Natural Food Colouring | Using Beets, Carrots + Pomegranates to Create Gorgeous Cupcake Icing!

Today I have the absolute delight of introducing you to my sweet and talented friend Natalie. To say that Natalie has prowess when it comes to baking and decorating confections would be a MAJOR understatement. Natalie is something of a genius with baked goods, in fact, and she recently decided to take her genius to a whole new level by experimenting with natural dies instead of food colouring to make gorgeous and inspired cupcakes. Here is Natalie’s process of experimentation and the BEAUTIFUL results!!

I have a theory that people like the idea of cupcakes more than they actually like to consume them. Sure the first bite is exciting. The second bite is enthused. By the third bite you can hear the faint sounds of sobbing dentists the world over and when you hit the cupcake home stretch the regret starts to set in. Regret tastes like a metric ton of refined sugar, shortening, and chemical food colouring. 
I like my cupcakes small, interesting, and flavorful.
The trend of sky-high icing and fondant accessories has done the cupcake no favors. It’s too much! In my own form of mini rebellion, I now only make mini cupcakes. I’d rather have someone go back for seconds than abandon ship. After a delicious meal, a delightful caress of something sweet is all you need, not a glycemic index assault.

I set out to make a new icing variation without flour, eggs, shortening or food colouring. I knew there would still be sugar, but could I cut it down and still find a texture that pipes my fun dahlia petals? 



I need very little encouragement to experiment with cheese. Goat cheese has such a versatile flavor and doesn’t need too much to become sweet. For the icing I used: 
 
¾ cup of unpasteurized soft goat cheese (chilled)
1 cup of organic confectioners sugar (sifted*)
½ cup of unsalted butter (at room temperature) 
* I’ve been programmed to ignore the word “sifted” until recently. Take the time to sift or strain, especially when using organic confectioners sugar. It’s made from crushed organic cane sugar and tends to clump more than refined.
I wanted my cupcake flowers to be a soft pink and so I experimented with 3 different natural stains: pomegranate, beets, and purple carrots. The pomegranate was the first one up. I sliced and squeezed and added a few teaspoons to the mixer. If you’re used to gel food colouring that stirs easily into the icing, you’ll quickly notice that the viscosity of the juice needs to be incorporated with a mixer. The colour was a soft pink and the flavor of the pomegranate was very subtle but present.

The only casualty of the day. It’s kind of ombré and I kind of like it.
Next, I sliced and boiled two beets with a small amount of water. The color was rich and beautiful and transformed my wooden spoon into a permanent reminder of this experiment. Despite the richness of the colour, the icing looked exactly the same as the pomegranate version.

The final test was the Purple Carrot Juice from the Smart Juice line. I was introduced to non-orange carrots at Sarah’s Thanksgiving dinner and was instantly enamored by the colour, texture, and general weirdness. A few teaspoons into the icing produced a rich, pink/mauve colour.

Using my favourite Wilton #81 tip, I created flowers by piping petal by petal from the center of the cupcake out (yet another reason why small is good!). Choosing a goat cheese icing for this particular piping method is a little ambitious because the cheese softens as your hand warms it up but a few minutes in the refrigerator solidifies it again. A small mint leaf tucked into the side with a toothpick gives these cupcakes a refreshing flavor.

They’re delicious, they’re cute, and they’re made without harmful dyes. The goat cheese and mint adds a flavor that won’t leave this dessert deserted.

Can anyone say baked goods genius? Thank you so very much, Natalie, for sharing your creative genius with all of us! I have designs on getting you into the kitchen with me soon to do some stellar gluten free baking, K? The world needs more of your sweet goodness.
Happy Tuesday, friends!
xo
s.