Carrot cake often steals all the glory but if you're in the market for a veggie-packed chocolate treat, beetroot is your best friend. The grated beetroot in these cakes adds moisture, fibre and a whole host of vitamins to these cupcakes and doubles up as natural food colouring in the icing.
This recipe is simple, delicious and offers kids various pressure free opportunities to taste beetroot - perhaps for the first time - grated raw, cooked into the cake, as juice and mixed into the pretty pink icing. No need to suggest they try it - just get baking and see what happens, you never know, your little one might surprise you!
Ingredients:
1 medium raw beetroot, scrubbed clean
175g plain white flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp cocoa powder
2 free range eggs
115ml vegetable oil
4 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
100g soft brown sugar
generous handful chocolate chips
100g cream cheese
4 tbsp icing sugar, sifted
Method:
Preheat the oven to 180C fan and line a 12 hole muffin tin with cupcake cases.
Coarsely grate the beetroot. Carefully - you may want to use rubber gloves as beetroot stains - squeeze the juice out of the beetroot, collecting in a small bowl. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and cocoa. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil, vanilla, milk and sugar until doubled in volume. Fold in the flour followed by the beetroot and chocolate chips.
Divide the batter between your cupcake cases and bake for 20 - 25 mins until risen and bouncy to the touch. Allow to cool in the tin for a few minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
To make the icing, stir together the cream cheese and icing sugar. Pour in your reserved beetroot juice, a few drops at a time, until you have a loose consistency and the pink colour you desire, adding a little more juice or icing sugar as necessary.
Ice your cooled cupcakes and enjoy! Sprinkles optional ;-)
These chocolate beetroot cupcakes didn't quite make the final cut for July's BEETROOT box, but there's so much deliciousness coming soon. In the meantime you can still order June's AUBERGINE box here - use code NEW10 to get 10% off at checkout.
