Chocolate Beetroot Cupcakes

February seems to have whizzed by so quickly. It's time for the Iron Cupcake challenge again and this month the challenge was 'the perfect pair' (any 2 flavour combination) I gave it a little thought and decided to make chocolate and beetroot which I have been wanting to try for a little while. If you are a chocolate lover like me, then this cake is right up your alley. It has a lovely moistness and texture from the beetroot without overpowering the chocolate. The original recipe suggested a chocolate fudge topping but I thought this would be way too much chocolate as the cake is quite rich. I therefore opted for a little splash of whipped cream instead.

Cupcakes (Note: this recipe makes 20 large muffin sized cupcakes, approx 33 small cupcakes)

250g good quality 70% chocolate

3 large eggs

250g dark muscovado sugar

80g plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

25g cocoa powder

50g ground almonds

200g raw beetroot, finely grated

100ml buttermilk

30ml sunflower oil

Whipped cream (optional)

• 
  
  Preheat the oven to 160C
• 
  
  Break the chocolate into small pieces and place in a metal bowl over a double boiler to melt. If you don't have one, place the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of barely simmering water.
• 
  
  Cream the sugar and eggs until pale and fluffy.
• 
  
  Mix the buttermilk, beetroot, oil and melted chocolate and stir this into the egg mixture.
• 
  
  Add the dry ingredients (flour, cocoa powder, bicarb of soda, ground almonds)
• 
  
  Spoon the batter into cupcake/muffin cases about 3/4 full.
• 
  
  Bake for 35 mins until a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.
• 
  
  Top with whipped cream or frosting of your choice.

Iron Cupcake London February Challenge- Love

Well it's that time of the month again... the ICL challenge! I think they get better each month and this time definitely didn't fail to disappoint. Some of the cakes were seriously amazing in terms of taste and presentation. Check out the website for more information and photos of all the entries. Thanks to everyone who came to support me :)

http://www.ironcupcake.co.uk/

http://thecakedcrusader.blogspot.com/2010/02/icl-challenge-viii-love.html

Cakes loaded and ready to go :) Thanks for my lovely cupcake carrier (you know who you are!)cake, cake and more cake...

my 2 entriesour loot :) the aftermath!

It's a Rocky Road to Love

My second entry for the February ICL challenge was 'It's a Rocky Road to Love'. The cake was really light and spongy topped with homemade rocky road. It was supposed to be a marble cake but I had some difficulties getting the marbled effect. Dont think it turned out too badly though! It definitely tasted amazing :) (yes I know- obviously I will have a biased view) I'm not a huge fan of rocky road as I don't like marshmallows and cherries but these were yummy! I'm sure it won't be my first and last time making them.

Marble Cake

125g butter, softened

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2/3 cup caster sugar

2 eggs

1&1/4 cup self-raising flour

1/3 cup milk

pink food colouring

1 tablespoon cocoa powder

2 teaspoons milk, extra

Rocky Road Topping

1/2 cup unsalted roasted peanuts

1 cup (200g) glace red cherries, halved

1 cup (100g) pink and white marshmallows, chopped coarsely

200g milk eating chocolate, melted

• 
  
  Preheat oven to 180C
• 
  
  Beat butter, extract, sugar and eggs until light and fluffy.
• 
  
  Stir in sifted flour and milk in 2 batches.
• 
  
  Divide mixture evenly among 3 bowls.
• 
  
  Tint one mixture pink.
• 
  
  Blend sifted cocoa powder with extra milk in a cup; stir into another mixture.
• 
  
  Leave third mixture plain.
• 
  
  Drop alternate spoonfuls of the mixtures into cases.  Pull a toothpick backwards and forwards through mixtures for a marbled effect; smooth surface.
• 
  
  Bake for approximately 20 minutes
• 
  
  Combine ingredients for rocky road topping in a medium bowl.
• 
  
  Place topping on tops of cooled cakes.
• 
  
  Enjoy! :)

Tropical Passion

The theme for February's Iron Cupcake London challenge is 'Love'.  I knew there would probably be a lot of chocolate, berries, champagne, rose or variations of these flavours. So I decided to be slightly different and came up with 2 ideas. The first is 'tropical passion' which is a passionfruit and pineapple cupcake with a lime and coconut frosting. I topped it with little pink glitter hearts and added a little umbrella for effect. What do you think? It was a really light and refreshing cake.

The batter smelled absolutely divine - I got some really nice passionfruit from Waitrose

Passionfruit and Pineapple Cupcake

90g butter, softened

1/2 cup caster sugar

2 eggs

3/4 cup self-raising flour

1/4 cup cornflour

1/2 cup crushed pineapple (well drained)

1/4 cup passionfruit pulp (about 2 fruits depending on size)

Lime and Coconut Buttercream

115g unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice

grated zest of 1-2 limes (approx 2 teaspoons)

500g icing sugar, sifted

Handful of dessicated coconut to decorate

• 
  
  Preheat oven to 180C
• 
  
  Beat butter, eggs, sugar and flour in a small bowl with an electric mixer on low speed until ingredients are just combined. Increase speed to medium, beat until mixture is pale in colour.
• 
  
  Stir in passionfruit pulp and crushed pineapple.
• 
  
  Divide mixture among cupcake cases.
• 
  
  Bake for approximately 20-25minutes
• 
  
  For the frosting - beat butter, lime juice, zest and half the icing sugar until smooth. Gradually add the remainder of the icing sugar and beat until thick and creamy.