Since week two of the School of Christian Living (SCL) catering gig was on Valentine’s day and because I like puns (and a good theme), I came up with some awesome names for all the dishes.

We had Heartwarming Chili, You Still Romaine in my Heart Salad, Don’t Break My Corny Heart Cornbread (even better because I used my mom’s heart-shaped pans for the cornbread), and You Make My Heart Beet Cupcakes.  You have to have fun with your work, right?

We had some chili that was leftover from a different church event, so I had more time for creativity.  So I decided to make an extra special dessert since I didn’t have to worry about making the main course.  The only hard part was picking just one recipe, but Joy the Baker’s Chocolate Beet Cupcakes with Beet Cream Cheese Frosting won out.  I like beets, but it’s a recently acquired taste and a little goes a long way in my opinion.  However, these cupcakes were phenomenal!  The chocolate cake was super moist and delicious, the frosting was scrumptious (although mine wasn’t nearly as pink as Joy’s).  When I make these again (because there needs to be a next time), I’ll double the amount of grated beet in the frosting.  I thought the beet flecks tasted like those candy bits in the store bought frosting…you know the white kind with colorful pieces (the only store-bought frosting I like).  If this sounds totally crazy and way too beet-y to you, don’t worry, I had lots of people ask if there was beet in both the cake and the frosting, so it wasn’t an overwhelming beet flavor.

I didn’t change anything about the recipe, except to make them into cupcakes instead of a layer cake.  I got exactly 24 cupcakes and the baked for 17 minutes.  I also took a shortcut by using pre-cooked beets…Trader Joe’s has ready to eat beets, and since I already had some at home I used those.  One package was just enough for this recipe.  Make sure you save all the beet juice to color the frosting!