Valentine's Day Chocolate Beetroot Cupcakes

Cupcakes dusted with icing sugar and decorated with chocolate hearts make an irresistable sweet treat for Valentine's Day.

I adapted the recipe from a Nigel Slater recipe for a Beetroot Chocolate Cake.The  beetroot helps to keep them moist so you can make them a day or so ahead.

The chocolate hearts are so easy that kids will love  helping to make them. They can be used to decorate all sorts of desserts ( like a chocolate mousse, little tarts or a favourite brownie recipe. If there are any left over pass them around with a coffee.

Valentine's Day Chocolate Beetroot Cakes



Makes 12 cupcakes



Preheat the oven to 180C



Ingredients:

   125g cooked and peeled beetroot
   100g chocolate ( I used Whittaker's 62% dark cacao chocolate)
   2 tbsp of hot espresso/hot water
   100g butter (room temperature, and chopped into cubes)
   2/3 cup of plain flour
   1 teaspoon of baking powder
   2 tablespoons of cocoa
   2 large eggs
   1/2 cup of brown sugar





Method:

• Put the beetroot in a food processor, and blend until it is a coarse puree.
• Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a saucepan of hot water. Don't let the bottom of the bowl touch the water.
• Once melted take the chocolate off the heat and pour in the hot coffee/water. Stir in the butter. This will melt in.
• Sieve the flour, baking powder and cocoa together in a bowl.
• Fold the beetroot into the chocolate mixture.
• Beat the eggs and brown sugar for about 5 minutes until they are creamy and thick then fold them into the chocolate mixture.
• Fold in the flour.
• Ladle the cupcake batter into a silicone cupcake tray which has been very lightly oiled. Fill each hole almost to the top (These cupcakes are not high risers)
• Bake for about 15 minutes until a skewer inserted into the cupcakes comes out clean.
• Allow the cupcakes to cool before removing them from the tray.
• Sprinkle icing sugar over the top.
• Use a dab of melted chocolate to stick a chocolate heart to the the top of each cupcake.

For the chocolate hearts: 


    Lay some baking paper on a small oven tray
    Melt 100g of dark chocolate ( I used Whittaker's 62% dark cacao chocolate)
    Spread the melted chocolate thinly onto the baking paper
    Put the tray in the fridge for a few minutes so that the chocolate hardens.
    Use a small heart shaped cutter to cut out the hearts.




I created this recipe for the Breeze Radio Station website