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Secretly Healthy Red Velvet Cupcakes

Secretly healthy cream cheese frosting + rich and chocolatey red velvet cupcakes that require no food coloring to achieve their trademark color. With all natural ingredients, they're also much lower in sugar than your traditional red velvet cupcake. Full recipe here: https://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2013/09/09/healthy-red-velvet-cupcakes-vegan/

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:

Red Velvet Cupcake

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.

natural food coloring

Healthy Red Velvet Cupcakes

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:

sprinkles cupcake   katie cupcake

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

Published on September 9, 2013

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158 Comments

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  1. Lily says

    My birthday is next week (yaaaaay) and I try to drag it out to “birthday month” if possible. Spread out dinners, etc. so it always feels like I’m celebrating. 😉

  2. Justin says

    Yessss I’m so excited to make these! I’m interested in making homemade cashew mayo…do you have a recipe for that?? And my sister is the one that spreads out her birthday…it’s definitely turned into a birthday month! August also the month a lot of my relatives were born in so she can kind of get away with it 😉

  3. Kelly J. R. says

    My birthday is coming up in October. My husband and I will be vacationing in the desert southwest. On my birthday we plan on backpacking down into the Grand Canyon and spending the night in our little tent almost a mile lower in elevation than where we started. Most people would not consider that a very good birthday present but it’s so perfect for me.

    • lisa says

      I am jealous of your birthday plans, having just read them Kelly! I thought we were the last tent campers alive. Did you have a a fantastic time?? DUH! of course you did. 🙂

  4. Dianne says

    My hubby and my birthdays are two days apart, this week so yes at our age 60 and 65 we definitely drag it out from birthday week to birthday month. It’s so much fun to be bad…

  5. Ekta says

    Hello! First time posting on a blog! Love your recipes!
    Can I substitute sour cream for the vegan mayo? or yogurt or buttermilk?
    thanks!

    • Lily says

      I know it’s been a while since this post was made, but I just got around to trying this recipe. Over the last week I have made these cupcakes twice. The first time around was with vegan mayo and they turned out great. The cupcakes domed beautifully and had a great texture. The second time around I used yogurt and 2 tbsp of oil and they failed to dome and lacked the fluffy texture of the cupcakes made with the original recipe. I hope this helps!

  6. Aya B. says

    Very nice recipe.. I have the same issue with any baked Goodie that we get from a bakery or a store, they are always either wood stiff (almost dehydrated lol) or too sweet (sometimes I believe bakeries do that to misguide you so you think the cupcakes or cake is tasty while it has only sugar in it)
    Last birthday I baked my own lowfat carrot cake with frosting & honey drizzle.. it surely was way better than any bakery birthday cake & way healthier 😀

    • Ceci says

      omgosh! I totally agree! I think they do that because of 2 reasons: 1. sugar is cheaper than cream, chocolate, flavoring and other good ingredients… 2. sugar is addictive… I personally dont like sugary or too sweet stuff so I am so happy to cook these things at home!

  7. Kelly L. says

    Answering the birthday question: I have actually dragged my birthday out for a whole week. I call it my birthday celebration week! Usually what I do is take a few days off from taking care of my three year old and go on a much needed vacation for a few days with my husband or I leave my husband and child at home and go on a girl’s vacation week with a friend of mine.
    I always come back refreshed and ready to take on the world when I get back.

  8. Emah says

    For my birthday on the first of last month my bf got me a strawberry gateaux from the VeganCakery here in the UK, which was scrumptious. But for my mums birthday this week I made coconut lime cupcakes, and they are even tastier. I’ve only tried red velvet cake once and didn’t like it. But I’ll give these a whirl soon:) X

  9. Miss Polkadot says

    Celebrating all week is a concept I was first introduced to by the blog world – too late to put it into action this year but I’ll definitely keep it in mind for years to come.
    Such a [literally] sweet idea of Sarah to take you out for cupcakes. I wish we had more vegan options over here, too, but at least they are slowly expanding. Until then it’s still ‘bake you own’ – and that’s not too bad, either :).

  10. Debbie says

    You look beautiful in that last picture! I love Sprinkles cupcakes, can’t wait to try your version. If my birthday is inconveniently in the middle of the week, I spread it out. But it mostly falls during Memorial Day weekend or the actual holiday itself so I get to celebrate all weekend and have a “birthday weekend”!

