By the romantic light of... an iPhone.

So you are going along mixing up these lovely cupcakes on a bright sun shining day and the power goes out. Comes back on. Goes back off, comes back on. Um… Ok… 17 minutes in the oven? Give it a shot. Phew! They came out perfect and the power is still on!
Frosting? 4 sticks of butter? HECK no… take 2 sticks out – quick work out and shower, throw it in the mixer and make the frosting. Done! Oops… need to get the dog from the groomer. Throw the frosting in the fridge for a few minutes and chase and get the dog. Then we get soaked due to it looking like the world is about to end outside.
Quickly throw the now cold frosting in a bag and start piping – not worry about the pretty – we have places to be – people to see!
Start setting the cherries on top? Boo, no more power. And it’s dark as night at 4 PM on a Saturday. No more off and on and off and on…. Just off. Hrm. What’s a girl to do? iPhone flash light! That’s right – I turned on the ap I only use in power outages. (I live in Palos Heights – it’s a common occurrence!) Set the phone up on the counter and finished by iPhone light – oh how romantic.
Ok – so my story telling can use some work. These cupcakes got such rave reviews despite any askew cherries! They have a subtle taste of root beer and the frosting. Oh the frosting. SO good. I kept sneaking tastes on our way to the party we were going!

Root Beer Float Cupcakes
What you need!
Cupcakes
2 cups root beer
1 cup 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 eggs

Frosting
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp milk
2 cups powdered sugar

Optional: Maraschino Cherries (my world cherries are always optional)

Make it!
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 24 cupcake cups with paper liners. In a small saucepan, heat the root beer, cocoa powder and butter over medium heat until the butter is melted. Add the sugars and whisk until dissolved. Remove from heat and let cool.
In a large bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, and salt together. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs until just beaten then whisk them into the cooled cocoa mixture until combined. Fold the liquid and flour mixtures together in the large bowl. The batter will be slightly lumpy; this is okay. If you overbeat it, it will get tough.
Fill cupcake liners about 2/3 to 3/4 full and bake cupcakes, rotating trays back to front and top to bottom halfway through, until a tester inserted into the center of each comes out clean, about 17 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool completely.
Frosting: Beat butter until broken up. Add powdered sugar, a little a time. Alternate with vanilla and milk. Add remaining powdered sugar and beat until light and fluffy.
Pipe on top of cooled cupcake and top with Maraschino Cherry