Simpler Living Blog

Behind the Scenes At Lehmans: A Sweet 16!

Andi's Root Beer Float cupcakes — Here you can see the final chocolate-rootbeer cupcake, the ‘root beer float’ topping, and the ‘ice cream’ scoop. Lehman’s USA-made muffin pans are a perfect fit for cute cupcakes too!

Andi Williams joined Lehman’s merchant group just over two months ago, but she’s already served up a great treat for Country Life! She shared photos of the cupcakes she served from her son’s 16th birthday party: root beer floats and popcorn were featured.

After a trip to Lehman’s in Kidron, I was set to make root beer float cupcakes. I started with this recipe from a favorite baking site, which calls for TWO CUPS of root beer–it makes a rich, fudgy, tasty cupcake.

Lehman’s has a wide selection of root beers to choose from. I chose to make the cupcakes using Dad’s Root Beer and supplemented with Homebrew Root Beer Soda Pop Base.

I added 1 teaspoon of our Homebrew Soda Pop Root Beer Extract to the cake and 1 teaspoon to the topping. For the ‘ice cream’ on top of the cupcake, I made a heavily flavored vanilla butter cream.

This was a stiff butter cream. After topping with the root beer dream whip frosting, I used my small cookie scoop to put a scoop of the vanilla butter cream.

Then, I cut a straw in half, and popped it into the cupcake to decorate. I had a HAPPY 16 year old!

test batch root beer cupcake — This is a cupcake from Andi’s ‘test bake.’ Although this batch had half root beer and half vanilla flavoring in the ‘ice cream’, she liked the texture of the final, all vanilla ‘ice cream’ better.

Root Beer Topping
1 package Dream Whip
1 4 serving size instant vanilla pudding
1.5 c milk.
1 teaspoon Homebrew Soda Pop Root Beer Extract

“Buttercream Ice Cream Scoop”
1.5 sticks butter
approx 3 c powdered sugar
2.5 teaspoons vanilla

Popcorn Cupcakes
I also made popcorn cupcakes. These were a simple vanilla box cake mix plus 2 teaspoons Waktins butter flavoring and 2 T Jiffy corn bread mix. I frosted them with the other half of the Dream Whip frosting flavored with 1 teaspoon Watkins butter flavoring.

marshmallows and yellow food coloring — Mini marshmallows colored to look like microwave popcorn.

These cupcakes were decorated with mini-marshmallow popcorn – I took 3/4 of a bag of mini marshmallows and dripped in a few drops of yellow food coloring and 1/2 t butter flavor, and shook the marshmallows around a bit.

The key is to NOT make them look uniform in color. This helps the marshmallows resemble the colors of microwave popcorn more closely. I spread the marshmallows out on a cookie sheet to dry.

The finished 'popcorn cupcakes' are completely adorable. — The finished ‘popcorn cupcakes’ are completely adorable.

Once they were dry, I melted 1/3 cup white melting chocolate, and stuck 3 marshmallows together with the white chocolate. I then topped the cupcakes with 4-5 clusters of marshmallow popcorn. (If you can’t find melting/coating/candymaking chocolate, you can use white chocolate chips.

I used a slightly thinned version of the vanilla ‘ice cream’ topping above to place the ‘popcorn’ on top of the vanilla-corn cupcakes.

Behind the Scenes At Lehmans: A Sweet 16!

Lehman's

Ingredients

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1 package Dream Whip
1 (4-serving size) instant vanilla pudding mix
1 1/2 cups milk
1 teaspoon root beer extract

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1 1/2 sticks butter
Approximately 3 cups powdered sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

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1 box vanilla cake mix
2 teaspoons butter flavoring
2 tablespoons cornbread mix

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Remaining half of the Dream Whip frosting
1 teaspoon butter flavoring

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3/4 bag mini marshmallows
A few drops yellow food coloring
1/2 teaspoon butter flavoring
1/3 cup white melting chocolate or white chocolate chips

Instructions

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Combine the Dream Whip, vanilla pudding mix, milk, and root beer extract.
Mix according to the Dream Whip package directions until fluffy.
Spread or pipe onto cooled cupcakes.

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Beat the butter until smooth.
Gradually add the powdered sugar.
Add the vanilla extract.
Beat until stiff and creamy.
Use a small cookie scoop to form scoop-shaped portions.
Place a scoop on top of each frosted cupcake.
Insert a halved straw for decoration if desired.

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Prepare the cake mix according to package directions.
Add the butter flavoring and cornbread mix.
Mix until combined.
Bake as cupcakes according to package directions.
Cool completely before frosting.

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Add the butter flavoring to the prepared Dream Whip frosting.
Mix until combined.
Frost the cooled cupcakes.

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Place the marshmallows in a bowl.
Add the yellow food coloring and butter flavoring.
Shake or stir gently to coat the marshmallows unevenly.
Spread the marshmallows on a cookie sheet.
Allow them to dry.
Melt the white chocolate.
Use the melted chocolate to stick 3 marshmallows together into clusters.
Allow the clusters to set.
Place 4 to 5 marshmallow clusters on top of each frosted cupcake.
Use a slightly softened vanilla buttercream if needed to secure the popcorn clusters in place.