All you need is love, but these little cupcakes ain’t half bad at making the point! Primal Plate’s Red Velvet Cupcakes are the sweetest-tasting, sexiest-looking, Valentine’s day indulgence to share with your sweetheart. For all the world you might think that one bite into one of these aggressively pink, attitudinal cupcakes would be enough to send Primal sugar phobes into a state of apoplexy… but their good looks deceive.
These light-as-a-feather cupcakes are in fact a nutritious health food made from organic grass-fed butter, organic tiger nut flour, raw cacao and fresh beetroot. No added sugar, no grains, no artificial food colour. Talk about share the love!
Over the past few weeks Sarah seems to have been really cake-hungry because she’s frequently been asking “When are you going to make more cake?” As it turns out Valentine’s day is just the right time because, after waiting for so long, she was only too happy to help me by patiently making little ‘love notes’ out of greaseproof paper and ribbon hearts to decorate these bad boys! Gloriously chocolatey and dressed to kill for the occasion, they taste every bit as good as they look.
As for the not so sweet-toothed or love-struck, they’re just yummy little everyday cakes to eat plain with a really good cup of tea or coffee.
Red Velvet Cupcakes (makes 18)
Ingredients - for the cupcakes
250g organic premium tiger nut flour
3 tbsp organic raw cacao powder
1 tsp organic ground cinnamon
2 tsp gluten-free baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
200g organic unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
150g Sukrin Gold
3 organic eggs, at room temperature
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
120 ml organic milk or other milk of choice - e.g. almond, cashew or coconut milk
2 medium-sized organic beetroots, finely grated
Ingredients - for the buttercream (enough to decadently decorate 8 cupcakes)
200g Sukrin Icing
100g organic unsalted, preferably raw, grass-fed butter
2 tbsp fresh organic beetroot juice (or use milk if you don’t have a juicer)
½ tsp pure vanilla extract
Instructions - for the cupcakes
Pre-heat the oven to 180℃ / 350℉ / Gas mark 4
Place 18 paper cupcake cases into two 12 hole muffin trays
Combine the tiger nut flour, cacao powder, cinnamon, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda in a medium size mixing bowl. Fork through to get rid of any lumps.
Fix the double-bladed ’S’ shaped knife into a food processor and place the softened butter, Sukrin Gold, the bowl of dry ingredients, vanilla extract and eggs into the processor bowl.
Process for about 30 seconds until well mixed. You may need to scrape down the sides of the of the bowl once or twice to make sure everything is incorporated. Add 100 ml of the milk and process again for another 10 seconds. You’re aiming for a creamy (not too runny) consistency. Add the remaining 20ml of milk and process for a few more seconds if the mixture still seems a little too thick.
Scrape the mixture out of the processor bowl into a clean mixing bowl and stir in the grated beetroot until evenly incorporated.
Using a small ice cream scoop fill each paper case with approximately 50g-55g of the cake mixture.
Bake in the middle of the oven for 18 - 20 minutes.
Allow the cupcakes to cool briefly in the baking tins before removing them and cooling completely on wire racks.
Instructions - for the buttercream icing
Place all the ingredients in a medium sized bowl and whisk together with an electric beater until light and fluffy.
Place a large star shaped nozzle into a disposable piping bag. Cut the end of the bag off so that the end of the nozzle is not covered. Twist the bag immediately behind the back of the nozzle to prevent the icing coming out until you’re ready.
Place the bag into a large tall glass and fold the top of the bag over the edge of the glass. Alternatively, get someone else to hold the bag open whilst you fill it.
Carefully fill the bag with the prepared buttercream. Close the top of the bag by twisting it tightly - you can secure it with a rubber band to make sure the buttercream can’t ooze back out of the top - then push the buttercream down inside the bag to remove any air-locks.
Starting at the outer edge of the cupcake, slowly squeeze the piping bag to allow the buttercream to gently fall onto the cupcake. Keep going around the cupcake in increasingly smaller circles until you reach the middle. N.B. the nozzle needs to stay slightly raised above the surface of the cake so you don’t drag the icing as you go.
Decorate with fresh berries or edible flowers - organic rose petals would be nice - if you don’t want the fiddle and faff of making Sarah’s fabulously conceived love notes!
Notes
If your oven shelves are not large enough for both baking trays to fit side by side on the middle shelf, then swap them over after about 12 minutes cooking time - no earlier because the mixture needs time to set. If you have a double oven, you can use them both to ensure these cupcakes bake evenly to perfection - much easier than swapping the trays over during baking.
Carbohydrates 7g Protein 3g - per cupcake
Carbohydrate 1g Protein 0g - per serving of buttercream
