birthdays are always big celebrations at the studio. it just wouldn’t be a celebration without some sweets. i made a variation of a traditional southern dessert, red velvet cake. most recipes call for a bottle of red food coloring. i thought fresh beets might do the trick. a good way to put a healthy twist on this southern classic.
ingredients
cupcakes
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa (dutch process)
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 1/3 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup butter, softened
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups beet puree (room temp)
cream cheese frosting
2 sticks unsalted butter (room temp)
1 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
3 cups powdered sugar (more or less depending on how sweet you like it)
2 8oz packages of cream cheese (room temp)
directions
-boil beets until softened, cook and peel off the skins. (could take about an hour depending on the size of your beets)
-once cooled a bit, peel skins off and puree in food processor or blender
-pre-heat oven to 350 degrees (wait until the beets are done, they take a while)
-line muffin tins with baking cups and set aside
-sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and dutch cocoa
-add the sugar and mix with the flour mixture
-slowly add the buttermilk
-beat in the eggs, butter, vanilla and finally the beet puree
-fill the baking cups 2/3 full, any more they may overflow!
-put one or two pans, at the same time into the oven on separate racks
-set timer for 17 minutes, no early peeking
-test a few cupcakes with a toothpick to see if they are done, put them back until the toothpick comes out clean
frosting
-cream the salt, sugar, and vanilla
-add the cream cheese and mix
-put in fridge until ready, it disappears quickly by taste testers…
******save any leftover, it is great on a biscuit or english muffins!
this recipe yields about 16+ cupcakes, so probably one layer. i have not made a layered cake using this recipe but i am sure that it would work beautifully. good luck!
How many cupcakes does this yield and could this be a layer cake instead and how many layers would that yield?
six beets (two bunches) were exactly two cups!
how many beets and what size does it take to make a cup of puree
When baked did the cake retain its red color? I want to make my 1st red velvet cake and I’d prefer to used beets. But the recipes I’ve read on-line all say that the beet make the cake drier and lose their red color and become brown.
Red velvet cake traditionally used beets…so you’re going back to the classic.
I lost my recipe so thank you!
these are delightful. i’ve always thought that beets could be used to replace all that red food coloring–i’ve just never tried it! thanks for sharing the recipe. and thanks for sharing this site, it’s perfect.