Yummm...Red Velvet...Yummm...Beets

It's been a little while since my last post but things are a little crazy around here. I have been running around a lot lately with the baby and have neglected my own meals a few too many times.

A couple weeks ago I was on the run early to pick up my car from the shop then meeting some moms for a big walk along the waterfront.  I forgot to grab breakfast before I left and was starving by the time I got downtown.  Do you know what this means, my chance to try Kind Food!'

KindFood is a gluten free and vegan bake shop, organic cafe and juice bar which I have been wanting to try for some time now.  I got downtown earlier than everyone else and ran over to the Cafe... ugggh it was closed for another 1/2hour and I had to meet everyone in 15 mins.  Well, no breakfast for me then.  I grabbed a latte with Soy from Second Cup (my treat for our walks) and went on my way.

After the walk I was even more hungry, as you can imagine, and all I could think about was KindFood!   I headed over to check out my options.  After staring at their little menu for 15mins I decided on their vegan burger (I wasn't sure how this was going to taste but, it was worth a try) and 2 Red Velvet GF/Vegan cupcakes (one each for hubby and I after dinner).

Cupcakes just waiting to be eaten.
photo c/o: www.eatlocallyblogglobally.com

I was so hungry I ate the burger on the drive home and found myself licking my fingers to get every last bit it was so good.  The cupcakes sat on the counter staring at me all day (cruel and unusual punishment) but it was worth it, we had a lovely cupcake date night when the baby was in bed.

A little Raw Vegan restaurant called The Naked Sprout sells these cupcakes.  In October 2012 KindFood is opening another location just for their baked goods called Kelly's Bake Shoppe.  

My hubby does not eat GF by choice, disease or intolerance only as he says, "through osmosis" since I'm celiac and do the shopping and cooking mostly.  He LOVED the cupcake so I asked him to guess what it was made of (a little game we play when he likes something thats made of things you wouldn't expect) and he couldn't guess it!

It's Made with Beets!

Thats right Beets! The colour and sweetness comes form roasted beets... HOW CLEVER IS THAT?!?!

Learn how to roast beets in the oven here!

So this got me thinking...we both love these cupcakes but at almost $4 each there is no way I'm buying them regularly for us...maybe I can make them???

So I got out my trusty computer searched and searched and searched.  Low and behold I found it...not only a recipe but a video tutorial too, Jackpot!

Welcome to my world Gluten Free Gigi!! 

This website has so many recipes for baking with almost any allergy and many video tutorials to go along with them.  Later I'll post about making her sun butter...YUMMY!

I'm not going to do a full tutorial as Gigi has done this justice however here's how my attempt turned out.  

I went to the store and got my supplies ready and began baking.  

I roasted the beets in the oven as indicated by TheKitchn.  This was super easy and I just did it while I was using the oven for dinner the night before.  I took them out of their 'skin' and kept in a covered bowl in the fridge over night.  

Beet after being roasted and skin removed. 

I then chopped the beets to get them ready for the food processor.  This gets red juices everywhere!  

I love the rings in beets, so pretty!

I have a small food processor but it had no trouble handling this.  I added Almond milk here.   

My little Cuisinart food processor does the job!

 Once processed I added all the wet ingredients using real egg as I can eat eggs but when I make them again for my sister in-law I'll use an egg replacer as she can't have eggs.  

I'll post an update once I try this with which method of replacer I chose and how it turned out.

Beet puree, honey, egg and vanilla

 I mixed up the dry ingredients and added my Earth Balance.  For the flour I chose to use Gigi's Gluten Free Flour Blend with Gum.  She does have a whole post on why you do not need gum's in GF baking however I have not ventured to that just yet.  I can update after I try that as well.  

Dry ingredients with Earth Balance 'butter' being added

Once all dry ingredients were mixed with the 'butter' I added the wet to the dry and then divided into the muffin tins.   

Loving the bright RED of these cupcakes!

 Bake then check! I use the toothpick method and these were perfect after 17 mins!

Straight out of the oven...smells so good!

As for the icing I didn't use Gigi's and really wish I had.  I made a quick vanilla butter cream with my Earth Balance but it was WAY TOO SWEET and heavy for this type of cake.  Next time I'll be heading over to my natural store to get some vegan 'cream cheese' and make a cream cheese icing.  

The finished product!

So how did they go?

Other than the Icing being too strong they were fantastic.  My hubby loved them and I couldn't stop at just one ... if its made with veggies it's ok to eat before 10am right?

We were going to a friends house for dinner that night so I brought these for desert.  The kids (5, 6, 10) loved them and wanted seconds so I would say they were Kid Approved!

Have you tried baking with beets?  How has it worked out?

Any good icing recipes?

Leave a comment with how your version went!