Guilt Free Sorta Red Velvet Cupcakes

I promised I would show another use for those roasted beets. Well here it is...Sorta Red Velvet Cupcakes!

I absolute love Red Velvet Cupcakes when I want to splurge. But I was terribly disappointed to discover that there was no magical secret to RVC. Its just a regular cake with red food dye. A little background on my personal feud with food dye...growing up I was IN LOVE with basically any sort of food that came in an electric or ungodly bright color. From electric blue ice cream with those bubble gum pieces in it, to radioactive orange KRAFT macaroni and cheese. I think I felt that something with such an unnatural color to it had to have some sort of special or magical ingredient that made it awesome. When I discovered that in general it was something as boring as food coloring, and the only thing special about it was the unpronounceable chemicals that created it, I was MAD. This was basically the equivalent of being told Santa was basically a misguided and probably mentally unstable burglar with an overeating disorder (Big thanks to my older brother for clearing up that misrepresentation). So now here I am trying to recreate one of my favorite treats without giving into the evil food dye.

BACKGROUND: I did ALOT of research to figure out what I could do to bypass the food dye situation, it seemed the general consensus was beets (others included pomegranate juice but that made the cake too bitter, cranberry juice which had the same result, and raspberry puree which really changed the whole flavor of the cake). Having found a way to side step the food dye situation, I was on a mission to find away to make this dish more guilt free so I could enjoy my new triumph without the guilt of having to wear leggings and oversize shirts for a week to cover up my transgression. So the recipe that follow and the variations in the notes is really a frankenstein of recipes. I tried to take the general gist of all the recipes I found out there and created options to fit an array of dietary needs.

NUTRITION FACTS: 1 Cupcake with a "dollop" of frosting (Recipe makes 12 large or 24 small cupcakes NOTE: For these nutrition facts I made 12 large cupcakes)

grams: 88; calories: 253; fat: 12g; saturated fat: 1.5g; carbs: 30g; protein: 7g; fiber: .2g; sodium: 458mg; sugars: 10.5g

Frosting (Recipe makes enough to frost anywhere between 20-24 cupcakes with 1 "dollop" NOTE: I saved the extra frosting to have with cut fruits, nutrition below is for roughly one "dollop")

grams: 27g; calories: 65; fat: 2g; saturated fat: .5g; carbs: 8.5g; protein: 2g; fiber: 0g; sodium: 130mg; sugar: 8g

Cupcake Ingredients:

1/2 cup canola oil *Can use olive oil or vegetable oil instead

1 cup fat free greek yogurt * Can use low fat buttermilk, low fat or fat free plain yogurt or if you keep kosher and want this to be pareve, use nondairy milk and add a dash of lemon juice and white vinegar. The key really is the sourness and acidity in whichever variation you use.

2.5 cups all purpose flour *Can use whole wheat flour or oat flour

1.5 cup granulated Splenda * Can use raw sugar or any other sugar substitute suitable for baking

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp sea salt * Can use kosher or table salt, whichever you prefer/have around the house

2 tsp good cocoa powder NOTE: I found that my cupcakes didn't really have the cocoa taste that comes with red velvet cake so I would recommend upping the amount of cocoa powder used, experiment to see how much works for you

1 large egg *Most recipes call for 2 eggs, if using 2 eggs then only use 3 tablespoons beet juice from canned beets, DON'T use beet puree. However beet puree gets a deeper red color so if using 1 pureed beet (yields about 1/2-3/4 cup) use only 1 egg. If you want to make this vegan friendly use 1 cup beet puree and not eggs

1 beet pureed *See above for variations

1 tsp white vinegar *Even if you used vinegar with the nondairy milk, you still need this 1 tsp

1 tsp vanilla extract

Recipe:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a muffin tin spray with Pam and coat with a little flour or place cupcake liners/parchment paper.

In a large bowl sift together the dry ingredients (flour, splenda, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder) until fully blended together.

In another bowl whisk together the wet ingredients (vanilla extract, white vinegar, beet puree, egg, oil and yogurt) until completely smooth.

Combine wet ingredients into the flour mixture using an electric mixer, blending until completely smooth.

Using a 3 ounce ice -cream scoop or large spoon, distribute the batter in the cupcake tins. If you don't have enough tins to make the 24 or 12 cupcakes at once, do this in batches and save the batter in the fridge until ready to use.

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes (since I made 12 large cupcakes I baked mine for about 20 minutes, turned the oven off and then let them sit in the warm oven for another 2 minutes).

Take them out of the oven and let them cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. (As you can see from the photos below, they come out more fuschia than red, but I think if more cocoa powder had been added they would have been a deeper maroon.

There was still a lingering beet smell after they had baked and there was a faint earthy taste to the cupcakes (but it seems I am the only person who noticed the smell and taste). Mainly the cake tasted like sweet zucchini bread or a sweet muffin. The inside is not really as red as the outside, instead it has more of an orange tinge, again I think adding more cocoa or dark cocoa powder (mine was quite light) would get the cocoa flavor and darker color.

Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients: (NOTE: If you don't want any extra frosting after frosting the cupcakes, then only make half of the recipe)

8 ounces fat free cream cheese *Recipe calls for low - fat cream cheese which is a little softer and moister than fat free cream cheese which required a little more work with the electric mixer. To keep the frosting pareve or vegan friendly, use non diary cream cheese, I really like Tofutti brand faux cream cheese

1/4 cup nondairy butter substitute *I used Olivio again (remember the frosting from a few posts ago), but any nondairy butter substitute will do

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

1 cup confectioner's sugar *Some claimed that this frosting was not sweet enough and asked for more sugar, its really a matter of preference I think.

Mix together all ingredients (except for the sugar) in a bowl with the electric mixer. Then slowly, gradually add the confectioner's sugar into the frosting until smooth. If the frosting is too thin or liquidy, refrigerate for 30 minutes before frosting the cupcakes. Refrigerate or freeze the leftover frosting for later.

Once the cupcakes are frosted, you can put some in the refrigerator for now and the near future, and freeze the rest for a later sweet treat craving.