer floats are a traditional drink and beverage but serving them up with a creative twist like this is always an unexpected surprise. We love these easy to make root beer flavored cupcakes and I’m sure you will enjoy them just as much. The cake base and the frosting both contain a great amount of root beer flavor in each so every bite is sure to be a delight!
Root Beer Float Cupcakes Ingredients
-Cake mix: The base of this cupcake recipe is a box of vanilla cake mix.
-Root beer: We want to use 1 cup of root beer soda in our cake mix base. This will help to get a great flavor and texture from the cake thanks to the carbonation.
-Root beer extract: To enhance the root beer flavor we want 1 tablespoon of root beer flavored extract. You can buy this in the baking section of your grocery store.
-Vegetable oil: We need fats in our cake to make it turn out moist and fabulous, so 1/2 cup of vegetable oil is perfect.
-Eggs: Just like the back of your cake mix box says, you’ll need 3 eggs to help bind the cake together and leaven properly.
For the Frosting, You Will Need:
-Butter: We want 1 cup of softened butter for the frosting (this is 2 sticks worth of butter).
-Root beer extract: One tablespoon of root beer extract means our frosting will be well flavored.
-Powdered sugar: To give our frosting a smooth consistency and sweetness we want 4-5 cups of powdered sugar.
-Root Beer: To help us thin down the frosting without taking away flavor we want to use 4-5 tablespoons of root beer soda, but the actual amount will vary, so add slowly.
How to make root beer float cupcakes
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F and line a cupcake pan with paper liners (this makes for an easier clean-up later).
In a large bowl, mix together the cake mix, root beer, the extract, oil, and eggs, until well combined.
Spoon the batter into the prepared cupcake liners and fill them about 2/3s ord the way full.
Bake in the oven for 15-18 minutes and let cool completely before frosting.
Prepare the frosting by beating together the ingredients with an electric mixer until smooth.
Put the frosting into a bag and snip the corner. Pipe onto the cupcakes and top with a cherry for garnish along with a straw, if desired. Enjoy!
ROOTBEER FLOAT CUPCAKES
Ingredients
Root Beer Cupcakes
- 15 oz vanilla cake mix
- 1 cup root beer
- 1 TBSP root beer extract
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 3 eggs
Root Beer Buttercream Frosting
- 1 cup salted butter softened
- 1 TBSP root beer extract
- 4-5 cups powdered sugar
- 3-4 TBSP root beer
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a cupcake pan with paper liners.
- Mix together cake mix with the root beer, extract, oil and eggs until well combined. Spoon batter into each paper liner, filling them about 2/3 full. Bake for 15-18 minutes. Cool completely.
- For the frosting, beat together all ingredients using an electric mixer until smooth. Pipe onto cupcakes. Top with a cherry and garnish with a straw, if desired.
Nutrition
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What kind of root beer should I use?
Use your favorite kind of root beer and you really can’t go wrong. Even if it means zero calorie, no sugar or another variety.
Where to find root beer extract?
You can find this in some grocery stores like Walmart or Kroger, it would be near other extracts in the baking aisle. Other stores may vary as it seems to not be as popular extract flavor as others but you can also look at online retailers if desired. While vanilla extract won’t give you as strong of a root beer flavor, it could be used in place of the root beer extract. The two are interchangeable but you will still have a very subtle rootbeer flavor and no nearly as strong as if you used the extract itself.
If you liked these Root Beer Float Cupcakes you may want to try a few of our other favorite Summer dessert recipes:
- Easy Kool Aid Sherbet
- Little Lemon Drops
- Strawberries and Cream Bites
- Raspberry Meltaway Cookies
- Mint Chocolate Pudding Cookies
- Copycat Swig Cookies
- Harry Potter ButterBeer recipe
- Strawberry Banana Ice Cream Float
- Fruity Summertime Treats
- Glazed Strawberry Bundt Cake
- Banana Split Pie
- Flower Pot Cookies
- Easy Lemon Cheesecake Bars
- Cookie Salad
- Cookies and Cream Ice Cream Sandwiches
- Rich and Creamy Grape Salad
Root Beer Float Cupcakes are a fun & tasty spin on traditional Root Beer Floats! Root Beer flavoring in both the cupcake & the frosting make these soft & flavorful cupcakes perfect for a party!
