Healthy Vegan Chocolate-Beet root cupcakes… I am in chocolate flippin’ heaven

Vegan, no refined sugar, no eggs, no milk, no butter, chocolate beet root cupcakes with creamy chocolate  frosting.

Don’t fool your kids with these…tell them that healthy food can taste this good!

It’s not often that I say to myself  “Sister, you are a freakin genius!”. But I said that today (out loud actually) after I came up with the most amazing chocolate beet-root cupcakes.

I saw a recipe for vegan truffles that I made, but they were too rich for me.  I thought though, that with some tweaking, it would make a great chocolate frosting recipe. (file away in my brain file)

I brought home some beets from the market (I can’t get enough of them) and I remember seeing recipes for chocolate-beet root cakes.  I googled for a recipe that was not only vegan, but healthy too, but I didn’t see any that met both criteria.  So I took several recipes, took a bit from that and a bit from this and made up my own recipe.  I knew when I licked the batter bowl clean I knew that this recipe was going to be a winner.

also in this recipe is coconut milk (not shown)

Vegan Chocolate Beet root cupcakes with creamy chocolatey frosting

Oven is at 350 F

• 1 1/2 cooked beets (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup (not Aunt Jemima’s)
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3 tsp aluminum free baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 cup melted Earth Balance coconut spread (or Earth Balance vegetable oil spread or similar)
• 1/3 cup low fat coconut milk (or almond or rice milk)

1.  Cook beets by scrubbing to wash.  Lightly peel any rough skin. Cut off top and bottom.  Cut into cubes and set  in steamer or placed in a metal colander on top of pot filled with about 4-5 inches of water covered on med high heat.  Beets should not touch the water.  Steam for about 30-45 minutes.  (be careful that you don’t steam all your water away) Pieces should be soft when pierced with a fork.  Set aside to cool completely.  This step can be done the day before.

2.  Place cooked beets, syrup and vanilla in food processor and pulse to mix.  then process on high for 3-5 minutes until very smooth. (so pretty…)

You can use beet juice as red food coloring. You don’t need a lot and there is no taste, and you can’t reproduce that gorgeous “red” with any combo of chemicals!

3.  Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a bowl.  Add beets and coconut milk to mixture and stir to combine.

the batter is very fluffy…not like regular cake batter

4.  Add in melted coconut oil and stir well with a spoon.

5.  Line cupcake tin with paper cups or grease with oil spray and fill 3/4 of the way full with batter. (It’s OK to lick the bowl…no one is watching)

Bake at 350 F for 16-18  minutes. (11 minutes for mini cupcakes) Top should be firm to light touch.  Let cool for 15 minutes.

Chocolate no-butter buttercream frosting

• 11 Medjool dates (I’ve tried to use regular, but they just don’t compare…go with the Medjool)
• 1 Avocado
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup + 1 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 tablespoon of coconut milk
• 1/8 tsp sea salt

1.  Remove pits and skin from dates.  This is a pain in the rump, but it affects the creamy-ness of the frosting.  No matter how much you process it, you can’t get the skin smooth and it messes with the texture.  Dates are very sticky, so the easiest way I found to remove the skins, is to have a bowl of water next to you and dip your fingers in the water as you peel the skin off.  Try to find the dates whose skin is already loose to make it easy.

The skin is that very thin layer that covers the date.

2.  Wash and cut the avocado. Always wash fruits and veggies even if you don’t eat the skin.  When you drag your knife through to cut, you’re dragging everything on the surface through the food.

The perfect avocado is dark greenish black (not all black)on the outside and gives to pressure when squeezed. This is the perfect color. Cut in half all around, and twist to open. Scoop out with spoon and discard pit (unless you want to grow it)

3.  Place everything in the food processor and process the bejeziz out of it on high until it’s creamy smooth.

This is “Ooooh wow” good

Rich and delicious!

Frost cupcakes when cooled.  They firm up nicely in the fridge overnight.  I would serve the following day if I was going to serve them to guests.

This recipe makes 10-12 frosted regular sized or 24 mini cupcakes.  You can have your cake…and be healthy too! Enjoy!

Nutrition: per frosted regular sized cupcake:  calories: 300, Protein 4.1 gm, carbs: 33 gm, Fat: 13.6 gm, Fiber: 3.1 gm, Iron 15% RDA, 4.4% RDA calcium, cholesterol 0 (only animal products have cholesterol) All nutrition is plant-based.

(compare that to ordinary home made cupcakes which has 415 calories, 17 gm fat, 64 gm carbs 1 gm fiber and 4 g protein, 4% RDA iron)

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Categories: health, healthy cooking, healthy diet, healthy recipes, vegan cooking, vegan recipes

Tags: plant-based chocolate cupcakes, sugar free chocolate cupcakes, vegan chocolate cupcakes, vegan chocolate frosting, vegan desserts