I’m not quite ready to declare my love for bundts in the same way Mary has, but I do think they’re pretty awesome. If I’m honest, a big part of the reason I’m such a fan is that I stink at making layer cakes – their final appearance never lives up to the vision in my head (I’ve made my fair share of lopsided cakes whose frosting was anything but attractive). Bundts are just less stressful, and since I stress unnecessarily over pretty much everything, that’s a very good thing. I’m also a giant fan of my mini bundt pan – it’s the perfect size (6 cup) for halving almost any standard bundt recipe. Not only is a mini bundt cuter, but I find it easier to share since it’s a very manageable amount of dessert.
I recently acquired a copy of Baked, and of course I was immediately drawn to this root beer bundt as I flipped through the pages of the book. I’m actually not a fan of root beer, but I hoped the flavor wouldn’t be too strong, and that the root beer would instead enhance the chocolate flavor. That pretty much proved to be the case – the cake was super rich and chocolatey with maybe just a hint of root beer flavor. The flavor of my cake was probably even intensified a bit, since I made the cake one night, wrapped it in plastic and didn’t get around to frosting it until 2 days later. Speaking of the frosting, here it is made in the food processor, and let me tell you – making frosting in the food processor is where it’s at. If I didn’t hate cleaning my food processor so much, I don’t think I’d ever make frosting in my stand mixer again. It’s so easy – throw in all the ingredients, pulse a few times, and voila – perfect frosting! This frosting was out of this world good, whatever you do, don’t skip the frosting. The authors recommend serving a scoop of vanilla ice cream with your slice of root beer bundt, and I wholeheartedly agree – it’ll cut the richness a tad, and turn your dessert into a fun root beer float!
Finally, in case you were curious about the fridge/freezer clean-out I mentioned yesterday, we successfully tackled that chore after dinner last night. 4+ bags of garbage later, here’s where we stand:
Salvaged in the freezer were a carton of ice cream, an assortment of nuts, a bag of graham flour, one pork tenderloin and my little bags of lemon, lime and orange zest. Oh, and several miscellaneous ice packs, I have no idea when we acquired so many of those. The fridge now houses milk, heavy cream, eggs, butter, chicken, a bottle of tequila, a few sodas and Shane’s protein fuel stuff (that’s the technical term 🙂 ) for his training – most of which was purchased after we got power back earlier this week. Every time I open the fridge or freezer it reminds me of the days right after we moved into our house, when there was maybe a box of leftover pizza in there and not much else 🙂 It’s definitely time to go shopping!
Root Beer Bundt Cake
from Baked by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito
(This is the full recipe, but I halved it (as usual), which worked perfectly in my 6-cup pan. Also, the baking time for my mini was pretty close to the time listed in the recipe (not typical, usually it’s shorter), so I suspect you may need to add a few minutes if you make a full size bundt.)
Cake
2 cups root beer (not diet)
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Hershey’s Special Dark)
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
Frosting
2 oz semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled slightly
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup root beer
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
Preheat oven to 325 F. Spray a 12-cup bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray with flour.
Set a small saucepan over medium heat and add the root beer, cocoa powder and butter. Heat until the butter is melted then add the sugars and whisk to incorporate and dissolve. Turn off the heat under the pan and set aside to cool.
Whisk the flour, baking soda and salt together in a medium bowl.
Beat the eggs in a small bowl with a fork then add them to the cooled cocoa mixture. Don’t be worried if the batter is a bit lumpy, just don’t overmix or the cake will be tough.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely then turn out.
To make the frosting: Add all of the ingredients to the bowl of your food processor. Pulse until the frosting is shiny and smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice.
Frost the top of the cooled bundt cake using an offset spatula. Let the frosting set before serving.
As you know, I am a huge lover of root beer. But for some reason when it comes to desserts, I stay away from root beer things, mostly because they remind me of root beer candy – which I hate. But you said that it just enhances the chocolate in this, so I may need to actually try this one.
@Erin – I definitely didn’t think the root beer flavor was strong. I searched for other bloggers who’ve made the cake and it seems a majority felt the same way I did. There were a few who thought it was more prominent, maybe it depends on the kind of root beer used? For what it’s worth, I bought Jones soda for mine.
Root beer cake, interesting. I really like the look of that frosting though!
I absolutely hate cleaning the fridge (dad exploiting my youngness to get him out of cleaning things), but once it’s done, I feel so accomplished. Then, everything gets messy again. Kind of sad really. Oh well, at least you have some things to keep you going for a few days 🙂
What a cute cake. Sadly, some of the blog reviews I’ve read about Baked have been less than wonderful so I haven’t gotten a copy. But this recipe looks pretty good. My kids would love it for sure.
