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Red Velvet without the red...nah

I never have and never will buy red velvet anything at the pastry/cupcake shops- the color is off putting and I can only guess how sweet these things might be. I never have understood the popularity of this cake/cupcake anyway.

I have been looking around for a natural version of the red velvet cake and boy was I glad to see this recipe here from the gorgeous blog by Aparna. I could not wait to try it, in fact I began craving for it. 




 Ingredients, did not modify it, well except I got rose and beets in mine!
 
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour  
1 1/4 cup granulated sugar  
1 1/2 tbsp dark cocoa powder (not Dutch processed)  
1 1/2 tsp baking powder  
1/4 tsp salt  
3/4 cup fresh pureed beets  
1/3 cup oil (I used canola oil)
1/4 cup lemon juice  
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp rose water 


Method
Wash the beets, scrape/ peel and slice them. Cook them (steam cook or microwave) till they’re well done. Cool and purée the cooked beets along with about 3 or 4 tbsps of vanilla soy milk, in a blender till smooth.
 
To make the cupcakes, first whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder and salt in a bowl till well mixed. Keep aside.
Put the puréed beets, oil, lemon juice and vanilla extract into another bowl and lightly whisk together till mixed well.
Pour this into the bowl with the dry ingredients and mix just enough to combine. Divide the batter equally between 12 cupcake tins lined with paper cups.

Bake the cupcakes at 360F for about 20 to 25 minutes. A skewer/ toothpick inserted into the centre should come out clean once they’re done.

Cool completely and decorate with frosting of your choice. 

For the Frosting, I used about 1/2 cup whipped cream cheese, 1/2 cup gulkand (thanks ma for having made that last minute trip to the store to buy it!), 2 tbsp powdered sugar: Mix everything until they are well blended and frost your lovely cupcakes.

Judgement: The old ways are gone, now I can enjoy these cupcakes anytime I want without an inkling of doubt as to what brought about that redness. The beets did a great job and the frosting- I could not stop licking the spoon! Who cares if it does not taste like the traditional, famed red velvet cake!
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Comments

  1. RaksMarch 29, 2010 at 11:26 PM

    Looks good,sounds different with beets,I haven't yet tasted so far too:)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ms.ChitchatMarch 29, 2010 at 11:51 PM

    Lovey write-up and true to the core. Thanks for sharing a healthy cup cake recipe. Click is very tempting.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Soma PradhanMarch 30, 2010 at 12:24 AM

    Nice recipe ...new for me...

    ReplyDelete
  4. AbiApril 8, 2010 at 5:07 AM

    @Raks Kitchen- yeah, this was my first time with beets too- the frosting was a bit strong!
    @Chitchat- Thank you!
    @ Soma- Thanks Soma!

    ReplyDelete

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