Lucky for me, one of my new friends here in Seattle is a big fan of cupcakes, and a skilled baker. I don't have much cupcake experience, so I turned to her for some help. Our first task was an all-time favorite: red velvet.
Red velvet cake has an interesting, somewhat debated history. The Wikipedia entry claims that cake bakers have always used food coloring to achieve that deep, blood-red color. But, it points out three other culprits for the color: the reaction of vinegar with buttermilk, natural (not processed with alkaline) cocoa, and boiled beets. Even if beets were never the true reason behind the red, I do think it's a fun way to use them, so we gave it a try!
Another debated characteristic of red velvet cake is the flavor. It can be found in either chocolate or vanilla. We tried both. I pulled together a couple beet cupcake recipes, and we came up with a plan for a chocolate version and a non-chocolate version.
Pictured above is our tasting set up once the cupcakes were completed. We had looked up the flavor affinities of beets in the amazing Flavor Bible
, and found, among others; goat cheese, citrus, honey and maple. We then made up four versions of frosting based on these affinities. Then, we tasted each version cupcake with each version frosting.I don't want to give away my secrets, but all I can say is that these cupcakes were good! We had no trouble finishing every last one, and we have come up with an AMAZING treat which is definitely going on my menu. Can't wait for you to taste it!
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