A favorite cupcake recipe? These carrot cupcakes, which we made for the wedding because the groom likes carrot cake. I've made them a couple times since, and they've been just as wonderful each time.
My previous post discussed my first foray into cooking with beets. Why, you ask? Because yesterday I also ventured into the realm of red velvet cake.
I'm not a fan of Red Dye #40, and regular red velvet uses two whole bottles, but I love the visual effect of a red cake with creamy white frosting. What's a lesbian to do? When I heard about recipes using beets to achieve the vibrant red color, I was intrigued.
I'm not sure why it's taken me so long to try this recipe - I've probably had it for two years. Someone mentioned baking cupcakes on facebook, and suddenly I had the itch to make a batch too - so I figured I'd scratch two itches with one stone. I altered the recipe slightly based on reading I'd done of a variety of recipes (some with beets and some with food dye). Here it is:
Fabulous Beet Red Velvet Cupcakes
Yield: 24
1 c all-purpose flour
3/4 c whole wheat flour
1 1/4 c white sugar (preferably Pioneer or another Michigan sugar beet brand)
3/4 unsweetened cocoa
2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1 t cinnamon
1/8 t ground red pepper
1 1/4 cup milk (I used fat free)
1 T plain yogurt
1 t balsamic vinegar
1/2 c butter, at room temp
3 eggs, at room temp
2 t vanilla
2 cups beets, peeled and pureed
(Note that to puree the beets, you will probably need to add liquid. Do NOT add water - instead, use a small amount of milk and deduct that from the 1 1/4 c you'll put in later.)
Preheat oven to 350F. Line cupcake pans with liners. Stir together all dry ingredients. In separate bowl, stir together milk, yogurt, and vinegar (I did this to substitute for buttermilk; if you have buttermilk on hand you can just use that.) Beat in butter, egg and vanilla to milk mixture. Now carefully add the beet puree (so that you don't stain your counter, mixer, self, etc) and beat it in. Add wet to dry (or dry to wet, I don't think it really matters) and mix just until moistened - if you overbeat (or overbeet . . . ) the gluten will start to break down and your cupcakes will be tough.
Scoop into the cupcake pans so that cups are about 3/4 full. I highly recommend using an ice cream scoop, because this allows you to dump into each cup in one fell swoop and gives you nice, evenly sized cupcakes.
Bake for about 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Frost with cream cheese frosting (whatever recipe you prefer). I added a teaspoon of almond extract to mine.
A few notes:
These cupcakes came out more brown/purple than red. Next time, I will probably reduce the beets to one cup and add a cup of applesauce. I've also read that the amount of acidity in the batter can affect color, so I'll add an additional teaspoon of vinegar to the milk.
The beet flavor was present, but not too overwhelming. I got a hint of cinnamon, but no red pepper. I would increase the red pepper to 1/4 teaspoon next time, and possibly bump up the cinnamon as well. Most red velvet recipes don't call for these spices, but I thought it might help offset the beets, and I was generally pleased with the combination.
Happy baking!
I think that the earliest incarnations of red velvet cake used beets instead of red food coloring. The red was used to make up for the fact that chocolate was rationed during the war. Red velvet cake is all over the place in the south, but usually with red food coloring. This seems like a good way to both make cupcakes and hide beets (yuck, imo) into something. :)
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