Vegan Beet Cupcakes with Vegan Cream Cheese and Coconut Frosting

There are very few people in the Israeli food and blogging industry who truly inspire me.

One of them is the vegan pastry chef and blogger, Olga Tooksher, who also happens to be—as the universe would have it—a good friend of mine (and you can't blame me, she's the sweetest person on earth).

And by total coincidence, today she is launching the brand-new version of her blog "The Secret Ingredient" (which turned out absolutely stunning).

If you don't know Olga and her blog yet, this is a wonderful opportunity, and the story behind it is even more remarkable.

The blog was founded in 2012 and primarily reflected Olga herself through her recipes. As Olga transitioned to veganism, the blog gradually became vegan as well.

Today, it boasts a fully vegan collection focused mainly on vegan pastry, with recipes and photography that are perfectly precise.

Now for the best part of this post

A post shared by Haggai Leffler - Vegan Athlete (@haggai_leffler) on Aug 22, 2018 at 11:12pm PDT

A few weeks ago, I dropped by Olga's kitchen, and we prepared two wonderful sweet recipes together while talking about love, food, and veganism.

Which recipes?

One recipe is for these Vegan Beet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese and Coconut Frosting, and the second is a Vegan Mocha Mousse Cake with Figs, which is published on "The Secret Ingredient" blog. You can find it here.

I took the inspiration for the beet cupcakes from Red Velvet—a recipe that traditionally uses cocoa, flour, and red food coloring.

To skip the food coloring while adding minerals, vitamins, and dietary fiber, I used two whole beets. They gave the cupcake batter a stunning red color and added a pleasant sweetness.

The cupcakes have a very subtle beet flavor that is barely noticeable, making them great for kids (a fantastic way to sneak in vegetables!).

The combination with cocoa powder creates a deep red velvet hue and a particularly festive look.

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How to fit this into your diet?

One cupcake can be a wonderful solution for a "cheat meal" when you want to treat yourself to something sweet while remaining calorically balanced.

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Nutritional values by nutritionist and fitness trainer Noam Bechar

One cupcake contains:

365 kcal

4.5g protein

39g carbohydrates

21g fat (of which 8g is saturated fat)

1.6g dietary fiber

50mg calcium

Another recipe with beets? How about beet hummus that takes only 5 minutes?

Print

Vegan Beet Muffins

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Servings 8 cupcakes

Ingredients

• 2 cooked beets 200g - vacuum-packed is fine
• 1/2 cup sugar 90g
• 180 g self-rising flour 1 cup + 4 tbsp
• 1/2 cup canola oil 120 ml
• 1 tbsp ground flaxseed
• 1/2 tsp cocoa powder

Frosting

• 250 g a major dairy brand soy cream cheese (natural flavor) Any vegan cream cheese you like works
• 6 tbsp coconut oil 60 ml
• 4 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Start with the cupcakes.
2. In a small bowl, mix the ground flaxseed with 2-3 tbsp of water and set aside for half an hour until a sticky gel forms.
3. Preheat the oven to medium heat (180°C).
4. In a blender, grind the beets thoroughly until a smooth paste forms with no lumps.
5. In a deep bowl, combine the flour, sugar, oil, beet puree, flax gel, and cocoa. Mix well until a batter with a deep, beautiful color forms. If the batter is very dry, add 2-3 tbsp of water.
6. Transfer the batter to a muffin tin.
7. Bake for 25-28 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out dry. Remove from the oven and let cool completely.
8. Prepare the frosting.
9. In a deep bowl, combine the soy cream cheese, coconut oil, 4 tbsp of sugar, and vanilla extract. Whisk together until a smooth cream forms.
10. Spread each cupcake with 40g of frosting.
11. Garnish with a few frozen raspberries on top.

Notes

You can replace the self-rising flour with 70% all-purpose flour and 30% whole wheat flour + 1 tsp baking powder.

You can add another 1/2 tsp of cocoa for a more chocolatey flavor.

White sugar can be replaced with date syrup or maple syrup – nutritionally and metabolically, the effect is the same.

The coconut oil cannot be replaced with another oil – it is necessary for the frosting to set.