Raw Red Velvet Cupcakes

Who likes cupcakes?? WE LIKE CUPCAKES!!! I always loved baking especially cupcakes I always found it so simple and easy. Raw cupcakes are a whole new story, with the use of veggies and dates and nuts and only a small bit of flour you have to make sure you get the right consistency for them to dehydrate properly and they can't be too dry or too sticky. So much to get right!!! Red velvet cupcakes were always my favourite because I am such a girl when it comes to colours..... I LOVE PINK AND RED!!! The recipe I used for these needed a little bit of adjusting but that may have been because I didn't exactly follow the recipe to a tee but I have never been able to follow a recipe, I like to improvise and then it a problem arises then figure out how to fix it. When looking at the recipe for the first time it required 8 cups of flour/meal which I thought was a crap load with the little amount of liquid required for the recipe so I decided 2 cups would be quite enough and sure enough they turned out exceptionally well.

I also found out today that my puppy loves raw vegan cupcakes. She first looked at it with curiousity wondering what is this thing mum is giving me but then continued to try and grab it out of my mums hands. She ended up having a bite and following mum around because she wanted more but seeing as though dogs aren't allowed to many nuts and coconut she wasn't allowed anymore. But it just shows that not only humans like animal friendly food, animals love animal friendly food.

Raw Red Velvet Cupcakes

Cake:
2 cups raw coconut flour

1/4 tsp sea salt
2  tsp pure vanilla extract
3 cups chopped raw red beets (peeled)

1 cup medjool dates, pitted (soaked in filtered water for 30 minutes if not soft, then drained)

1 cup raw coconut nectar or your choice of liquid sweetener
3/4 cup filtered water (or as needed)

Frosting:
3 cups cashews, soaked
1 inch chunk red beet
1/4  cup plus 2 Tbsp coconut water
1/4 cup plus 1 Tbsp raw coconut nectar or your choice of raw sweetener
1/4  tsp sea salt
seeds of one vanilla bean, or 1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup raw coconut oil, warmed to liquid

For the cake, combine dates, vanilla, beets, nectar and water in a food processor and process until pretty smooth. Place in a bowl and add the coconut flour to the wet mixture and mix until smooth with a sturdy spoon (wooden is good). The batter should be like a dough which you can form into balls in your hands and then place in silicone cupcake molds to shape them. Place them in the dehydrator for at least 12 hours or until tops are not sticky anymore, they should be still moist in the middle.

Once the cupcakes are dehydrated, to make the frosting place beet, coconut water, coconut nectar, salt, vanilla and coconut oil in a blender and blend until completely smooth. Then to the blender add cashews one cup at a time, blending after each cup until smooth. Place frosting in a pastry bag and pipe a good amount of frosting on top of each cupcake.

Raw Carrot Chocolate Cupcakes with Blueberry Frosting

When I found this recipe on http://fragrantvanillacake.blogspot.com.au it was a layered cake but me myself am a big fan of bite sized treats so I made the cake into cupcakes. What I love about these cupcakes are they don't even look raw. They actually look fluffy and like they have risen in the oven.

Blueberries are one of my all time favourite berries so this recipe really stood out as a favourite. Blueberries are rich in micronutrients containing essential mineral manganese, vitamin C, vitamin K and dietary fibre. Above all of that nutrients they taste absolutely amazing.




I find raw cupcakes very therapeutic to make due to the fact you have to make them look like cupcakes and it takes precision to ice them nicely and correctly to make them look presentable. Frosting cupcakes is one of my favourite things to do ever since I mastered the art of the piping bag. I mastered piping frosting by baking normal cupcakes on a regular basis for friends and family but I never ate my cupcakes I always gave them away because I loved people's emotions and smiles whenever they ate them. Then I discovered raw cupcakes and I ditched the oven and gained a food processor and blender.....best investment ever if I may add.

Another good investment which I found absolutely perfect for raw vegan cupcakes are silicone cupcake liners. Just roll the cupcake dough into a ball then pack it into one of these babies and take the dough out of the liner and voila! Its in the shape of a cupcake....no one will ever know the difference.







Raw Carrot Chocolate Cupcakes with Blueberry Frosting


Cake:
1 1/2 cups carrot pulp
1 cup soft medjool dates, pitted
2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup ground flaxseed
1 1/4 cups raw coconut flour
1/2 cup raw cacao powder

1 cup water or until mixture comes together as a dough

Frosting:
1 1/2 cups fresh organic blueberries
4 soft medjool dates, pitted (if not soft, soak them in filtered water 30 minutes and drain well)
a pinch sea salt
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp raw coconut oil, warmed to liquid

blueberries, to decorate


For the cake, combine the carrot pulp, dates, vanilla, and sea salt in a food processor and process until it is well combined and the carrots are very finely chopped.  Add the remaining ingredients and process until smooth and well combined. Add the water 1/4 cup at a time, you just want the mixture to come together as a workable dough, make sure you don't add too much that it becomes sticky and unmanageable.  Line up your silicone cupcake moulds and roll balls of mixture which will fill the moulds  Place the balls of mixture into the liners and press down to fill and shape the ball and then peel back the liner from the cupcake and place the cupcakes on a tray ready to be frosted. 

To make the frosting, combine the berries, dates, sea salt and vanilla in the blender and blend until smooth.  Add the coconut oil and process until smooth (if it is clumpy at all, it probably needs to warm up a little, so process until it is not lumpy).  You will be using the frosting right away before it starts to set up.

To frost the cupcakes, spoon the frosting into a piping bag with a star shaped nozzle and pipe from the outer edge inwards toward the middle, finishing off with a quick upwards flick of the piping bag, this makes that peak in the middle of the frosting. Do this to all the cakes then place a blueberry on the top of each frosting peak. Store in the fridge to keep the cake and icing set. Serve and enjoy!!