Red Velvet Cupcakes With Chocolate Frosting. Yeah, Paleo.

As a parent, I might have a love/hate relationship with Valentine’s day, or a hate/hate relationship…no judgement here if you feel the same. 

I say this because it is completely lost on me why we must make 20 plus cards and treats for all the kids at school in order for them to celebrate a ROMANTIC holiday.  Sorry, but I don’t get it. 

If you “phone it in”, go to Walmart and buy some cheap-ass lollipops and premade cartoon Valentines, you know some Pinterest mom is going to be giving you the side eye as she drops off homemade sugar cookie hearts somehow perfectly decorated by her 5-year-old. 

Organic sprinkles aside, I find that there are ways to work out my Valentine’s Day frustrations while benefiting all parties involved.  Enter Paleo Red Velvet Cupcakes.  Mad at your kids for making you write all their Valentines?  Trick them with beet based cakes.  Feeling guilty for gifting crappy store bought chocolate to your special someone?

Toss one of these suckers their way because you made these with your own two hands and that, my friend, is love.  Wanna make the Pinterest mom think twice about the treats she brought to school?  You made Paleo cupcakes which are not only lovely, but gluten, dairy and sugar free.

Sorry but you just can’t beat that.  Make these cupcakes and you might actually enjoy the Hallmark holiday from hell.  

Red Velvet Cake Base

1 ½ cups pureed beets

1 cup applesauce

3 eggs

½ cup coconut oil, melted

½ cup almond butter

1 cup honey

1 ½ cups almond flour

1 cup cocoa powder

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda 

Preheat your over to 350 degrees.  Grease your favorite muffin tin with a little coconut oil.  Carefully mix together the beets, applesauce, eggs, oil, almond butter and honey.  If “carefully” is not your style, then throw all those ingredients into the Vitamix or other high speed blender and let’er rip.

Once all your liquid ingredients are ready to go, sift in the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda.  Stir to combine and spoon the mixture into your greased muffin tin.  This will make two dozen so you can make them all at once or in batches depending on how many muffin tins you have. 

Regardless they will be done in 18-25 minutes depending on the liquid content of your beets.  Check them often and use a toothpick to check the centers.  When the toothpick comes out clean, you know you are ready to pull the cupcakes from the oven. 

Chocolate Almond Frosting

1 cup almond butter

½ cup coconut cream

½ cup coconut oil

1 cup honey

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 tablespoons cocoa powder 

This is delicious and super easy.  It may not be the traditional cream cheese frosting, but I promise you that no one will miss all that dairy and sugar and if they do, their mouths will be too full of delicious Paleo frosting to tell you so. 

I mixed all of the above ingredients by hand in a bowl with no problem.  I imagine a food processor would come in handy but mine was in the dishwasher and I was feeling lazy.  So, mix, blend or stir the above ingredients until you have a smooth frosting. 

If you want to frost all 24 cupcakes and you have a heavy hand when it comes to toppings, you may want to double this recipe.  I placed a raspberry on top to pretty them up, but they are delicious no matter how you choose or don’t choose to decorate.

Want this recipe as a 1 page PDF you can easily print?  Check out our eBook, On Being Paleo, which includes 30+ recipes (including this one) along with an easy Intro to Paleo and a guide through the 7 Pillars of Paleo.

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