White Cupcakes with Beetroot-Tinted Buttercream Frosting

Strictly speaking, these cupcakes aren't very healthy, but they're yummy! And at least better for you than boxed cake mix or store bought cupcakes, which have a scary list of chemical ingredients.

The Stop & Shop's plot to kill people:


Ingredients:

(Cake)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup coconut oil + 2 ts canola oil
2 eggs
3 ts vanilla
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 ts baking powder
3/4 cup milk



(Frosting)
5 TB butter
2 cups confectioners sugar
1-2 TB milk, half & half, or cream
1/2 ts vanilla
1/4 ts beetroot powder



A Note on Flours:

Your hippie sissy doesn't normally use white flour, but in this case as we're making WHITE cake it's a necessity. For most baking, I use white whole wheat or whole wheat pastry flour, and for bread I use whatever whole wheat flour I have in the house. If you must use white flour in your baking, make sure you use UNBLEACHED all-purpose flour (it will say unbleached on the label very prominently; all other white flour is bleached). I recommend King Arthur because they're a New England company and have decent corporate ethics. Please don't use bleached white flour. It's not good for you and it makes your sissy cry. Remember:

BLEACHED WHITE FLOUR is the Satan of the food industry;
HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP is the Antichrist*!

Your sissy happens to have a whole unopened bag of unbleached King Arthur left over from Nan's birthday bash, so you can pick it up next time you're here along with your cardamom, beetroot powder, and the size 4 clothes that Next sent me by mistake.

* Except for the corn syrup in Peeps, which is a perfectly acceptable use.

Steps:

1. CREAM THE COCONUT OIL AND SUGAR.

Preheat the oven to 350. Put 1/2 cup of coconut oil in a bowl and beat it with an electric beater for two minutes. Add the sugar and cream them together for five minutes. It won't cream exactly like butter--it will be a bit more grainy. Add the 2 ts of canola oil (or other neutral oil) and cream for a couple more minutes. The addition of the canola oil smooths everything out. Beat in the vanilla extract.

The creamed coconut oil and sugar:


2. ADD THE EGGS.

Add one egg and beat for two more minutes, then add the second egg and do the same. All this beating has a purpose, I promise! You want your batter to be light and fluffy, otherwise you'll end up with a cornbread consistency instead of a cake consistency.

After the addition of the eggs:


3. FINISH THE BATTER.

In a second bowl, mix the flour and baking powder together with a whisk and pour them into the first bowl. You can also sift them together if you like, but your sissy doesn't have a sifter so she uses the whisk instead. Use a wooden spoon to stir the flour mixture into the batter until well mixed. Add the milk and stir until smooth. Spoon the batter into cupcake tins and bake for approximately 20 minutes. It will make approximately 18 cupcakes depending on how big you make them.

The finished batter:


4. MAKE THE FROSTING.

Cream the 5 TB butter in a medium bowl until light and fluffy. Add the sugar, beetroot powder, vanilla, and milk or cream and beat until combined. If you want the frosting thinner, add more milk. I used a tablespoon but that's because I like the frosting to be thick. More liquid will make it easier to spread. The beetroot powder will turn the frosting a nice rosy pink. No, it will not make it taste like beets, so don't worry.



This last photo is closest to the true color of the frosting. The others were taken at night under artificial light. Yes, we ate most of the cupcakes before morning!