Red velvet cupcakes a la naturel
A few weeks back, I nabbed a block of cream cheese from the ABC Cheese Factory on the South Coast without knowing what I wanted to do with it. All of their products are so delicious, I figured I’d come up with something. Well, I did. I have wanted to try my hand at red velvet cupcakes for a long time. Not a fan of artificial ingredients, I was committed to an all-natural version. There is no red food dye here! I understand the original red velvet cupcakes were rich chocolate cakes made with a type of cocoa that turned red with the addition of vinegar. I do not have this particular type of cocoa. I had a secret ingredient that also makes the cupcakes beautifully moist, and certainly ups the antioxidants! 😉
Makes about 30 mini cupcakes
Cupcakes
| 1 | small beetroot | |
| 1 | tablespoon | red wine vinegar |
| 1/4 | cup | sour cream |
| 1 | tablespoon | vanilla extract |
| 75 | grams | butter |
| 3/4 | cup | raw caster sugar |
| 1 | egg | |
| 1 | cup | self-raising flour |
| 2 | teaspoons | cocoa powder |
Frosting
| 75 | grams | butter |
| 125 | grams | cream cheese |
| 2 | cups | icing sugar |
| cocoa powder, for dusting |
Preheat the oven to 180oC.
Peel the beetroot and grate the flesh. You want about half a cup of grated beetroot. Place the grated beetroot, vinegar, sour cream and vanilla in a blender and puree as fine as possible. This will take some time.
Beat the butter and sugar till pale and fluffy, then beat in the egg. Add the beetroot mixture and combine. Sift over the flour and cocoa and fold through.
Scoop the mixture into a greased mini muffin pan and bake for about 15 minutes, or till a skewer inserted into the middle cupcake comes out clean. Remove the cupcakes from the pan and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.
To make the frosting, beat the butter and cream cheese till fluffy, then sift in the icing sugar, beating till combined. Scoop the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a round nozzle and pipe a spiral beginning at the outer edge of the cupcake, working inward. Sprinkle the cupcakes with a tiny pinch of cocoa powder.
