Gluten-free Vegan Chocolate Chunk Beet Cupcakes
Welcome to Fictional Food Friday on The Novel Tourist. Today's recipe is from Digging In, a new release from Loretta Nyhan. Enjoy!
"The vegan flourless cake - dense, chocolaty, delicious - was a marvelous surprise. I didn't care if it was created from tree sludge and sawdust - it tasted amazing."
- Paige, Digging In
Ingredients
CUPCAKES
- 2 flax eggs 2 Tbsp (9 g flaxseed meal + 5 Tbsp water)
- scant 1/2 cup 115 g Almond Breeze Unsweetened Original Almond Milk
- 3/4 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 cup + 1 Tbsp 73 ml maple syrup or agave nectar (sub honey if not vegan)
- 1/3 cup 77 g cane or granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup 63 g melted coconut oil or vegan butter (such as Earth Balance)
- 1 cup ~243 g beet puree (or sub butternut squash, applesauce, or another hearty fruit puree with varied results)
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 cup 60 g unsweetened cocoa powder (if clumpy, sift)
- 1/2 cup 59 g almond meal (finely ground)
- 1/4 cup 25 g gluten-free oat flour
- 3/4 cup 100 g gluten-free flour blend
- 1/2 cup dairy free dark or semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
FROSTING:
- 1/2 cup 120 g Almond Breeze Unsweetened Original Almond Milk
- 1 1/4 cup 230 g dairy free dark or semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
- 1/2 cup (113 g- vegan butter softened and cut into Tablespoon-sized slices
- 1 1/4 - 2 cups ~150 - 250 g powdered sugar
Instructions
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The first task is to roast the beets to make the puree. Basically, take one big beet or (a few little ones) slather some oil on it, wrap it in foil and pop it in the oven at 400 degrees for 50 minutes to an hour. A butter knife should slide easily through it. Before it cools too much massage the foil to remove the skin. Then, when cool, pop chunks of the beet into the blender with 1/4 cup of water or orange juice (or, even cran-raspberry juice)
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Next, preheat the oven to 375 degrees, line the cupcake pan with a dozen liners then combine the almond milk and the vinegar. Let the almond milk combo sit for a bit to curdle while you make the "eggs" by combining the flax seed and water. Let those sit for five minutes. Add the baking soda to the almond milk combo and watch it fizz.. Woo hoo!
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Next, dump the sugar, maple syrup, and almond milk mixture into the flax "eggs" and hand whip them to combine. Add the beet puree, melted coconut oil, and salt and stir it all up together.
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Now comes the good stuff. Add the cocoa powder, almond meal, oat flour, and gluten-free flour blend. Stir those together and then divide the goop into the 12 muffin pans. I added a couple of vegan chocolate chunks for some extra chocolatey taste. Now, bake for 30 minutes. Wallah!