Vegan Chocolate Beet Cupcakes

I know what you're thinking...beets in cupcakes? But trust me, it's delicious. I first came across the idea of combining beets and chocolate in an issue of Vegetarian Times. The original recipe was for chocolate beet brownies, which I made with one of my friends who is obsessed with beets, and they were delicious.

I made these yesterday, in a rush, with an already messy kitchen. I abhor cooking under these conditions, but I was making them for a greater purpose other than for the sake of the blog. One of my dear friends was celebrating a birthday by potluck last night.

As an aside, I treat pot lucks like competitions, and I always try to have the tastiest/prettiest/most unique thing there. I am fairly neurotic, I know. This contributed to the reason I chose these cupcakes for her birthday potluck.

Also, making an actual birthday cake was out of the question. Everyone's afraid to make the first move on a cake at potlucks. So cupcakes it was.

This dear friend of mine also doesn't have a very big sweet tooth, so these really were the perfect choice. The actual cupcake part is not very sweet; the beets give it a subtle earthy flavor that complements the chocolate. The icing provides most of the sweetness, and contrasts, yet complements, the flavor of the cake.



Here are the ingredients you will need. After I had already taken this picture and began the baking process, I realized I forgot to add the salt to this picture, so you will need that too. And if you're short on time, you can used canned beats instead of fresh.



So pretty!



I am a messy cupcake pan filler! The batter comes out looking like a crazy burnt sienna color because of the beets, but they look more chocolatey once they bake.



When these come out of the oven, they are extremely fragile and hard to get out of the tin. I became despondent as I was failing at getting them out of the tin and onto the cooling rack until I got a crazy idea in my head. I put the cooling rack over the tin and then flipped it over, like you would a cake from a cake pan. GENIUS. They came out easy as....pie? Then I just flipped them over by hand after they had cooled and solidified.



I had this great idea for the frosting that didn't work out at all. I saw a flourless chocolate beet cupcake on ming makes cupcakes (number 31) where I fell in love with the fuchsia streak going through the topping, so I tried to replicate this in my own frosting. Little did I realize that the yellow color of the vegan butter would make the beet juice turn into this Eastery pastel color. Oh well.

They were a hit at the potluck, and hopefully you'll like them too! Recipe below.

Ingredients:

For cupcakes:

1 1/2 cup flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 cup pureed beets
1/2 cup almond milk (or soy milk)

For frosting: ***

1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp Earth Balance vegan butter at room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar
2 Tbsp beet juice

Directions:

If using fresh beets, quarter two large raw beets and drop carefully into boiling water. Let boil for about 30 minutes, or until tender. Drain, reserving two Tablespoons of the pink liquid, peel, and puree. Set aside.

If using canned beats, drain 15-ounce can of beets, reserving two Tablespoons of the pink liquid, and puree. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium-sized bowl, sift flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda together. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix shortening and sugar together. Add the vanilla, apple cider vinegar, and beets. Stir together.

Mix in flour mixture until smooth, and then add the almond milk. Mix until smooth.

Pour into a greased muffin tin until each compartment is about 2/3 full. Bake for 22 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the middle of each cupcake. Cool on drying rack.

To make icing, combine vegan butter, powdered sugar, and beet juice. Mix until smooth.

***For the icing, since I was in a hurry, I didn't take the time to use exact measurements on it. This was the best I could estimate. If the frosting seems soupy and doesn't hold its shape, add more powdered sugar by the quarter cup until desired consistency is reached. If it's too stiff, then add more beet juice by the teaspoon until desired consistency is reached.

Once the cakes are COMPLETELY cooled, frost each cupcake. With the above icing recipe, I had JUST enough to put one layer of frosting on each cupcake, so if you like to be liberal with your frosting, just double the recipe above.

Hope you enjoy this! Questions and comments are always appreciated.