Root Beer Bundt Cake

My brother, lil sister, and her BFF are coming down this week to go to Comic Con! I'm very excited to see them and have some fun times. I was realizing there was something from when they were visiting in March that I hadn't posted about yet, so I decided to get on it.

This is a recipe from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking, my favorite cookbook. They actually have a second cookbook and are working on a third, but I'm still loving the first so I haven't gone out and gotten the second yet. I'm about done with all of the recipes from the first, so I'm thinking it won't be too long before the second makes it's way onto my bookshelf.

This cake is one I'd been wanting to make for a while, but I actually don't have a bundt pan. (It's on the registry list now). When Kate and I were looking through the cookbook and decided we wanted to make this I got a pan from a friend, and we went at it.

Ingredients <pic1>
Cake

• 2 cups root beer (do not use diet root beer)
• 1 cup dark unsweetened cocoa powder
• 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 ounces dark chocolate (60% cacao), melted and cooled slightly
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 cup root beer
• 2/3 cup dark unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

Preheat oven to 325. Spray or butter a bundt pan and dust with flour. Knock out excess flour. (I wasn't too good at that step, and ended up with a lot of flour in the pan, as you'll see when the cake comes out. But, frosting covers it all up.)  

In a small saucepan, heat the root beer, cocoa powder, and butter over medium heat until the butter is melted.<pic2> Add the sugars and whisk until dissolved. Remove from the heat and let cool.<pic 3>


In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together.<pic4>


In a small bowl, whisk the eggs until just beaten,<pic5> then whisk them into the cooled cocoa mixture until combined. Gently fold the flour mixture into the cocoa mixture.<pic6> The batter will be slightly lumpy--do not overbeat, as it could cause the cake to be tough.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan<pic7&8> and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time, until a small sharp knife inserted into the cake comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool completely. Gently loosen the sides of the cake from the pan and turn it out onto the rack.<pic9>

Now make the frosting. The instructions are to put all ingredients in the food processor, and pulse til it's shiny and smooth. I don't have a food processor, so we just used the hand mixer. Put all ingredients in a bowl, and mix. Pour frosting over the cake and see the excess flour you had in the pan disappear!

This wasn't my favorite thing I've made from the cook book, and I wanted a bit of a stronger root beer flavor, so next time I'd add more root beer or try to find root beer schnapps as they suggest. Overall it is a yummy chocolate cake!