Anyone that knows me knows I love my garden (also known as old before my time but hey at least I’m embracing it!). The beetroot from my vegetable garden was ready to be pulled earlier this week and having heard of other people using beetroot in their cakes I thought why not give it a go? Now I wasn’t quite sure how they would turn out, especially when a very good friend of mine (who shall remain nameless but will know who they are once they read this!) had a go and reported of a lumpy consistency and all 3 of her children were not the biggest fans.
Challenge accepted!
I have had a big week baking and didn’t have any butter left in the fridge, luckily I came across a recipe for beetroot chocolate cake that used vegetable oil.
I made sure I blitzed up the beetroot using my Nutribullet (no lumps for me please!) until it resembled a baby food pureed consistency. When I was initially mixing the ingredients together it seemed very runny but considering the extra moisture from the beetroot this wasn’t really that surprising.
The recipe was for a cake but I wanted to try out cupcakes so I divided the mixture into 18 cases and baked at the same temperature of the cake for 15 minutes initially and then a further 3 after testing them with a skewer. I finished them off once they had cooled with a chocolate buttercream and some purple flowers (not that I’m obsessed with colour matching or anything).
I’m pleased to report that there were no lumps to be found and the additional moisture resulted in a really moist cupcake. My friend (who may not be one after reading this) and her children were my guinea pigs and they gave them the thumbs up…phew.
You can’t really taste the beetroot but the colour is more intense and the flavour is deeper. This is definitely a flavour combination I will be offering for cupcakes from now on. Go on, you know you want to try some!