  11. Amanda says

    Hi Katie – in this recipe and others, do you primarily use xylitol or do you use the sugar in the recipe? I have never used xylitol but was curious if any other readers here have?

    Thank you.

  12. Lisa says

    I’ve been loving beets in red velvet desserts lately. I just posted a recipe for red velvet protein balls and they are so tasty. I love them, and it’s kind of cool being able to get that red velvet color without using food coloring – plus much healthier.
    This looks awesome!

  13. Amy says

    Happy birthday week Katie! 🙂

    I drag out my birthdays too. We generally have a family dinner, family brunch (or two, seeing as we have two favorite breakfast restaurants!), and quite a few birthday desserts. I’m not too big on presents; I’d rather spend as much time (and eat as much food) with my close friends and family as possible!

    So jealous and happy for you that you got to go to Sprinkles Cupcakes!! It’s on my bucket list, so maybe I’ll try to go for my birthday next summer!

  14. Emily says

    I didn’t know that Sprinkles had vegan cupcakes!! And you are looking absolutely GORGEOUS in that photo at the bottom- share more pictures with us, you’re stunning! 🙂

  15. Alexandra says

    Hey! 🙂
    I have wanted to make you a question flr a while… In some recipes, you say things, such as:
    – 3 tbsp. Oats (15g)
    – 1/2 cup flour (180g)

    Isn’t one tbsp. oats 15g y itself? In all the places I have checked, they agree it is 15g per tbsp, so I don’t get it. The same happens w/ the flour… Isn’t ONE cup 180g? I mean, when you put the measurements in there, maybe you are saying the grams of the whole measure tool (cup, tbsp, tsp.) and not the ones meant for the quantity the recipe requires? I wouldn’t say you’d do that, but I don’t know… I have actually been held from making some recipes ‘cuz I don’t know the reason of such a big difference, so I just step away in fear it might go wrong…
    Also… Go on with being awesome lol! Loove your recipes, I have tried loads of them and most have gone well (just not the coconut butter – this kills me a bit everyday I see a recipe of yours with it, for they are all overwhelming!, or breakfast cookie dough – the latter had a texture I just could not handle).
    The hot chocolate is just the best I have ever had. When I were a kid, I would go to a hot chocolate place and it tasted just THE SAME! Cool, because it closed and I am desperate to taste my childhood LOL
    The resee’s peanut butter eggs, cookie dough dip (although I knew what it had and so it got in disadvantage) and pb cookie dough balls, as well as the chocolate frosting, the 5min oatmeal and the cookie dough baked oatmeal were all damn great. The cookie dough dip could not be swallowed so easily for me lol, maybe just because I am not so into cookie dough (really, what’s up with America and uncooked goodies? Damn, people in here don’t even know what it is, the first time I knew that was a few months ago = what the hell, who eats raw cookies? LOL)
    Oh, and the ultimate chocolate pie is on the fridge right now, begging to be tried (and devoured). I made the vegan whipped cream to top it, buut it looks like roughly mashed potatoes (not creamy mashed potatoes, smashed-by-hand-making-a-tower-in-your-plate-and-being-lumpy-just-to-joke-meanly-at-your-disappointed-face mashed potatoes!) and I am kind of sad because the pie looks awesome and cool and delicious but has puree on the top D: I think I ruined it. The agar basis was just fine! Was it because it was done with soy milk (yep, soy milk. The yellow soy milk wich has the colour of a potato. GREAT.) ? Or because I tried it before it was on the fridge? (Please please pleeeease!)
    Anyways, sorry for the ranting really. I just wanted to ask for tips for solving my cook problems, give you some feedback and tell you how I loooove your blog! Really, it is great, so keep it up 😉 you are making me (as you teached me vegan isn’t boring and made me take a closer closer look at the life of someone who is vegan, happy and not obsessed – some vegans are kind of rude for non-vegans) reduce my animal products intake!
    Oh and congratulations for always having a smile, you look really cute (is this odd? Just to say, despite those who make critics, you are talented, an awesome cooker and also pretty 😉 )

    • Alexandra says

      For some reason my 1st comment doesn’t show up in my computer as it does now (tablet)… Just warning in case there are problems with the website… Can you actually see it?

