Chocolate Root Beer Bunt Cake

I only realized after making this cake that it would be such a contentious issue. Root beer has always been my favorite soda, but I took this for my co-workers, most of whom are not originally from the United States. I never realized that root beer could be so contentious.

Everyone liked this cake because it did not have as strong a root beer flavor-- it was primarily chocolate. I wanted a stronger flavor that was closer to a root

beer float or cream soda. The root beer taste was very strong in the original batter but dissipated during the baking process. Yet the chocolate flavor was intense, not too sweet, and the cake was both very dense and very moist. In the future, I will use dutch process cocoa (for a lighter flavor) or root beer extract.

Chocolate Root Beer Cake (taken from smitten kitchen)

Ingredients

• 2 cups root beer
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups (8.5 oz) all purpose flour
• 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease/flour your bunt pan
2. Heat root beer, butter and cocoa powder in saucepan until combined
3. Add eggs one at a time and sugar. Mix thoroughly and let cool
4. In separate bowl, sift together flour, salt and baking powder
5. Add root beer mix to flour mixture, folding gently and not overmixing
6. Bake 30-40 minutes until tester comes out clean
7. Let cool completely and serve with whipped cream and vanilla ice cream.