Wendi Peters Pudding Queen: Beetroot and Vanilla Cupcakes

I seem to spend a lot of time between jobs catching up with friends, as I'm away so much, and I never need an excuse to bake but these were brought to my attention by a tweet from the magazine, Lancashire Life, and thought they sounded interesting and worth a go ........
Invited my girlfriends round for a Friday lunch now all the kids are back at school and they went down really well .... so moist and really good flavour ... easy to make too..

Beetroot and Vanilla Cupcakes (makes 15)

250g Caster Sugar
250g Soft Butter
4 large eggs ( separated )
250g Self Raising Flour
250g plain cooked ( vacuum packed ) beetroot, drained ( keep the juice back for colouring icing ) and pureed
2 tablespoons vanilla extract

for icing

300g icing sugar
150g soft unsalted butter
few drops of roseflower water ( to taste )
few drops of beetroot juice, to colour

Preheat oven to 180 oc

Beat together sugar and butter until light and creamy.
Add egg yolks,flour, pureed beetroot and vanilla and beat until smooth.
In a clean bowl, whisk egg whites until fairly stiff.
Take a large spoonful and beat into cupcake mix to loosen it a little.
Using a metal spoon, fold the remaining egg white gently through the mix, taking care not to over beat.

Spoon mix into 15 large cupcake cases and bake for around 20 mins until firm to touch.
Cool on a wire rack.

To make icing ....

Beat the icing sugar and butter together.
Add a few drops of rose flower water and beetroot juice to colour.
Spread or pipe onto cakes and decorate with glitter if you want.

The pink mix before egg whites added..