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If you are looking for an easy root beer cupcake recipe you have come to the right place. It just doesn’t get any easier than these 4-ingredient root beer cupcakes made with cake mix and real root beer!

If you love root beer like I do you are in for a real treat.

These cupcakes are made with root beer in the cupcakes themselves as well in the buttercream frosting, which makes them packed with delicious root beer flavor.

Root Beer Cupcakes in red liners topped with cherries and frosting

The cupcakes themselves are actually made with just 2 ingredients: a box of cake mix and root beer. It’s the buttercream frosting that calls for the remaining 2 ingredients.

Cake mixes are a terrific shortcut for baking all sorts of semi-homemade cakes such as cherry dump cake, Italian ricotta cheesecake, and lemon poke cake.

But did you know that cake mixes aren’t only great for cakes and cupcakes? You can also use them to make delicious cake mix cookies, blondies, spice bars, and crisps.

Cupcakes in red liners topped with fluffy white icing and cherries

Enough about my love for cake mixes. Let’s get down to how to make these easy root beer cupcakes.

Ingredients

You will need:

a box of white cake mix
root beer
butter
powdered sugar

Substitutions and Additions

Milk: If you would like to use milk for the buttercream you replace the root beer in the frosting with 2-3 Tablespoons of milk plus 1 teaspoon root beer extract.

Garnish: Garnish cupcakes with a maraschino cherry and/or paper straw cut in half.

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350° F and line a cupcake pan with paper liners.

Start by preparing your root beer syrup for the buttercream: Bring the root beer to a boil over high heat and then reduce heat to medium to simmer until the root beer has reduced to about a 1/2 cup. Pour into a mason jar and place in the fridge to cool while you prepare the cupcakes. (Skip this step if using milk and root beer extract as described above).

In a large mixing bowl, beat to combine the root beer and white cake mix until light and completely combined (about 2 minutes).

Fill each cupcake liner with batter until it is 2/3 of the way full. I like to use a 1/4 cup cookie scoop to make this easy.

Bake for 18-22 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

4 image collage: first image shows root beer being poured into mixing bowl; second image shows cupcake batter well mixed, next image shows cupcake liners 2/3 full, last image shows golden brown cupcakes

Allow the cupcakes to cool for 10 minutes in the tray then transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

While the cupcakes are cooling you can prepare the buttercream. Add powdered sugar and butter to a large bowl and beat until well combined (about 2 minutes).

Add 2 Tablespoons of your reduced root beer syrup, then taste and adjust with more root beer syrup as needed to reach desired taste and consistency.

Buttercream frosting being mixed, thick buttercream frosting ready to use

Transfer into a piping bag and pipe onto each cooled cupcake, starting at the edge and moving into the center.

Cupcake in red liner topped with buttercream frosting and cherry

Place a maraschino cherry on top of each cupcake just before servings, if desired.

Storage

Room temperature: Cupcakes can be stored for up to 3 days at room temperature. Allow cupcakes to cool completely, remove cherry, transfer to an airtight container, and place in a cool, dry place.

Refrigerator: If storing for longer than 3 days, or with cherries on top, you will want to keep them in an airtight container in the refrigerator. They should keep up to 1 week in the fridge. Allow cupcakes to return to room temperature before serving.

More delicious cupcakes:

Recipe

Root Beer Cupcakes topped with buttercream and maraschino cherries

Recipe

4.52 from 29 votes