      • Alexandra says

        Ohhh and now I just got it, it days it’s “awaiting moderation”. It is problem due to its large nature lol… Sorry! (And I have to apologize again for the rapping, I do not want to bore you…) 😉

          • Alexandra says

            I was not talking about this very recipe, but I felt like I should comment in this one, not only because it was in several posts, but also because I din’t know if you would answer to comments on older posts, for I have already seen many unanswered comments in older posts… I am sorry if it was inconvenient! 🙂

          • Eating 4 Balance says

            I think what you mean is that sometimes in recipes it will call for… let’s say 1 cup of flour and she may list that as 145 grams, but the measurement on the actual flour would say 120 grams = 1 cup. Is that what you are getting at? If so, I think that’s the beauty of sharing ingredient weights. Most of us don’t sift our flour or fill the cups perfectly so the standard American measurement in cups/tbsp/etc won’t be as accurate.

            This is a pretty good explanation for the reasoning behind it: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/14/dining/tipping-the-balance-for-kitchen-scales.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 But long story short, in experiments it’s been shown that one baker may use twice as much flour in what they deem as a “cup” just from the way that they scoop it.

            Sorry if I’m stepping on your toes Katie. I just saw the comment and (at least I thought) could relate and provide some insight. 🙂

          • Alexandra says

            That is basically it, but I was not sure of that, once the grams she lists are exactly what people say to be the single unit (eg – 3 tbsp flour, 15g, when most people say 15 grams is ONE tbsp…) I just did not get that part, for it happened several times. i was wondering if that is just a coincidence or the parentesis include the 1 cup/tbsp/… content in grams, despite the amount the recipe requires). Btw, I am sorry for the no use of abvs, that is just because the ‘ is hard to reach and I get lazy, so that happens to make me sound fancy lol, just saying because it might look snob or something 😛

  16. Katy @ Katy's Kitchen says

    That’s a beautiful frosting swirl on top of those cupcakes! I hate it when cupcakes are too overloaded with sweet frosting – yuck! I’m not big on my own birthday celebrations but I love to go over the top celebrating others’!

  17. Mary says

    I am so happy to see you are including the Gluten Free option on so many of your recipes. I don’t have celiac, but am very sensitive to gluten. I initially started following your blog for your sugar free cookies, after I was diagnosed with diabetes. I continue to follow it, and try many of the recipes because they are healthy and so tasty.

    THANK YOU!!!!!!

  18. Quinn Alexandra says

    How funny my birthday is actually today! I’ll totally have to make these soon, have a good birthday whenever it is!

  19. Emily says

    happy birthweek katie!!! these cupcakes look so good (i might have to make them… NOW!)
    i was wondering if you’ve ever had cinnamon ice cream. i looked through the ice cream category and didn’t find it… maybe post a healthy recipe?? (*cough cough*) its really good but what i’ve tried isn’t vegan. 🙁

    • Janet says

      Great idea. I didn’t have either, but I had a can of tart cherries, so I used that juice and put a cherry in the middle of each cupcake before baking. Happy Valentine’s Day!

  20. AnonymousGirl22 says

    For my last birthday (my 12th birthday), my parents only took me to dinner to my favorite restaurant to eat tacos. And then, 2 days later, I had my birthday celebration. This time with cake, family, and friends! And cake. (Did I mention there was cake?). LOL. But… that was 11 months ago. 😀 My next birthday is in less than a month! And I have a feeling it’ll involve a healthy cake recipe… 😉

    P.S. I love your blog, Katie. 🙂

  21. AnonymousGirl22 says

    For my last birthday (my 12th birthday), my parents only took me to dinner to my favorite restaurant to eat tacos. And then, 2 days later, I had my birthday celebration. This time with cake, family, and friends! And cake. (Did I mention there was cake?). LOL. But… that was 11 months ago. 😀 My next birthday is in less than a month! And I have a feeling it’ll involve a healthy cake recipe… 😉 P.S. I love your blog, Katie. 🙂

  22. Chelsea says

    I love Red Velvet but since going gluten free I haven’t had any. I’m excited to try these!
    I’m going to NYC next week and I’m super excited to try all of your suggestions from your last trip there!
    You’re picture looks beautiful, by the way!

