Roasted Beet Fudge Cupcakes

We are drowning in vegetables thanks to our CSA. It has been fun trying to find new ways to make veggies that I would never have sought out to buy myself, but I enjoy none the less. So far I have made a lot of pasta salad type dishes, a lot of salads, a lot of veggie fries, and a lot of veggie covered pizzas. This week I also made senposai hand pies (adapted from this recipe) which were delicious and made great reheatable lunches this week.

I also have been trying to incorporate what we have into baked goods and deserts, to get a little variety. I have tried to make brownies with roasted beets in the past, and while I enjoyed them, they definitely had a strong earthy flavor. This time around was much more successful, which I credit to using golden beets instead of the typical red ones. Golden beets are an awesome bright orange color when raw, and they supposedly have a much more mild flavor than the red ones.

The first step is to wash and peel your beets, followed by roasting them. I put them in some tin foil, drizzled a little bit of olive oil on top, and then wrapped the package up and stuck it in the oven at 375 degrees for about an hour, or until the beets are nice and soft.

Once the beets come out of the oven, take the whole package and put it in the refrigerator to chill, preferably in a bowl to catch some of the juice that might leak out. If you open the foil a bit it will probably cool faster, but they can get messy. Once the beets have reached room temperature, throw them in the food processor and blend until creamy. The recipe uses 1/2 cup of this mixture, and the rest can be frozen in a ziplock for future baked goods, or stirred into a mac and cheese. 2 good sized beets gave me about 1/2 cup of puree.

This mixture is combined with buttermilk, sugar, oil, and vanilla extract. Then flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt are sifted in and mixed until there are no large lumps remaining. The batter still had a distinctly beet like smell which went away once they were cooked. I unfortunately ran out of paper muffin cups, but I sprayed the muffin tin heavily with Pam and they came out with out too much of a fight.

I like to ladle my cupcakes using a measuring cup, so that they all turn out roughly the same size. Bake for just over 20 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to let cool completely.

They are good on their own, like a dense cakey brownie, but even better when topped with cream cheese frosting. I stuck cream cheese in the mixing bowl, then poured in powdered sugar while blending until the consistency seemed about right. I love my kitchenaid stand mixer, but I find hand mixers to be much better for making frosting. I then continued to beat the cream cheese for about 5 minutes on a high speed to incorporate some air and make it nice and fluffy. 

picture

Someone teach me to frost cupcakes nicely? I admit I care more for delicious than I do for pretty.

Roasted Beet Fudge Cupcakes

1/2 cup of roasted beets, blended
1 cup milk (I used heavy cream the first time, and 2% the second time, and both were delicious)
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup canola oil
3 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup + 1 Tbsp all purpose flour
scant 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch salt

1) Preheat oven to 375. Mix together the milk and vinegar in a bowl or measuring cup, and let sit to curdle. Combine the sugar, oil, vanilla, beets and milk and mix until foamy.
2) Add the dry ingredients slowly to the mixer while running to avoid clumps. Mix until no large lumps remain. Mixture will be a runny batter
3) Pour into a lined or greased muffin pan and bake for 22-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
4) Remove from pan and cool on cooling rack. Coat with powdered sugar, cocoa powder, or your favorite icing once cool.

Inspiration recipe here