Birthday cake plans!

My 2 year old is turning 3 at the end of the month, and it's my husband's birthday the day before hers. His fave cake is red velvet, so I've been on the hunt for a dye free red velvet cake recipe (it was shared on my facebook in February, but I don't want to sift through 8 months of posts to find it!) I found one that looks tasty, and I'm going to fill them with the ganache from a second recipe. Here's the dye free cake recipe:

Natural Red Velvet Cupcakes

1 1/4 Cups All Purpose Flour
1 Cup Granulated Sugar
2 Tablespoons Natural Cocoa Powder*
1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
1 8.25-Ounce Can Water-Packed Sliced Beets
1/3 Cup Canola Oil
1/4 Cup Lemon Juice
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

*VERY important, do not use dutch processed for this recipe

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line 12 cupcake tins with papers.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, and salt so that all of the ingredients are evenly dispersed throughout the mixture. Set aside.

Get out your food processor or blender, and toss the entire contents of the can of beets, water included, into the machine. Process the beets for a solid 2 – 4 minutes, depending on how powerful your machine is, until completely smooth. Add in the oil, lemon juice, and vanilla, and pulse briefly to incorporate.

Pour the beet mixture into the bowl of dry ingredients, and mix just enough to combine. Equally distribute the batter between your prepared tins, and bake for 18 – 22 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool completely before applying the mandatory “cream cheese” frosting.

Here is the recipe for the ganache:

Ganache Ingredients
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate
2 cups heavy cream OR Silk creamer OR homemade Almond Creamer

Melt chocolate into cream in a double boiler over low heat, stirring constantly. pour into a large bowl and set in the fridge to cool, about 30 minutes. This should be thin enough to pipe but thick enough to hold a shape. Place into an icing bag fitted with the largest star tip or a filling tip.

Take a toothpick and poke the top of each cupcake. Swirl the toothpick around to create a ‘hole’ in the center of each cupcake, disturbing as little of the surface as possible. Pipe about 1 1/2 tbsp. of ganache into the center of each cupcake.

And of course, the necessary cream cheese frosting:

Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients
1/2 cup butter or margarine
8 oz. cream cheese OR Tofutti Cream Cheese OR cultured nut cheese
3 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Cream butter or margarine and cream cheese together until smooth. Add vanilla extract and beat till very smooth. Add powdered sugar. Spoon into piping bag and pipe onto cupcakes.

Return cupcakes to fridge for 30 minutes to set the frosting.

Sprinkle with red sugar, if desired.