  23. Ellie H. says

    My 15th birthday was on Thursday!!!! 🙂
    Unfortunately, I couldn’t do much to celebrate because I had school and homework. 🙁
    I wish that you didn’t have to go to school and/ or work on your Birthday because IT IS A HOLIDAY and you should have holidays off! However, I did get a pedicure on my birthday. And I ate chocolate cake (which was vegan). LOTS of chocolate cake 🙂 .
    When is/ was your Birthday?

  24. Caitlin says

    In my family, we have birthday months! I have a little one (she’ll be two next month) and so a family member took her on the night of my most recent birthday, and DH treated me to dinner and a movie.
    Anyway, keep on celebrating, m’dear, you’ve helped and inspired SO many people you deserve the month…heck, take two!

  25. Nicole @ FruitnFitness says

    Oh these sound fun! I love the idea of adding beet juice! I’m not a fan of mayo or mayo substitute, I wonder if banana or applesauce would work?

  26. Jo says

    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! 🙂

    • Carrie says

      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!

  27. Kim says

    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…

  28. Kelly Wang says

    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.

  29. Laura says

    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?

  30. Jenna says

    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.

  31. Vanja says

    Hello^^
    Maybe I’m just stupid, but when I used only half a cup of flour, I ended up with enough for 3 muffins….where did I go wrong? :O I aslo wonder what you used for frosting? I can’t seem to find that on the page?
    Love from Norway/Scandinavia

    • kate says

      The link for the frosting Katie used is in the paragraph under the second photo of the cupcake. The recipe makes 6 cupcakes so maybe you are making them a bit bigger than what Katie made?

  32. Carly says

    Can beet juice be omitted ?
    And you should try a fall inspired pumpkin apple spice muffin! My friend loves them from a local bakery

  33. Toni Long says

    Hi, can you leave out the beet juice? Only because I don’t have any and might make soon. And I live in a town where I’m not sure I’d even be able to find it. Thanks.

  34. Olivia@ OmNom Love says

    Yum! I love red velvet. It’s one of my favorite kinds of cake.
    For my birthday this year, it’s definitely turning into a two week long thing. My family and I are going to Chicago the weekend after my birthday for a book signing. Normally my birthday only lasts two to three days. 😉

  35. Am says

    I just celebrated my 20th bday a little bit ago. We celebrated by enjoying the outdoors with kayaking and I came home to tofu brownies (your recipe :)). We played games that night, and went to the aquarium the next day. It was unlike any other birthday I had had before! So fun! It is so cool to see how you celebrated your birthday.

  36. Elizabeth says

    whatttt mayo in a cupcake?? these look awesome. I’ve never cooked with xylitol but i’d probably sub out stevia and add some protein powder

  37. Lisa says

    Hi Katie – your grams aren’t consistent with your ingredient amounts (cups, et cetera), especially when different ingredient options are listed. Which did you follow for accurate results?

    Thanks!
    Lisa

  38. Jeanette says

    Happy birthday, sweet Katie!
    Everytime I visit your website I enjoy your funny writing and your beautiful pictures. And then I haven’t even made the recipes yet!
    Now that I’ve got such good experiences, I recommended this website to others as well. My friend just let me know that her husband and sons (who are quite critical) loved one of your pies.
    So gratulations for convincing school boys that healthy can be yummy!

  39. Jessica says

    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 🙂

  40. chloe says

    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 🙂

  41. Molly Horn says

    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)

  42. Tawnya says

    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!

  43. Emily says

    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!:)

  44. Anna says

    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.

  45. LV says

    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?

  46. Hafsa says

    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!!!

  47. Tracy says

    Hi,
    This recipe looks great! I’m guessing that if I boil up some beets, I can use the water from that for the beet juice?
    Thanks,
    Tracy

  48. Zo says

    Is there anything the beet juice does besides add the color? I would like to make these this weekend but I don’t live anywhere near a whole foods. I have red food coloring, could I just substitute water?

  49. Tziporah says

    I subbed grape juice for the beet juice. They weren’t red, but they were a HUGE hit with my kids. Thanks, Katie, for another great recipe!

