Food Network
Notes about the recipe: This was one of the cakes entered in the Whirlpool Unique Cake Contest I judged last year, kind of like the Pillsbury Bake Off. It was made by Jacquelyn Smola from Piedmont, OK and it was so fun and festive looking I really wanted to share it with you for a birthday party idea and make it for Gio this year. My absolute favorite drink is a root beer float so it was hard to not give this the first place prize. But there were other judges who kept me from tipping the scale right to root beer. A chocolate cake with toffee topping won first instead and the $10,000 prize, which she donated to Heifer International. And I got a new Whirlpool kitchen out of the deal! I've also had root beer cookies, brought to me by a baking fan in Rochester, New York.