These beautiful chocolate cupcakes contain a secret – they are made with beets and are completely vegan! Believe this non-beet fan that you’ll fool others with these intensely chocolate treats!
Before you run for the hills, hear me out. I am NOT a beet person. We subscribe to a biweekly CSA, and my profile explicitly lists “no beets.” Imagine the horror when I opened up our CSA box only to find 3 ginormous beets. These vegetables were huge – way bigger than my fists and easily could be used to play a game of softball.
What was I supposed to do with these things? Return them? Give them to a neighbor? Chuck ’em in the trash? (I was briefly contemplating the last option there but didn’t want to waste food) I very reluctantly decided to work with them, despite my negative attitude towards beets.
I roasted my beets for over an hour to soften them, and when I tried to puree them in my blender, that red juice got everywhere. My hands looked bloody and the kitchen was starting to resemble a Halloween horror movie.
These fudgy chocolate beet cupcakes seemed promising since they contained cocoa powder and would hide the bright color from the beet puree. Plus they required no frosting – just a sprinkle of cocoa powder.
I was surprised to find that I actually enjoyed these fudgy vegan chocolate beet cupcakes. They didn’t taste like beets (whew) but were chocolate-y instead. I’d recommend upping the sugar in these since they weren’t quite as sweet as regular chocolate cupcakes (I did not make those changes below).
Fudgy vegan chocolate beet cupcakes
Ingredients
- 2 medium beets
- 1 cup milk of choice
- 1 teaspoon white or apple cider vinegar
- 3/4 cup raw turbinado OR granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup canola or melted coconut oil
- 2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup and 1 heaping Tablespoon white whole wheat pastry flour can substitute with all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder and more for topping
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- pinch salt
Instructions
Roast the beets
- Preheat your oven to 375°F. Remove and discard the stem and root from your beets. Thoroughly scrub and wash them. Dry with a towel and rub on some canola oil. Then wrap tightly in foil. Roast them in your preheated oven for about 1 hour or until tender. Allow to come to room temperature.
- Once cooled, puree the beets in a blender. Measure out 1/2 cup and set aside.
Bake the cupcakes
- Keep the oven at 375°F and line a standard muffin pan with paper liners.
- In a large bowl, combine the milk and vinegar and allow it to curdle. Then add the sugar, oil, vanilla extract, and 1/2 cup beets and mix well until everything is fully incorporated.
- Add in the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt to and gently fold together. Then mix well until there are no lumps.
- Evenly distribute the batter into your muffin wells, filling each at least 3/4 full.
- Bake 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Allow the cupcakes to cool before serving. If desired, dust with additional cocoa powder on top to finish.