Naturally colored Gluten Free Red Velvet Cupcakes (vegan dairy free). Go for a red colored Valentines’s Day dessert or any special occasion but without synthetic dye. Beautiful red mahogany colored red velvet cupcakes made dairy free, egg free, and Vegan.
We got the beat… yeah, we got beet… Sorry. The Go Gos song has been stuck in my head for DAYS. Yep. All thanks to working with real beets. Although, truth be told I enjoy dancing and baking to beats.
It’s all about the sweet vegetable beet for these throw back Gluten Free Red Velvet Cupcakes. Ok, maybe not exactly a throw back since most red velvet cupcakes were not actually gluten free vegan red velvet cupcakes. In other words they were not dairy free, egg free or gluten free for that matter. I used my BEST DAIRY FREE BUTTER CREAM FROSTING but you could also use HEALTHIER DAIRY FREE CHOCOLATE FROSTING But I wanted to make a dye free V-day treat and found that beets were used at one time to created that red look.
That’s not all.
Here is everything you never knew about Red Velvet Cake. Or at least all the things I found while searching for where it came from.
The original red color wasn’t nearly as bright and vibrant as the cakes produced now. Not at all. In fact, the old version of red velvet was closer to a deep brownish red or mahogany. The color was something to due chemically with the cocoa powder reacting to the acid in the recipe. This would naturally occur without even trying to be a ‘red velvet’ chocolate cake per se. But things changed around World War II when food became scarce and rationed. Bakers took things into their own hands and found that the vibrant red from beets could create a red hue to the cake as long as too much cocoa wasn’t added.
And that is basically how and why red velvet cakes barely contain any real cocoa powder (or chocolate flavor). Essentially, it’s all about the visual spectacle of red cake. Which leads to why virtually all recipes include a ton of fake red dye. Boooo!
So lets go back to natural (and closer to original) with beets used to color cakes. If you don’t know me, my thoughts are always natural is best whenever possible. But I am also a realist and can turn a blind eye to certain ‘evils’ once in a while (provided the kids aren’t actually allergic).
Truth: I have never tasted red velvet cake. Probably because I never knew it existed until a few years ago. Other truth: I never wanted to try it after seeing bright red cake—–> too much red dye.
So I might not be the best person to tell you if these gluten free red velvet cakes taste like “real” red velvet. But. I can tell you the cupcakes still taste fantastic dye free and all!
And just so were completely honest with each other, the color in person doesn’t appear as a vibrant red. Trade off for less chemicals. Fair enough, right? 😀
Enjoy!
- ¾ cup + 2 Tbsp beet puree (5* cooked beets)
- 1¼ cup my own gluten free white flour blend
- 2 Tbsp cocoa powder
- ⅔ cup white sugar
- ⅓ cup oil
- 2 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1¼ tsp baking powder
- ⅛ tsp salt
- 1 batch the BEST Dairy Free Frosting
- Preheat oven to 350 for 20 minutes.
- Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and mix until incorporated. Set aside.
- Puree cooked and peeled beets until smooth.
- Combine oil, sugar, beet puree and dry ingredients mixing well to incorporate. Add lemon juice last and immediately pour into muffin tins lined with paper cups.
- Bake 350 18-20 minutes or until tooth pick in the center come out clean. Makes 9-10 cupcakes.
- Allow to fully cool on a wire rack.
- Frost with your favorite dairy free frosting!
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Some other things you may like:
Best Easy Dairy Free Buttercream Vanilla Frosting-vegan
Gluten Free Vegan Chocolate Cake (Dairy Free)-egg free
Healthier Dairy Free Chocolate Frosting- Oil Free
Bakery Style Gluten Free Vanilla Cupcakes- Vegan egg free dairy free
Hello, I’m Laura! Thanks for stopping by… I hope this blog will help you or someone you know and love. 
You are so right about the red color. The cakes today are just unnaturally red. Before I became gluten free I had my grandmother’s recipe for red velvet cake which used some red food coloring, quite a bit of cocoa and vinegar and the color was very close to the color you achieved. They look truly scrumptious and can’t wait to try them. Thank you so much for all you do on your blog!
Hi there.Did you add guar gum or psyllium to this recipe like your others,or didn’t it need it? Thank you.Btw,you have stopped me from losing my mind as a gluten free vegan.I owe you my tastebuds and my sanity!
I found you didn’t really need the gum! The beets make everything super moist and combined with sugar held things together just fine. So glad you found my site to help! <3
I just made your red velevt cupcakes. Followed the recipe religiously and it was sooo dry I couldn’t even stir in the dry ingredients. I added quite a bit of non dairy milk just to get the mixture to combine. They have just come out of the oven and still look way too dry. What ingredient have you missed out in the above instructions.
Luckily I have more beets left so I can try another batch and make some adjustments myself but I am very disappointed that again bloggers are leaving out crucial ingredients when posting.
I am sorry to hear things did not work out. Couple questions:
1. Did you make your own beets or buy the already made ones
2. Did you use my gluten free basic white flour blend (found here:https://petiteallergytreats.com/gluten-free-flour-mix/ )
I can totally understand the frustration of a recipe failing but I find people are not following my directions exactly or are using a different gluten free flour blend. This completely changes recipes and leads to failure with unjustified negative reviews. I am interested to hear back from you.
Thanks!
Used my own beets. Not your flour. Maybe that’s what it was. They turned out ok and my husband thinks they are great. I don’t like the beet flavour too much though. Thanx for responding.
So cute! I want to try it now. The cakes today are just unnaturally red.