Chocolate Beet Cup Cupcakes with Chocolate Sweet Potato Frosting

This recipe is my Valentine’s Day gift to you all.  These cupcakes are outrageously good!  I brought these cupcakes to our last Meatless Monday event and I was told that they were the best cupcakes ever!  You feel kind of virtuous eating them because they contain nutrient dense vegetables and no animal products but there is a bit of coconut sugar in them so they are not to be eaten in lieu of a vegetable dish.  : )  The beets add a beautiful density to the cupcake as well as fiber and other good nutrition.  Enjoy these my vegetable loving community!  xoxo

 

Author: Minimalist Baker

Serves: 12 cupcakes

Ingredients

  • 2 medium beets
  • 1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
  • 1 tsp white or apple cider vinegar
  • 
3/4 cup raw turbinado or coconut sugar
  • 1/4 cup melted coconut oil
  • 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 1 cup + 1 heaping Tbsp whole wheat pastry flour or unbleached all-purpose flour
  • scant 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
 + more for topping
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • pinch salt

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 375°F, remove the stem and most of the root from your beets, and scrub and wash them underwater until clean.
  2. Wrap beets in foil, drizzle on a bit of canola oil, wrap tightly, and roast for one hour or until a knife inserted falls out without resistance. They should be tender. Set in the fridge (in a bowl to catch juice) to cool to room temperature.
  3. Once cooled, either finely grate or puree beets in a blender (adding orange juice or water to encourage mixing). Measure out 1/2 cup and set aside.
  4. Line a muffin pan with paper liners.
  5. Whisk together the almond milk and vinegar in a large bowl, and set aside for a few minutes to curdle. Add the sugar, oil, vanilla extract, and 1/2 cup beets and beat until foamy.
  6. Add the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt to a sifter and slowly sift it into the wet ingredients while mixing with a hand-held or standing mixer. Beat until no large lumps remain.
  7. Pour batter into liners, filling 3/4 of the way full. Bake 22 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely. Do not try and unwrap them or they’ll stick to the wrapper.
  8. Once cooled, dust with cocoa powder and store in an airtight container to keep fresh.
     

Chocolate Sweet Potato Frosting

By: Dreena Burton

Ingredients

  • 1 loosely packed cup peeled, cooked, and cooled sweet potato (see note)
  • 2/3–3/4 cup coconut sugar or other unrefined sugar(see note)
  • 1/2 cup cocoa powder
  • 1/2 scant cup raw cashew butter or almond butter
  • 1/4 rounded teaspoon sea salt
  • 2–5 tablespoons nondairy milk (see tip)
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Place the sweet potato, coconut sugar, cocoa powder, cashew butter, sea salt, 1–2 tablespoons of the milk, and vanilla extract in a blender or food processor and puree until very smooth. It’s best to use a blender or processor. Taste, and add more sweetener if desired, and also another 2–3 tablespoons of milk if needed to thin to preferred consistency. Puree until smooth, scraping down the blender/processor bowl as needed. Puree until as smooth as possible. Transfer to a container and refrigerate until ready to use.