Root Beer Float Cupcakes

I found this fun recipe on one of my new favorite blogs, "do you know the muffin pan?".  It was a pretty vague recipe, but basically it is a root beer flavored vanilla cupcake with vanilla cream cheese frosting scooped like ice cream on the top and drizzled with a root beer reduction syrup. I used a french vanilla cake mix from Duncan Hines, substituting the water with root beer. The amount of oil and eggs were the same. Bake 15 - 20 minutes. Make a standard cream cheese frosting with extra vanilla extract (I used a full 2 Tablespoons of Watkins double strength vanilla extract). Refrigerate the frosting so it gets firm and cold (like ice cream). I used my small cookie scoop to top the cupcake with the frosting. Then the drizzle of root beer syrup takes it over the top. I think this step is essential to the root beer flavor of the cupcake overall. I used 12 ounces of rootbeer, put it in a saucepan, let it come to a low boil and let it reduce until it coated the back of a spoon. I let it cool down to room temperature before assembling the cupcakes. The result was a pretty tasty treat. I am ready to try Coke next!

Here is a link to the muffin pan blog. She has a lot of cute ideas!
doyouknowthemuffinpan.com/2011/01/root-beer-float-cupcakes-and-giveaway.html