Alli @ Cupcake Diaries says
Thank you so much for the kind words! Seriously, I appreciate it and for your willingness to help me promote my cookbook. I’m glad you and your family enjoyed the cupcakes!
Shambray Matthews says
These look AMAZING! I will have to try them really soon!
Jessica says
I hope you like them!
Nancy says
Hi,
These look amazing and I wanted to make them today, but I can’t find root beer extract. Our stores only seem to carry concentrate. Does it matter?
Jessica says
I think the concentrate might be pretty different. Did you check Walmart? They seem to have the most extracts around where I am. I bought mine at a Kroger store though. Another idea is Walmart in the cake decorating section, or Michael’s- the craft store. If all else fails, I think I linked to it on Amazon! I hope you can find it- they’re super tasty. 😉
Trisha says
Couldn’t find extract either. Wonder of vanilla would make it taste about the same??
Nancy says
Our granddaughter will LOVE making these! She is ten years old and loves the TV show Cupcake Wars!!
Jessica says
She certainly would! They’re so fun!
Paula says
I’m making these tonight my boss she loves rootbeer. They look good..
Jessica says
I hope you both enjoy them!!
Jessi hayslett says
I have a question, I made these and they was a huge hit! I’m making these again for my Memorial Day cookout. I’m not a special Baker of some sort I just have a question for the frosting I also have to make a birthday cake for 3 different. Now with the frosting is this considered butter cream icing?
Jessica says
Yes, the frosting is a rootbeer flavored buttercream. 😉 glad you liked them!
Jill says
I have made them 2 times with concentrate and they turn out amazing still!
Courtney says
I know this is an old post but I have a question.. Did you put something in your cupcakes to give them the brown color? I made mine with the exact ingredients but they look like vanilla cupcakes with a slight tint. Nowhere near the color your cup cakes are.
Jessica says
It’s just the root beer extract. I’m guessing different brands will yield different results. Maybe add a bit more?
MHope says
Made these for my sons birthday and they were an ABSOLUTE hit!!!!
Nice subtle rootbeer flavour and they smell just as amazing as they taste!!! I would even add more rootbeer concentrate next time!!
I used room temperature rootbeer also so that my icing didn’t seize up. I also made a batch of plain vanilla butter cream and swirled the two colors in the piping bag to give the icing that icecream swirl look. I used maraschino cherries along with candy cherries and cherry blast candies from Bulk Barn incase kids & adults didn’t like the maraschino ones. I will definitely be making these again!!! Thank you!!!!
Alison says
Thanks for sharing your tips! So glad they worked out so well for your son’s birthday!
Shelly says
Hi Alison. These look delicious and easy. I have request to make these for a wedding. Have you ever made them with diet root beer. I was going to make a batch to sample and just trying to keep the sugars lower.
Jessica says
I think it’d work just fine with diet root beer!
Jay says
Delicious! I made these for New Years and my family loved them!
Diana says
What a great looking dessert! I just know that my kids would go bananas for this!
Hanna says
Ok, these are adorable and I can’t wait to try them. I love everything root beer!
Val Agnew says
My husband and mom loved this recipe. I used half butter and half cream cheese for the frosting. It is the only frosting my mom raved about.
Sharon Strickland says
Can the root beer cupcakes be made into a bundt cake?
Nicole says
Yes, you can turn this cupcake recipe into a bundt cake instead. Just bake the bundt cake according to the time and temp listed on the back of the box of cake mix and you should be good. Use a toothpick to double check that it has been fully cooked through before removing from the oven. Enjoy! 🙂
marissa gasso says
I know this has been posted for several years now, but just made them last week and they were a hit. Any suggestions for the brand of rootbeer that might give a little bit stronger rootbeer flavor?
Jessica says
Did you use the rootbeer extract + the rootbeer? That’s how it’ll have a stronger flavor!