Beetroot & Chocolate Cupcakes

Happy National Cupcake Week!

Beetroot and chocolate cupcakes with a chocolate and avocado frosting

Get your apron on for a week-long celebration of all things cupcake. Sometimes you just 'knead' to satisfy that sweet tooth!

Now you might have spotted the word beetroot up there in the title. Before you ask, that wasn't a typo. It really does have beetroot in there! It may sound unusual but the addition of beetroot makes this cake what it is. Moist, fudgy and ever so delicious. Chocolate and beetroot might not sound like a match made in heaven but I can assure you that they truly are. Don't knock it till you've tried it - they work beautifully together!

The avocado in the chocolate frosting as well might have given you quite a shock also. But I can assure you it's absolutely wonderful! It gives it a gorgeous creamy and rich flavour which works so well on top of these indulgent cupcakes!

Ingredients

3 eggs

50g cacao powder (or 200g dark chocolate and 2 tbsps cacao powder)

175g cooked beetroot

180g spelt flour (or buckwheat)

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp baking powder

150g coconut sugar

1 tsp maple syrup

150g butter (if you're dairy-free opt for 200ml coconut oil)

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Sift the flour, cacao powder, baking powder and sugar into a bowl.

Grate or blend the cooked beetroot. Add the eggs a little at a time, the vanilla extract and then slightly melt the butter and add the butter to this mixture. Blend until smooth.

Add the beetroot mixture to the flour mixture and lightly whisk together.

Pour into cupcake cases on a baking tray.

Bake for around 20 minutes. Best way to check they're done is to see if the top is firm when pressed with a finger.

Chocolate Avocado Frosting

Of course I had to add in an avocado just to make things interesting. It makes it taste so creamy too! All you have to do is blend all the following ingredients together:

1 ripe avocado

170g cacao powder

3 tbsps maple syrup

2 tbsps coconut oil

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

A pinch of salt

To make the crunchy crisps to go on top I finely sliced some beetroot and popped them in the oven for about 8 mins. Yes, they are slightly charred but my timer didn't go off!