  50. Gita says

    Dear friends, Brahmakumaris are vegetarian… and emphasize the importance of keeping thoughts pure… when preparing food… they either enhance or decrease the vibes of what we eat…thus affecting our health. There is Brahmakumaris meditation…that relaxes the mind…nurtures a healthy balance between inner and outer worlds…recharge… rejuvenate the inner-self…

  51. Robin Rogers says

    Help. I just made these. After 14 minutes, they are still completely runny in the middle. I’m continuing to cook them but am wondering if anyone else has had this issue and how long did you cook them? Thank you.

    • Unofficial CCK Helper says

      Oven temps vary, as does climate. You can check out CCK’s recipe faq page at the top of her blog for troubleshooting, but my guess is that you just need to cook longer. Did that work?

  52. Emily says

    I just made these and they turned out great! Everything I have made from this site has been absolutely delicious. I actually used vanilla greek yogurt instead of the mayo, the beet juice from canned beets, reduced the sugar by almost half and threw in a handful of mini-chocolate chips. They turned out awesome!

  53. Nicki says

    I made this cake for my son’s third birthday and everyone said it was great. Even my son ate it, who does not actually like cake but rather likes the idea of cake. That translates to he usually just wants to eat the icing. Great job!

    I made my own beet juice with the juicer. It was really easy and I only made the amount that I needed.

  54. veronique says

    Goodness. Where are the folks that actually MADE the cupcakes? Could we see some of those comments instead of vacation plans and such? Yeesh!

  55. Todd says

    Healthy, but not exactly tasty – sorry, I wanted to like these, but they pale in comparison to the real deal.

  56. Kj says

    I made these for my kiddos and they were so moist and yummy. I made a couple of substitutions and it didn’t seem to affect the outcome. I didn’t have beet juice so I substituted unsweetened almond milk and I substituted 1/2 of the xylitol with stevia in the raw.

    Thank you for another fabulous recipe!

  57. Shaley says

    Hi Katie!
    I made this cake for my sisters birthday. It was amazing! I ended up making it twice… for the same person:) I became sugar-free a year ago and I was dying for some treats (Literally dying!) Thank you so much!

  58. Danielle Plate says

    I was just wondering if the serving size 60g, was after it was baked or before. My cupcakes came out to around 20-24g a piece, so I wasn’t sure.

  59. Juliet says

    Would the sweetener measurement be different if I am using stevia? Could the batch be used for a cake recipe too? Hope to hear from anyone! Cheers!

    • Unofficial CCK Helper says

      They should not sink. Sounds like you didn’t put them in the oven right after you activated the baking soda. But it’s impossible to try and guess when one was not in the kitchen with you. Can you read through Katie’s Recipe FAQ page (at the top of her blog) and then report back with more details after reading the troubleshoot section of that post?

  60. Tara says

    Katie, you can also make these redder (or really pinker) by changing the pH of the batter, most notably by adding vinegar. 🙂

  61. Rachelle Goodier says

    Hi Katie! I have been using recipes from your website for a while now and everything has ALWAYS turned out great. This past weekend I made the gingerbread cake and chai banana bread and my family LOVED both of them. Just want to say thank you for providing such amazing, creative recipes for those health-conscious eaters and bakers like me!

  62. Bridget says

    Long time follower, first time commenter. love your creativity. The recipes don’t always work for me but the process of learning is fun..I made the red velvet cupcakes tonight with these small changes and it came out amazing- thanks for the inspiration:

    Doubled the recipe, and used a cup of pureed mejoola dates instead of sugar; used half cocount flour, half ww flour. Cooked a beet and used the diluted ‘beet water’ Didn’t need the frosting- moist and wonderful!

  63. Sarah says

    OMG! Thank you so much for this recipe. My children cannot have sugar. They have about 10 times the “normal” reaction to sugar with just one bite, so with my daughter’s birthday today I went looking for healthier cake recipes. (I must be honest, I did modify it a bit, but based on your other recipes I thought you might be interested in that too) Instead of sugar, I used dates. Whole, pitted dates. Just filled the half-cup measure up, and then mixed the wet ingredients (including the dates) in the blender, pureed until smooth. These are fantastic! Stand-alone even, they don’t need the frosting at all. Gorgeously rich and soft. Thanks to you, my children can have cake on their birthdays!

