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
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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
Katie, you look gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous in that photo. Looking forward to your book!
Xoxoxo
Ilana
The cream cheese icing is the best part of red velvet cake – otherwise it might as well not be red velvet cake (although the original, which I know as Red Waldorf cake, has a cooked sugar icing – but the southern version uses cream cheese because it holds up in the heat).
I would give up celebrating my birthday if my family would let me because they always find a way to ruin it. But I went out to eat and also had a red velvet cupcake 🙂
Another great healthy red velvet cupcake recipe is with beets!
http://www.chatelaine.com/recipe/desserts/velvety-beet-cupcakes-with-raspberry-icing/
i’ve never had beets in cupcakes before, i’ll have to give these a try! I must though….why the vegenaise?
Btw, i really like your shirt where you’re holding the cupcake and your hair straight 🙂
Katie,
That photo of you is stunning. You look very mature and you’re growing into your looks so well, if that makes sense. What I mean is, you don’t look like a little girl anymore — you look like a beautiful, adult woman!! 🙂 🙂
<3 Molly (from Central Market Fort Worth)
Aw thanks, Molly!
I made these for my birthday on Friday the 13th! I’m so glad I did a test run on Thursday night and made a half dozen…because they all collapsed terribly. Thank goodness I hadn’t made the whole 2 dozen I’d planned to, only to have that happen. I’m in Colorado (high altitude.) I modified it by turning the temp up to 375, letting them cook about 2 minutes longer, and I also added about 2 tablespoons more flour (for the quadruple batch) so about 1 tbsp for every cup of flower is the general rule. Hope that helps any other high altitude folks!!! They came out great! My omni friends were shocked that the little gems had beets, mayo, and tofu (in the icing!) Thanks Katie!
I tried these and they were really delicious (I followed the recipe exactly and used homemade beet juice.) The cupcakes tasted pretty much exactly like regular red velvet cupcakes (gooey and chocolatey and SO GOOD.) The icing did taste a little bit like tofu but I got used to the flavor and ate it all anyway! Will definitely make again- thanks for the recipe Katie!:)
Really love the photography on this blog. These cupcakes look delicious- it’s making me hungry! I like the idea of using beetroot in red velvet supcakes to enhance the colour. I wonder how the flavour would be affected by using beets. Plus, it’s much healthier! I’ll have to give this recipe a go.
I am so excited to try this recipe for Healthy Red Velvet cupcakes. I live at high altitude and wondering what adjustments I should make for using spelt flour at high altitude?
Same here LV!
I’m similar to u!
I wanna ask same question
Omg!
Is this gluten free!!!
I wanna make this for a gluten free friend of mine!!!
Please reply ASAP!!!
As soon as possible!!!
It looks delish!!!