Root Beer Float Cakes
These cute and tasty root beer cakes make portable desserts in jars. Root Beer Float Cakes are a festive way to celebrate summer, or any season!
Everyone needs a little something like this every now and again… For no particular reason.
Giving a sweet to your sweeties lifts the spirits.
And who doesn’t love a root beer float?
Or desserts in jars for that matter.
I made these sweet little root beer cakes as a surprise for my babies (8 and 10.)
They came home from camp, hot and disheveled, to cool creamy root beer float cakes, individually packaged, just for them!
Words were unnecessary, they knew they were missed.
Desserts in jars make fabulous edible gifts, picnic items, and birthday party treats.
I often make little portable treats this way, then screw on the lids and store them until just the right moment.
A special occasion, perhaps.
Like today.
Or last night.
Or tomorrow morning.
Really any occasion calls for the essence of a sweet creamy root beer float.
And when you pull these root beer cakes out, any ordinary moment turns special, just like that!
The root beer cakes alone, are ultra tender with dark sassafras tones, from the combination of molasses, cocoa, and root beer.
The fine moist texture is based on super-fine Gold Medal Flour with just the right amount of moisture. I’m a big fan of Gold Medal Flour because they are so particular about the wheat they use and their milling process. It’s always consistent.
These root beer cakes are superb on their own, yet add the ice cream and extra root beer to ooze down and saturate the cake and you have something utterly irresistible.
Desserts in jars with intense nostalgic root beer float flavor!
Root Beer Float Cakes
Ingredients
For the Root Beer Cakes:
- 1 3/4 cup Gold Medal All Purpose Flour
- 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 12 ounces root beer
- 1/3 cup molasses
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 egg
For the Root Beer Float Cakes:
- 3 bottles root beer
- 1 quart California-made vanilla ice cream
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place 12 glass half-pint jars on a rimmed baking sheet. Mix the flour, baking powder, salt, cocoa and brown sugar together in a large bowl. Whisk in all the liquid ingredients until smooth.
- Use a scoop to evenly distribute the batter into the 12 jars. Pour in the center, so the batter doesn't run down the sides. Carefully place the baking sheet in the oven and bake the cakes for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cake comes out clean. Remove from the oven and cool to room temperature. Once cool, screw the lids on the jars to store.
- To serve, place one heaping scoop of vanilla ice cream on the top of each cake. Pour a scant amount of root beer over the ice cream so it fizzes up. Serve with a spoon!
Nutrition
Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Gold Medal Flour. All opinions are my own.
Can this be made in a cake pan? I want to make this for my brother’s Birthday but don’t have mason jars or a need and space for them right now. His Birthday is in December.
Yes, you’ll just have to watch the time, because I’m sure it will take a little longer to bake. Good luck!
These are the coolest root beer floats, ever! Such a great idea :)
Sommer these are just adorable! I love them!
Genius! These are so adorable and I bet they taste perfect :)
These are so cute!!! What a great idea – and they look so delicious!
These cakes look seriously AMAZING. I can’t wait to feature them on our site (and make a few of my own at home)!
What a fun idea Sommer, very creative! Love desserts in a jar ~ this reminds me of hot fudge brownie sundae.
Love the idea of a cake in a jar! Looks pretty sinful! :)
What a super-delicious idea, they are so cute!
These sound..ummmm..kinda amazing!!!!! I am sure your babies loved them!!
Oh these are just too adorable! I would have a hard time digging in because they are so pretty…but then I’d imagine how good they’d taste and I wouldn’t have a problem. Thank you for sharing!
Okay, so they are not quite the same, but I literally did root beer float cupcakes last week, which I will feature this week or next. How funny is that? Love yours in the jars.
PS – I got a nasty comment on my facebook page the other day because I did my raspberry limeade in mason jars. I was told is was “SO overdone”. I say screw ’em, let’s keep putting anything and everything into mason jars ;)
These are so adorbs, Sommer! Sorry I missed you on Friday. (My host company had an outage and I was struggling with that all day, on and off, and got behind on blog love.) Will pin to group boards. Thanks for sharing!
What a fun and tasty idea! Love your blog. Just found it. Thank you!
Root beer floats are my kids favorite!! Pinned these :)
Want! I’m loving these, Sommer. We’re big root beer float fans around here, and will find any excuse to use jars!!
if you had to use one pan, what size and how long would you bake it? I really don’t have storage space for all those jars.
Hi Nancy,
Try a 9×13 pan and check it after 15 minutes. It may take the whole 20-25. :)
Thank you – we are leaving tomorrow to meet some friends in Marco Island for a couple of days. Will make this when we get back. We are both suckers for a good root beer float!
very fun!