This easy beetroot cupcakes recipe takes less than an hour to make and renders twenty delicious cupcakes. Enjoy without frosting or topped with Brie and celery, for a tasty breakfast or a bite-size snack throughout the day.
I prepared the beetroot cupcakes recipe as part of my 52 Weeks of Cupcakes 2024 Challenge and I am quite happy with the result.
Now, you may be wondering why beetroot cupcakes and not something more traditional such as the classic vanilla cupcake recipe? Well, it’s because I love beets and also because I wanted something less ordinary. Another reason is because these beets cupcakes recipe is not that sweet (of course, you can make it sweeter by adding more sugar).
Why beetroot cupcakes?
Beetroot is a versatile vegetable mostly known for its unique earthy flavour. Besides that, beets are popular thanks to their rich nutritional content – the roots of the plant offer almost all vitamins and minerals essential for human health. Besides being a healthy option for our plate, beetroot are low in calories and fats, making them a pretty good choice for those on a weight loss journey.
Beetroots are typically part of autumn and winter dishes such as roasted vegetables and warm salads. Yet, thanks to their special taste profile, beets are used in sweet dishes as well, such as my beetroot cupcakes recipe.
Boiled beetroot is the star of this cupcake recipe. You should boil the beets in advance and make sure they are cooled to room temperature prior to mixing them with the cupcake batter. You can shred or purée them according to your preference: I used shredded beets because I wanted some extra texture in my cupcakes.
The rest of the ingredients for the beetroot cupcakes recipe are pretty straightforward – flour, sugar, eggs, baking powder, olive oil and Greek yogurt. You may notice that I used olive oil instead of butter and the reason is I wanted to make my beet cupcakes a bit lower on the calories side, plus I think olive oil matches beets flavour better. Greek yogurt is also used in the recipe for better overall texture of the complete cupcakes. Sugar is an important part of the recipe as well and I strongly suggest that you use cane sugar – it’s not so sweet allowing the beets aroma to really stand out!
List of ingredients for my beetroot cupcakes recipe:
- 120 grams flour
- 100 grams cane sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 100 grams Greek yogurt
- 120 grams boiled beetroot (shredded or mashed)
- 2 eggs
- 100 grams olive oil
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg powder
- 1/4 tsp cumin powdery
- A pinch of salt
How to make this easy beetroot cupcakes recipe:
- Preheat the oven to 180 C.
- Line a cupcake tray with cases.
- Mix the flour with the baking powder and salt.
- Near the eggs with the sugar until it turns pale yellow.
- Add the Greek yogurt and oil and mix again.
- Sieve the flour into the mixture and combine.
- Add the beets and the spices in the batter. Mix everything together; it’s a good idea to use a spoon in case you shredded the beets.
- Pour equally into the cupcake cases filling each 3/4 to the top.
- Bake for 25 minutes or until ready.
- Cool in the cupcake pan for 10 minutes before transferring onto a cooling rack.
Once your beetroot cupcakes are completely cooled you can top with frosting or anything else that goes well with beets. I added a tiny slice of Brie cheese and celery leaf on each cupcake because I wanted a more savoury experience. If you prefer a sweeter option, try a cream cheese frosting or any other sweet frosting of your choice.
As you can see, this beetroot cupcakes recipe is super easy to make. The ingredients are enough for 20 cupcakes.
I hope you will try it and check out some of the other cupcake recipes on my blog.
Cheers,
Suzie F.