Or muffins. We could leave the frosting off and call them muffins.
Either way, you may get some strange looks when you start advertising that you’re making beet baked goods. Sweet ones, no less.
On the day that I first set out to make these cupcakes, our friend Jack had popped in after finishing a roofing job down the road from us. The oven was on, beets roasting, the stand mixer was on the counter, I was covered in flour (messy baker), there were bowls of brown sugar, granulated sugar, eggs, and poppy seeds strewn about. Jack couldn’t help himself.
“Watchya making?”
“Beet cupcakes.”
“Beet cupcakes?”
“Yep. Beet cupcakes.”
Jack’s a good man. Rather than make a face indicating disgust – though involuntarily (I presume), his face did evince perplexity – he replied, “Okay! Beet cupcakes!”
I half expected his arms to go up over his head as he cheered, “Yaaaaaaaay!” He was that convincing.
But Jack didn’t stick around to try any damned beet cupcakes.
An hour or so later, I popped a bite of an unfrosted cupcake – a muffin! – into my mouth. My eyes bugged out.
“Did you step on a nail,” JR asked.
No. I did not step on a nail. Not a nail at all. I stumbled upon a beet muffin that was better than I had expected, sweet and delicious. Cue the bugged out eyes!
You may wonder how ever it could happen that any reasonable person would think to make beet cupcakes. Jack and I didn’t get to that. I felt I had weirded him out enough already. But it was simple, really. I was planning to make beet ravioli with brown-butter poppy seed sauce, when it occurred to me that the main ingredients of the ravioli would also work in a muffin-slash-cupcake. Ta-daaa. Served with vanilla buttercream frosting, they’re pretty darned good.
Ingredients
- 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ¾ cup (packed) light brown sugar
- ½ cup honey-roasted beet puree (from one 8-ounce beet, see note)
- ¼ cup fresh ricotta
- the zest of one Navel orange
- 2 large eggs
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon poppy seeds
- 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup confectioners' sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
- Line a standard-size muffin tin with cupcake papers.
- Use a stand mixer or hand held mixer at medium speed to cream the butter and sugars together in a large mixing bowl.
- Add the beet puree, ricotta, and orange zest, and mix on medium speed until they’re incorporated into the sugar mixture, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until they have just been incorporated into the batter.
- Pour in the vanilla extract, and mix until it is combined with the batter.
- Add the flour, baking powder, salt, and poppy seeds, and mix until they are fully mixed into the batter.
- Using a spoon or ice cream scoop, scoop out enough batter into each muffin liner to reach a quarter-inch from the top.
- Bake the cupcakes until they are lightly browned on the edges of the muffin top and a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cupcakes (pick one, any one) comes out clean, approximately 25 minutes.
- While the muffin/cupcakes bake, if you’ve decided to go the cupcake route, make the frosting.
- In a medium mixing bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until it is smooth, then add the confectioner’s sugar, mixing in slowly to avoid a sugar-dust storm, then increasing speed until the sugar is completely blended into the butter. Pour in the vanilla extract and the milk, beat until the frosting is smooth and fluffy, and transfer to a pastry bag to pipe onto the cupcakes, or use an offset spatula to spread the frosting on each cupcake.
- Allow the muffins to cool in the muffin tin until they are easily handled, then transfer them to a cooling rack and let them cool fully before frosting.
Notes
To make the honey-roasted beet puree: Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Peel and trim one 8-ounce beet (red or golden, either will work, though the red makes a more striking presentation), then slice the beet into 8 roughly equal wedges. Line a baking dish with aluminum foil, place the beet wedges in the foil, then drizzle 1 teaspoon of olive oil and 1 ½ teaspoons of honey over the beets. Cover the beet wedges with the foil, and roast until they are easily pierced with a fork, 35 to 40 minutes. Allow to cool, then transfer the beets and their cooking liquid to a food processor and puree until smooth. Measure out ½ cup of the puree for this recipe. The beet puree can be made a day ahead of baking and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
This recipe for frosting yields about 1 cup of buttercream.
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