Root beer floats are super tasty. A week ago I was craving one like whoa. But can you believe no ice cream shop was open at 9:30pm? Uncool, for real.
When I think of root beer floats, I believe that vanilla has to be a flava-flave that’s large and in charge. So I went with a vanilla bean whoopie pie with a root beer filling.
And then I wasn’t sure if it was root beery enough so I crushed up some root beer candies to roll a side of these in*. It worked out! And these tasted like the fountain beverage that I needed a week ago, on a Monday, at 9:30pm!
*The candy wasn’t pretty on the sides though! So I’d recommend putting the root beer candies in a food processor until it’s a fine powder and mixing it in with the frosting.
And since this was for the same birthday par-tay as those Chocolate Malt Cupcakes, I made flags for these too! You can download more fun flags down there, if ya want!
I have confidence in your flag assembly. The truth is, I bet you guys have better scissor-skills than I do.
Download the flag templates right here: Root Beer float Whoopie Pie Flags or click here if you just want flags for any old birthday treat: Happy Birthday Flags.
Root Beer Float Whoopie Pies {makes 48 cookies, so 2 dozen sandwiches}
Recipe adapted from Whoopie Pies
Ingredients:
vanilla bean cakes –
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 t baking powder
- 1/2 t salt
- 1 stick butter (8T), at room temperature
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 2 T milk
- 1 t baking soda
- 1 t white vinegar
- seeds from 1 vanilla bean or 1 t vanilla extract
- Root Beer Swiss Meringue Buttercream (recipe below)
Directions:
- Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 375°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or with a hand mixer), cream together the butter, and both sugars until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and buttermilk and beat until combined.
- In a measuring cup, combine the milk, baking soda, and vinegar. Add the milk mixture to the batter along with the flour mixture and beat on low until just combined. Add the vanilla beans or vanilla extract and beat on medium for about 2 minutes or until completely combined.
- Using a small cookie scoop, drop 1 tablespoon of batter onto the prepared one of the prepared baking sheets and repeat, spacing them at least 2 inches apart. Bake one sheet at a time for about 10 minutes each or until the edges of the cakes begin to brown. Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before filling.
Assembling:
Pair up the vanilla whoopies up by size. Pipe the root beer swiss meringue buttercream onto one of each pair and then top with the other whoopie. Press together slightly so the buttercream reaches the edges. Top with a flag.
Root beer flavoring looks pretty with pink.
Root Beer Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Recipe adapted from Whisk-Kid
Ingredients:
- 5 large egg whites
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2 t root beer flavoring
- root beer hard candies (crushed in a food processor*), to taste
* If you don’t have a food processor you can place the candies in a gallon bag and crush them with a hammer. Sprinkle them on top of the frosting before topping.
Directions:
- Whisk the egg whites and sugar together in the bowl of your stand mixer or another bowl that’s heat proof. Place bowl over a pot of simmering water (double-boiler style) and whisk constantly until sugar is dissolved. It takes about 5 minutes. You can test whether the sugar is dissolved by sticking your finger in the mixture and seeing if it’s grainy or not. When it’s no longer grainy remove from the double boiler.
- Beat on high speed using your stand mixer or an electric hand mixer for 10-15 minutes, or until the egg white mixture has turned into meringue and has increased in volume and is marshmallowy and glossy. The bottom of the bowl should be room temperature by this time.
- At this point start adding the butter, 1 tablespoon at a time. Waiting until the butter is incorporated before adding more. If it helps, count to 15 between adding the butter.
- Once all the butter is added add the root beer flavoring and crushed root beer candies. Keep whipping until nice and smooth and fabulous, only a couple minutes more. If it gets curdled-looking, just keep whipping and it’ll smooth out. If it gets too runny, refrigerate for about 15 minutes and then keep whipping. Otherwise, fill your piping bag and pipe this frosting onto the flat side of half of the whoopie pies.
TIP: For more help on this buttercream and step by step photos click here: Whisk Kid
Root beer barrel candies. A dollar store miracle!
Best idea ever! Oh my gosh! I crave root beer floats now and then too. I wish I had some of these in my house already.
Thanks Dana! Now I need one for lunch. 🙂
delightful! i love root beer floats…what a fun idea!
Thanks, Cindy! Root beer floats are where it’s at.