Chocolate-beet cupcakes

2 cups beet puree (about 3 large beets)
2 sticks unsalted butter, melted
2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
3 eggs
1/2 cup warm water
1 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 cups unsweetened cocoa
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1Cchocolate chips

Bake the beets until they are cooked. Peel and trim them, and then puree them in a food processor. Or you can be all old fashioned and mash them with a potato masher.

Preheat the oven to 325F.

Combine the melted butter, sugar, eggs and water, and mix until smooth.

Mix the flour, cocoa and baking powder together into a bowl, and then stir in the salt. Then, add the wet ingredients to the dry. When it is smooth, fold in the beet puree.

Scoop the batter into a prepared baking pan. You’ll have to adjust your baking times for the size of your pan. For a small, 4-inch round, bake for about 30 minutes. Cupcakes are about 20-25 minutes. The Budnt cake from the original recipe called for 70 minutes. The cupcakes seem more portable though... Don't overcook the cake, you want it still moist.

I have an idea for a healthy version of this cake (replaces the chocolate chips with walnuts, for one, and replacing some oil with applesauce), but I haven’t tried it yet so I won’t post it. It will very likely be a flop first time round. This version, however, is delicious! I tried it both plain and with some thawed out frozen raspberries, which was delicious, but hid some of the delicate beet flavor.