By Betsy Jabs
Looking for a way to woo your Valentine? Nothing says L-O-V-E like Red Velvet! (Well, at least in my house.)
One of Matt’s favorite desserts has always been Red Velvet cake. Red Velvet just looks so beautiful, and it’s the kind of cake in which I just leave a fork in the pan so I can sneak a bite every time I’m in the kitchen. (Yes, I do this.) But since discovering the benefits of eating real foods and eliminating toxins from our systems, I was less than thrilled to make it for him.
I knew there had to be alternatives to the fake red food coloring in the cake and the massive amounts of refined powdered sugar that went into the cream cheese frosting. Desserts are my passion, so I was determined to make this cake worthy of our real food lifestyle. After a few failed batches of cake and frosting, I can now make Matt his favorite dessert without feeling like I’m poisoning him.
The answer was natural red food coloring and unrefined sugars for the cake part, then a natural sweetener like maple syrup for the delicious cream cheese frosting. I opted for cupcakes instead of one big giant cake because they’re easier to share, no cutting is involved, and they’re just plain cute. This is a perfect red dessert for Valentine’s Day, Christmas, or any other occasion.
Red Velvet Cupcakes with Naturally Sweetened Cream Cheese Frosting
(Makes 10-12 cupcakes)
Cupcakes
- 1½ cups flour (we use this sprouted white wheat flour)
- 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (we like this brand)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder (find aluminum-free baking powder here)
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt (find unrefined sea salt here)
- ¾ cup coconut palm sugar or pure cane sugar (find sustainably sourced coconut palm sugar here or organic cane sugar here)
- ½ cup melted butter or coconut oil (find organic extra virgin coconut oil here)
- 2 eggs at room temperature, preferably from pasture-raised hens
- ¾ cup buttermilk at room temperature (or whole milk w/ a splash of white vinegar)
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract (find organic pure vanilla extract here or learn to make your own here)
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 3 teaspoons natural red food coloring (we use this brand or make your own from beets)
Naturally Sweetened Cream Cheese Frosting
- 8 oz. organic cream cheese
- ½ cup organic butter, preferably from pasture raised cows
- ¾ cup pure maple syrup (find it here)
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract (find it here or learn to make your own)
- about ¾ cup arrowroot starch or tapioca flour, for thickening (find arrowroot starch here or tapioca flour here)
Directions
- Line a muffin tin with 10-12 cupcake liners.
- Combine flour, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder in a medium bowl and whisk until well blended.
- Combine sugar, butter/coconut oil, and eggs in a large bowl and whisk until smooth. Add buttermilk, vanilla, lemon juice, and natural food coloring. Whisk lightly until combined.
- Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir just until mixture comes together. Avoid over-mixing.
- Spoon batter into muffin cups. Bake 15 minutes at 350°. Test with a toothpick. If toothpick does not come out clean, turn pans and bake another 3-5 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool cupcakes completely. Store in an airtight container until ready to frost and serve.
- For frosting, beat cream cheese and butter (set out to soften) in a large bowl until smooth. Add vanilla and maple syrup and beat until combined. Sift 1-2 tablespoons of arrowroot or tapioca flour over the mixture at a time, beating until smooth. Continue adding thickener in this manner until desired consistency is reached. (I also refrigerate it to stiffen it up before frosting.)
- Frost cupcakes just before serving.
Enjoy these delicious, naturally colored and sweetened treats!
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I absolutely LOVE India Tree dyes and sprinkles. Such beautiful colors! I found some naturally dyed sprinkles at Williams Sonoma as well.
For the first time I am not very impressed with this post. The best way to “naturally” color red velvet cupcakes is red beet juice. Those ‘natural’ food coloring that you buy in the health food stores can be extremely expensive and who wants to break an arm and a leg in their wallet for that? You can make green coloring with spinach and kale and make blue with red cabbage and vinegar. Its inexpensive easy to make and the most natural of all with the added health benefits of the juices.
How do you make green food coloring with spinach and kale? Thank you.
Thanks for your comment Brycee! The natural coloring I link to in the article is made from beet juice. I used this to make mine because I already had it on hand and it was faster than making it from scratch. But you’re right – the best DIY method (if you have the time) would be making your own natural coloring. I’ll add this option to the article. Thanks again!
It’s also possible to skip the food coloring and just add grated whole beets to the cake part. (It might be healthier, too.) We pretty much followed this recipe , but the cake was dark brown instead of red. So, somewhere between the 3 tablespoons of cocoa powder in this recipe and the 2/3 cup of cocoa powder in Joy’s recipe there must be a change in color.
It’s always amazing to me that such a large proportion of vegetables can be added to a dessert, and the vegetable flavor just completely disappears!
My daughter and I just made cupcakes with frosting and colored them with berry juice deduced from an organic frozen berry blend. The color was beautiful and the taste was amazing. Add a little lemon juice for some fun flavor.
Thank you for this recipe! It’s just the inspiration I needed for a ¨healthy¨ cup cake to make in my cooking class for the little children at the local rescue mission. I’m going to add beet powder for the red coloring…..can’t wait to try it!
Blessings,
Bethany
I use mixed almond coconut milk in all my recipes, and if it needs to be butter or sour milk I add a tablespoon of lemon juice.
be careful buying alternative milks that add B-12 most contain cyanide in the form of “cyanocobalamin” always look for the safe form “methylcobalamin”.
Can I just leave the red coloring out without affecting the quality of the finished cake? Thank you! ♥
Yeah, and that’s what we used to do. I called it, “Brown Velvet Cake.”
What a great treat for my family for Valentine’s Day! Thanks!
if you really would like a nice red velvety cup(Cake), use beetroot juice or liquidised raw or cookrd and cold.
The may require a bit more or less than what you are now using. The puree would work as well, experiment untill you get your balance correct.
Red velvet is also my husband’s favorite. Guess I need to search out some natural food coloring today so I can make some for him. 🙂
Several of the reviews for this said the colors weren’t right or that they had to use a ton of it for true colors. What is your experience with it??
I used the amount in the recipe and they turned out red. However, I did notice that the few cupcakes we had left after a week started to fade back to a chocolate color. No problem if you eat them up within a few days. 😉
I happen to love Red Velvet cake and was wondering if it was possible to substitute beet juice instead of food coloring?
Absolutely! You can make your own natural food coloring with beet juice and use that too.
Thank you Betsy! I always enjoy your tips on living a more natural life– the way GOD intended for us to live from the start.