I turned a ‘normal’ recipe into a ‘natural’ one, omitting the icing and all its icing sugar! I used organic ingredients most of the time, sea salt, and baking powder and baking soda without aluminum. Half of this recipe makes 9 cupcakes.
Preheat oven to 350F.
Prepare the beets, steaming them and puree them in a food processor. It should measure 200ml.
Mix together and put aside:
1 1/4 cup spelt flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Mix with an electric mixer:
3/4 cup honey or agave nectar
1/4 cup sunflower oil
Add to the mix above, one at a time:
1 egg; the beets; 1 tsp vanilla
Measure:
1/2 cup buttermilk (I used organic half & half plus 1tsp lemon juice).
Gradually beat in 1/3 of flour mixture just until blended, then half of buttermilk. Repeat additions, ending with flour mixture. Divide batter among muffin cups, filling each 3/4 full. Bake for 20 to 25 min, until a cake tester inserted in cupcakes comes out clean. Cool in a pan or a rack for 15 min, then remove cakes to a rack to cool completely.
Side note: instead of icing, you can make a syrup with frozen berries (1/2 or 1 cup), some agave nectar (a tbsp or even less) and a bit of orange juice (1/4 or 1/2 cup). Put it to boil and let it reduce by half.
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