A Brand New Beet (Beet Chocolate Cake/Cupcakes)

So it has come to my attention that all the baked goods that are on this website contain banana. I'd just like to let you know right now that I'm not some sort of banana fiend. It's just that I almost always seem to have bananas on hand that are getting all brown and bruisy faster than I'd like and the best way to get rid of them is bake!

That being said, perhaps I have an obsession with vegetables and fruit in my baked goods. When I saw this post as part of SHF #28, I knew that one day I was going to make it.

(I'm not going to post the recipe again here, as it is there and her photos are obviously better than mine--just remember that a stick of butter = ½ cup)


And what perfect occasion to make it than for a St. Paddy's Day party? (Really.) I fully intended to show up and be like "I made a cake, but it's the wrong colour!" But at the party they had green lighting in the kitchen, so you couldn't really tell what colour the icing was, which was a bit of a downer, because I thought it should've been the star of the show (and the hint to what was in the cake ;) ) Unfortunately, my icing came out a bit runnier than I'd like, which brings me to lesson #1: As heart-healthy as you're trying to be, soft margarine is a poor substitute for butter when it comes to making icing.

Everyone at the party loved the cake (possibly because they were all drunk college kids). Unlike zucchini chocolate cake, where you can't taste the zucchini and it's more there to add moisture and maybe some texture, the roasted beet does impart its own flavour that really complements the chocolate. Since I still had some beet purée left and my roommates didn't get to try my pink creation, I surprised them with these:

I didn't have any butter nor beet to make anymore icing, so I just dusted the cupcakes with cocoa and icing sugar, which I thought made them look kind of dirty. Lesson 2: Dust with cocoa or icing sugar, not both... Or don't mix before you dust?

In case you're wondering I presented the cupcakes with this whimsical sign:

Beet Chocolate Cupcakes (Help yourself!)
Full of tasty antioxidants (Ed note: I talk a bit about beet in this entry, and of course the cocoa has some antioxidant properties also)
Warning: May ultimately cause the colour of your excrement to be different from normal. In layman's terms, this is your shit will turn red. According to Wikipedia, this is because you lack the enzymes to break down the colour in the beet. Do not be alarmed unless problem persists.

Hey, a little sarcasm never hurt anyone, and neither did any beet chocolate cakes.