  64. Emma says

    Oh my gosh. THANK YOU for making a recipe with only 10 ingredients that are accessible to everyone anywhere! Red velvet cupcakes are fussy enough to make and making them vegan and Gluten free looked like it was gong to be a nightmare until I came across your recipe. I also find it hard to find a lot of vegan alternative products in oz (different brand names? Also not a strict vegan…). LOVE your work! And thanks again!

  65. Denise Anderson says

    Hi! so far I have made several of your desserts for my (not so easy to fool with healthy dessert husband) and picky 4 year old. They have LOVED ALL desserts that I have made so thank you! But when I have tried printing some of your recipes like healthy cream cheese frosting, red velvet cupcakes, ect. Everything from the pictures to the hundreds of comments print out (I have never waited for all to print I just cancelled). I noticed many of your recipes are not in the box where you can just print the recipe. Are you aware of that? If so how can I just print the recipes out? Thanks Again!

  66. Chelsea says

    My fiancees favorite cake is this so I’m glad my favorite website for healthy sweets has provided me this ;-). If I can see him on our anniversary I might surprise him two fold!

  67. Shula says

    (1) Can you use beet juice from canned beets?

    (2) What are those pretty red sprinkles made from? They are not mentioned in the recipe.

  68. Nancy says

    Why not Dutch cocoa? The kind I buy is a blend of natural and Dutched cocoa. I’ve used it in every recipe I’ve made, but have never seen one where it specifies not Dutch. What’s the difference and will it matter if I use my blend in this recipe?

  69. Jennifer says

    I cant find this xylitol in any grocery store near me. whole foods, trader joes and cub foods all do not carry! where does one buy xylitol (in MN)? I really want to try it. can you substitute stevia in this recipe?

  70. Coffy says

    My daughter and I made these cupcakes today. They were delicious! Followed the recipe as is. Juiced one large beet which made more than enough for the recipe. We will definitely be making these again!

  71. Iris says

    I made these this morning because I had some moist pulp left over after straining my beet, carrot, apple and mango juice. I used that instead of just beet juice, along with maple syrup for the sweetener and cacao powder, no chocolate chips- and they are amazing! Thank you for the recipe! You can find my pic of one on my instagram 😉 Love and Light to you!

  72. Sin Hwa says

    Hi Katie, thanks for this recipe – from the list of ingredients it’s definitely a much healthier red velvet cupcake! I’m about to try out this recipe, but I’m wondering if I can replace mayo spread with Greek yogurt or something else? But It might not be able to give the cake the desired texture as there’s no butter? Is it possible?

  73. Raji says

    I tried this one last night and it turned out sooo soft and fluffy! I used spelt and coconut oil. It was much better than outside cup cakes! Great Thanks for the recipe. I have tried many other recipes in vain for red velvet cupcake which is my little ones favorite!!

  74. LC says

    First time commenting on this blog. I made these as a fun Valentine’s Day treat. Unfortunately, the cupcakes fell or sank in the middle, so not sure what went wrong. Used coconut oil instead of mayo. I substituted some of the sugar with flour (1:1 ratio seemed high for my tastes) & these were still too sweet for me. Also, the texture was really crumbly & fell apart easily. Fortunately, they still tasted really good. I definitely want to try these one more time with less sugar &/or unsweetened beet juice. Hopefully, I can get the shape & texture right next time. Want to try the red velvet donuts recipe soon.

  75. Emily says

    I’ve made this recipe a few times and my family is obsessed with it. My mom wants me to make her a cake for her birthday this year using this recipe. Do you have any recommendations on how I can make this into a cake recipe rather than cupcakes??

  76. Francesca says

    If I don’t have beet juice do you recommend replacing it with water and definitely adding the food coloring? Thanks!

  77. Ahish says

    This looks yummy!
    But may i ask about the mayo!?
    Why is this in a cake and what can I swap it for if anything?

    Thanks so much
    Cx

  78. Jenn says

    I subbed whole wheat flour, low fat mayo, stevia, and dragonfruit juice for beet juice because it was pink. It didn’t make my cupcakes pink or red, but the taste was amazing!

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