Cupcake Wednesday: Beetroot Chocolate Cupcakes

I have a confession to make – I am #fatfluential.  Train hard, eat lots.  That’s me.  For me, food is enjoyable and I don’t restrict myself.  I don’t avoid certain foods.  I eat, and I enjoy.

Yes, I know. Not everyone *can* eat like this, and not everyone *chooses* to eat like this.  But for me, THIS – everything in moderation – THIS works for me.  (read The Happiness Project 7 Tips for Holiday Eating to see if you identify more with the “abstainer” or “moderator” way of eating – I am totally a moderator).

To cut to the chase, I find that I prefer eating healthy real foods. I love my leafy green vegetables.  But I also like my treats.  My twist on this is that if I want a treat, I’ll make it.  I haven’t bought ice cream from a shop in over a year.  And cakes?  Yep, I’ll bake those too – mostly though for dinner parties or the office as I don’t like to have them hanging around my house. 

At the beginning of December my friend Debs always throws a secret santa Christmas party for the girls – called Greedy Girls.  I am always asked to bring a dessert.  Last year I brought a vegan chocolate cake—the recipe from Bea’s of Bloomsbury is to die for, and no one could believe there were no eggs no butter no dairy.  This year, I thought I would again try to pull one over on the Greedy Girls.  Would they like – would they even notice – a cupcake with a vegetable incorporated? 

I had my heart set on putting Beetroot Chocolate Cupcakes to the Greedy Girl test. 

I can report, these were a huge hit.

If you are like me – fatfluential, everything in moderation – then give these a try.  Based on British Larder’s recipe they were oh so good. 

Ingredients

250 grams 70% chocolate (I use Montezuma’s dark chocolate buttons, as they are a local shop to me)
3 eggs
125 grams caster sugar
125 grams molasses sugar
80 grams plain flour (I used the Ideas for Food What Iif Flour substitute to keep this gluten free)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch salt (literally I took a pinch between thumb and forefinger, just to help activate the raising agents)
25 grams cocoa powder
50 grams ground almonds (almond flour is readily available in Waitrose, I ground my own on my Vitamix with raw almonds)
200 grams raw beetroot, grated (I used my food processor grater attachment to save time, then chopped the grating down to smaller pieces)
100 ml buttermilk
30ml sunflower oil

I made the chocolate spread on the British Larder page (linked above), but I did not like the consistency.  I think a chocolate ganache would go really well, so I would research and find a better recipe for this next time around.

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 160°C and prepare your muffin tray (butter it, or use cupcake liner, or use silicon cupcake moulds like I use).

2. Break the chocolate in small even size pieces and place in a metal / heat resistant bowl over a boiling pot of water to melt.

3. Measure out the sugar and add it and the eggs to a mixing bowl and using an electric beater cream until pale in colour and fluffy.

4. Stir together the buttermilk, beetroot, oil and melted chocolate, and stir it into the egg and sugar mixture.

5. Mix together the flour, ground almonds, cocoa powder, baking soda and baking powder; fold it into the wet mixture.

6. Spoon the cupcake batter into the moulds, leaving some room for them to rise.

7. Bake for 35 minutes. Before removing poke a toothpick into one in the center – if it comes out clean then the cupcakes are cooked. If not bake for 5 more minutes and check again. Repeat the checking until the toothpick comes out clean (no crumbs).

8. Cool the cupcakes and then decorate with chocolate ganache.

Note: Someone asked me why the beetroot, if it cut down on the sugar used in the recipe. As you can see the sugar is still a lot measuring at 250 grams. But by using beetroot you can easily substitute refined sugar for a less refined sugar like molasses and not sacrifice a sweet sensation. For me the beetroot cut down on the amount of flour needed, without sacrificing texture. Plus its a vegetable, who doesn’t like sweets that are actually made from vegetables?! No, you can’t notice the taste of beetroot, not one bit. And also to note is that if you use the What Iif Flour gluten free blend, it is a weight for weight substitute for flour, so not adjustments needed.

2 responses to “Cupcake Wednesday: Beetroot Chocolate Cupcakes”

  1. I am #FatFluential as well.  Being #FatFluential is where its at.  You are correct that it is my Santa and I don’t want to know who it is……no yet anyway!

    These look great but I can’t make them.  I am like you and don’t want them laying around the house and since I work from home there is no place to take them.

    Rock On #FatFluentialist

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