I will admit to dragging my birthday out each year for so much longer than the one day that it pretty much turns into a birthday week. This year’s birthday week began with the Healthy Oatmeal Pancakes I posted a few days ago, and it continued to include a family dinner, Thai food and after-dinner drinks with friends, and a trip to the famed Sprinkles Bakery for birthday cupcakes.
A few days ago, my friend Sarah treated me to birthday cupcakes to-go from Sprinkles. It was my first time at the bakery, and I was super excited to try their vegan red velvet cupcakes. (Sarah ordered chocolate marshmallow.) The cupcake was pretty good… I thought the frosting was extremely over-the-top sweet, but I liked the actual cake. And thus the Sprinkles cupcakes inspired today’s creation:
Healthy red velvet cupcakes!
Note: the red velvet cupcakes in the photos are frosted with my Healthy Cream Cheese Frosting, which I swirled onto each cupcake with a piping bag. If you don’t have a piping bag, you can use a plastic bag with a small piece of one corner cut off. Or just spread the frosting onto the cupcakes. I am partial to cream cheese frosting on red velvet cupcakes, but feel free to use any other frosting recipe if you wish.
Healthy Red Velvet Cupcakes
- 1/2 cup spelt or all-purpose flour (or Bob’s gf plus 1/4 tsp xanthan gum)(65g)
- 3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder (15g) (not Dutch)
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 cup xylitol or sugar of choice (90g)
- handful mini chocolate chips, optional
- 1/4 cup mayo-style spread, such as Vegenaise (58g)
- 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup beet juice (60g)
- 2 tbsp water (30g)
- 1 tsp natural red food coloring, optional if you want them redder than the ones in the photos
Preheat the oven to 350 F and line a muffin tin with 6 liners (or double the recipe for 12). In a large bowl combine first 5 ingredients (and chips, if using). Sift very well. In a separate bowl combine remaining ingredients and whisk until the mayo spread is completely smooth. Now pour wet into dry and stir until just combined. Immediately pour the batter into the pan (about 2/3 full each) and bake 14 minutes, after which time cupcakes should have risen and domed. Let sit 10 minutes to cool before removing from the mufin tin.
Any of the following mayonnaise spreads will work in this recipe: Earth Balance Mindful Mayo, low-fat or regular Vegenaise, or homemade cashew mayonnaise… Although I can’t vouch for every single mayo spread out there, the recipe should be fine as long as your mayo includes lemon juice or vinegar and a fat source such as oil or cashews. If you are using homemade mayo, I recommend omitting any onion powder and mustard that might be called for in the recipe.
View Red Velvet Cupcakes Nutrition Facts
And below, the real Sprinkles vegan red velvet cupcakes that inspired today’s recipe:
Questions of the Day:
How did you celebrate your most recent birthday? Or how are you planning to celebrate your next one? Anyone else like to drag out their birthdays to last all week?
Link of the Day: Crustless Pumpkin Pie
I thought your secret ingredient would be the same one that I use…chickpeas! I make these and my son loves them!
http://www.bitesforbabies.com/recipes/secret-ingredient-chocolate-cupcakes/
Hi Katie, do you think beet root purée would work rather than juice? I have loads of beets from my organic box this week you see! And also, can I check the nutritional info – does that change if I use sugar rather than xylitol? Thanks, Jo
PS only just found your site but really love it. I’ve got vegan friends, friends who need gluten free and friends trying to lose weight and get fitter so it’s just perfect! 🙂
Sorry I’ve not tried beetroot so I really don’t know.
The stats would change a little… xylitol has something like 30 calories to sugar’s 50 per tbsp, I think.
I made a quadruple batch of these awesome cupcakes today and didn’t have beet juice but I did have beets. So, I just boiled 2 smaller ones until tender, stuck them in my Vitamix with a bit of the water from the pan used to boil them and pureed that together. I measured out the amount called for in the recipe and they turned out just lovely – great texture and taste. My family thought they were absolutely delicious. Thank you so much for these super treats!
I turned 18 on the first of September, not too long ago.
But I did not atually celebrate it. It was a Sunday and I spent the weekend in a martial arts camp. For me it was a great way to spend my birthday and they gave me a cool black shirt that says “Yong Verein” (“Yong club”) on the chest and “Taekwondo&Kali Sikaran” on the back with siluettes of fighters and all the prints are….guess what: red velvet =D
Katy, I wonder how or if I can substitute the beet juice. I hate the taste of it and even it’s not noticable in the muffins, I would have no use for the rest of it…
These cupcakes look fabulous! I love how you made them so much healthier. <3 And your cream cheese frosting is so pretty how you piped it on!
Pinning this. 🙂
Can I use the soy-free Natural Balance spread instead of the mayo?
Mmmm, these sound wonderful! Red velvet is probably my favorite cake flavor.
You look so BEAU-TI-FUL in the photo Katie ;-).
By the way do you know that if we use purple yam in baking, in will turn out to be blue. That’s what I usually use in my blue velvet pancakes. It looks great to me although blue is considered to be the most unappetizing color.
I love red velvet cupcakes and love that this uses beet juice instead of red food dye! Do you know the approximate substitution ratio for honey in lieu of sugar? Would this even work?
Stunning – do you think almond flour would work too?
Just saw a recipe for red velvet cupcakes last night that used pureed beets – I would assume that would take the place of the veganaise and beet juice in this recipe. I’ll try it out and let you know how it goes. They look great.