I love root beer flavor. And bundt cakes. I’m just not skilled with layer cakes, either. Glad your fridge cleaning chore is finished! The fun part will be filling it up again. I know I’m pretty unique in this, but I heart grocery shopping.
I almost didn’t look at this post, because I abhor root beer, but on the other hand my hubby loves it. So if it isn’t too strong a flavor maybe I’ll try this. Just curious where did you pick up your 6 cup bundt pan? I’ve had trouble locating one here. Thank you!!
This has been a big hit here in the office, thanks for making it!
I’ve seen this recipe a few different places and have been wanting to try it. I like root beer flavor so I need to get the extract too and include that!
Yours is gorgeous and I’m eager to try the food processor frosting! Think it’ll work for any kind of buttercream frosting?
@Melanie – it was a gift, but I believe it’s from Amazon. This one looks a lot like mine:
http://www.amazon.com/Nordic-Ware-Pro-Form-Bundt/dp/B000BRGMUO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1314986192&sr=8-2
@Natalie – I was wondering the same thing about the frosting. I think it’d work for most basic buttercream recipes. I’ll be trying a few so I’ll report back 🙂
Oh, sure, you lure me over here with Root Beer in the title (because I have been skipping all chocolate posts lately for just that reason…too much looking at chocolate you know), root beer is something I love, and when I show up, it’s CHOCOLATE! Nice trick. lol Your frig sure is clean!
That is way cute with the sprinkles on top! I think you’ve sold me on trying this one.
I think this looks really incredible! I want to eat this right now!
I love root beer. The float idea is perfect 🙂
The cake looks great, Tracey! I love the sprinkles! I have made this cake a couple times and actually asked the Baked boys about it when I met them at their book-signing since I didn’t think it had quite enough root beer flavor for a root beer cake (they recommended natural root beer or liquoeur).
Your refrigerator is so clean. I would totally take pictures if mine was so clean.
Your cake looks great!
And I’m envious of your fridge/freezer. I’m pretty sure that if I tried it, it would require at least 10 bags of groceries.
I love the Baked cookbook! I could flip through that for hours… I’ve got that malted milk ball cake on my list of recipes to try.
This cake looks rich and delicious! I love the flavor of rootbeer! I really need to clean out my fridge and freezer! I am slowly working my way through all the stuff in there, but it is hard to just use up all the old stuff, before you buy more! I am not the creative one who can just go and grab a few things to throw together a great meal.
I’m actually a huge fan of root beer and have shied away from this cake because all the reports I’ve read say that the rb flavor is very subtle. So I’m still on the fence…
Crazy how empty your fridge and freezer are! You’ll have fun filling it, no doubt.
That’s quite delish. It’s kinda enticing.
This is the sort of thing my hubby would love! Definitely going to bookmark it. And frosting in a food processor? Love it. 🙂
This is the sort of thing my hubby would love! Definitely going to bookmark it. And frosting in a food processor? Love it. 🙂
This is the sort of thing my hubby would love! Definitely going to bookmark it. And frosting in a food processor? Love it. 🙂
This is the sort of thing my hubby would love! Definitely going to bookmark it. And frosting in a food processor? Love it. 🙂
Now this is a recipe I have not come across before. I love root beer and I love the idea of this cake. I am very intrigued now and really want to try this.
I think my root beer lovin’ daughter would approve! I do much better with Bundt cakes, too~
Frosting in a food processor sounds pretty cool. I will have to try that next time. Thanks for sharing this post…I saw this recipe in the Baked book and was on the fence if I would ever try this. I don’t care for root beer. But your review makes me want to give it a try. It looks decadently delicious!
Such a festive-looking bundt! I made this one a few years ago and remember thinking it needed more root beer flavor, but I probably just needed to be more patient and let it sit for a day or two. I love root beer, so I need to revisit this one.
I always wash my processor in the dishwasher – gasp! I’m guessing this is a big no-no, but it’s 10 years old so I think it’s used to the abuse. 🙂
i also love the mini bundt pan, it’s cute and the perfect size. I bought 2 so I could eat a cake and share or freeze a cake.
This recipe looks delish, looks like a good recipe for book club tomorrow night. Thanks.
Have a great weekend. Glad you have power and a freezer!
So I gave up drinking pop; however, I have a half a case of cherry dr. pepper in my pantry needing to be used. I was searching for desserts made with pop when I saw this…. I am def going to have to try this with the dr. pepper. I’m actually kinda excited to try this with it!