Just Beet It

I hate beets.

I loathe them.

Thankfully, so does Todd!  We're pretty much on the same page when it comes to our likes and dislikes with food.  Except he doesn't like yellow mustard and I don't know what planet he comes from. 

Beets, ESPECIALLY the pickled kind, are gross!  Blood mixed in dirt.  That is what I feel I may as well be eating when I taste a beet - which does not happen often.

What I do like is Red Velvet Cake.  I just don't like the red food coloring in it.  For a long, long time I have contemplated using a recipe for Red Velvet Cake that calls for beets as the coloring.  I have been very hesitant because the thought of chocolatey tasting beets is even more gross than a regular beet; but last week I took the bull by the horns. 

Since it was Valentine's Day last week, it was the perfect excuse for baking up Red Velvet Cake.  I wanted to make cupcakes for Rosie to take to daycare for their little party.  

I opened up the recipe for an all natural Red Velvet Cake I had pinned.  

I bought beets.  

This was only the second time I have ever bought them.  The first time was at a farmers market because I wanted to see if I liked the greens roasted and tossed with blue cheese, a recipe I found in a magazine some time ago.

I do not.  

The only redeeming thing beets have going for them is their color.  It is gorgeous.  

I roasted the beets per the recipe, then pureed them and mixed them up.  

THIS is what happened to the batter!

It's perfectly red!  I was completely thrilled!

Now, the batter did have a very slight essence of beet, but it wasn't super terrible.  I wonder if I noticed it because I knew it was in there?  

Interestingly, the baked cupcake had even less of a beet essence, but it was still there.  In the finished cupcake, the cream cheese frosting largely masked it, but I could still taste it and I decided, after going back and forth between liking them and not liking them, that I didn't like them.

Todd tasted the frosted cupcake and said he really couldn't taste it until the end.  That confirmed my  decision to keep searching for a natural Red Velvet Cake recipe.  Who wants the finishing taste of a bite of cake to be beet-ish?

All in all, I am impressed with the color and how magically red it was.  It was perfect.  

I'm sure most people may not mind the taste, but I ultimately couldn't hack it.  It's not BAD.  Just not to MY liking.  I would recommend the cake to others who aren't as grossed out by beets as I am.