Double Chocolate Beet Cupcakes

These double chocolate beet cupcakes are moist, fluffy and full of chocolate chips! Double chocolate cupcakes with naturally colored, vibrant pink buttercream frosting!

Please note this recipe was originally published in January 2017. I’ve since updated the post with new photos and minor changes to the text. The original recipe remains the same!

I met my husband, Etienne, at work. As we got to know each other, sometimes we would take a coffee break together at a nearby café called Bumpy’s. We quickly bonded our over shared lover of their warm, giant, bakery style muffins. I often daydream about taking over the muffin lady’s job one day. Anyway, one day we broke tradition and ordered a piece of their chocolate beet cake to share. It was velvety smooth and incredibly moist, and tasted nothing like beet. Etienne never stopped talking about it!

SO – fast forward a few years and two kids later, I decided that it was my duty as a loving wife to recreate this recipe for him. 

After a few trial runs and more than a few beety disasters, I created a winner. It’s so good, that Etienne has even declared it BETTER than that chocolate beet cake that has been on a pedestal all this time. Victory is mine!

How do you make chocolate beet cupcakes?

You begin the whole process by peeling and then baking the beets for about 30 minutes in the oven, with a small amount of liquid. Reserving some of the liquid to use as a natural coloring for your icing, the beets are then turned into a puree. I like to use my immersion blender for this, but a high-powered blender would also work! Just make sure you’re wearing an apron or old clothes while handling the beets, unless you want to look like a purple people eater before you’re done!

Once you’ve got the beets pureed, you will sift together your dry ingredients and then whisk the wet ingredients together, including the puree. To help offset the beet flavor and really bring out the chocolate taste, I include cold coffee in the recipe, along with the cocoa powder. The coffee really brings out the chocolate flavor!

How long do you bake the double chocolate cupcakes for?

The cupcakes are perfect after about 22 minutes in the oven, at 350. The recipe makes 12 cupcakes! Always check for doneness with a toothpick inserted in the center of one of the cupcakes. I also like to rotate my baking pan halfway through the baking time, just in case there are any hot spots in my oven. 

How do you make the buttercream so pink without food coloring?

After baking and while the cupcakes are cooling, you can prepare your icing. I think classic buttercream is the perfect finish to these cupcakes! The leftover liquid from roasting the beets can be used to naturally color the icing. You can make it as pink as you want!

Just cream together the room temperature butter along with some powdered sugar, then add in a tablespoon or so of the leftover beet liquid. Mix it all together. If you decide to add more beet liquid to achieve a more vibrant pink, you’ll just need a bit more powdered sugar, too!

Stop when the frosting is stiff enough to pipe.

I am telling you, you will DIE over these cupcakes. Plus, it’s super fun to make them and bring to a gathering, and then surprise everyone when they ask what the secret ingredient is! You’ll feel like a fancy baking master!

Go on, take a bite!

Guess what? Along with my other cakes and cupcakes on the blog, I’ve actually got a vegan chocolate beet cake too! And here’s a few other ideas:

• chocolate caramel cheesecake
• upside down orange cake
• mini chocolate cake
• strawberry s’mores cupcakes

Or try these fudgy double chocolate beet muffins from Minimalist Baker!

Double Chocolate Beet Cupcakes

---

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

5 from 1 review

• Total Time: 1 hours 40 minutes
• Yield: 12 cupcakes 1x

Print Recipe

Pin Recipe

Description

These double chocolate beet cupcakes are moist, fluffy and full of chocolate chips! Double chocolate cupcakes with naturally colored, vibrant pink buttercream frosting!

---

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

Cupcakes

• 2–3 medium beets, peeled and halved (3/4 cup puree)
• 3 tbsp water
• ½ cup butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla
• ½ cup cold coffee
• 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
• ½ cup cocoa powder
• ½ tsp sea salt
• ¾ tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp baking powder
• ¾ cup chocolate chips

Buttercream Icing

• 1 cup of salted butter
• 2 tsp of vanilla
• 4 cups of powdered sugar
• 3 tbsp of coffee cream (18% and up)
• 1 tbsp reserved beet liquid*

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

---

Instructions

Cupcakes

1. Preheat the oven to 400 F. Place the peeled beets into a small casserole dish with the water and cover the dish. Bake for 30 minutes or until the beets are tender. Allow the beets to cool. Reserving the remaining liquid, transfer the cooled beets into a blender or use an immersion blender to create a smooth puree.
2. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 F and line a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer or in a bowl using an electric hand blender, beat together the butter with the granulated sugar. Beat in the egg and then the vanilla, followed by ¾ cup of beet puree. Beat until mixture is thoroughly combined. Slowly pour in the cold coffee and mix for about a minute.
4. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Add half the dry mixture to the liquid, and beat well. Follow with the second half of the mixture, beating well again. Stir in the chocolate chips.
5. Divide the cupcake batter evenly among the muffin tin and bake in the oven for 22-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
6. Cool the cupcakes for a few minutes in the pan, and then completely cool on a wire rack before icing.

Buttercream Icing

1. Whip the butter using a handheld electric mixer or a stand mixer. Add in the powdered sugar and 1 tbsp of the reserved beet liquid (more or less depending on how pink you want it).
2. Add the vanilla extract, and 3 tbsp of cream, adding more or less depending on how stiff you’d like the icing to be. Ice the cupcakes using a piping bag or spatula.

Notes

*For a more vibrant pink color, add additional beet liquid, along with a bit of extra powdered sugar to compensate.

• Prep Time: 55 minutes
• Cook Time: 45 minutes
• Category: cupcakes
• Method: oven bake
• Cuisine: american

Recipe Card powered by