We've given you an array of sweet treats for Valentine's Day. There has been rich, creamy crème brûlée, inventive chocolates, and a whipped parfait of blood orange curd. Here's one last treat: Airy, barely-there angel food cakelets that practically melt in your mouth, topped with a puff of meringue icing colored pink without a single drop of food dye.
I had high hopes of bringing you a full-on all-natural red velvet cupcake for Valentine's this year. I experimented all weekend with beet powder, a magenta fairy dust of all-natural color. But my efforts turned out too, well, beety. And not in a nice way; there was an unpleasant earthiness with a bitter aftertaste in all of my baking experiments.
So I turned back to one of my original ideas: Angel food cupcakes. I did try dying these with beet powder, but again — beety taste. No go. But alone, angel food cake is a true simple pleasure. If you have only had those styrofoam approximations of angel food cake from the grocery, dry and gritty in the mouth, then try again with a homemade recipe. You don't even need a tube pan; these bake up in cupcake form.
Angel food cake is extremely delicate; its airy sponge melts in the mouth and tastes pleasantly of fresh eggs, vanilla, and a touch of sugar. So you don't want to top it with much; it would be crushed under a thick layer of buttercream.
Here I turned again to egg whites and whipped up a simple meringue. Its creamy airiness matches the delicate crumb of the cupcake, and together they make a remarkably light yet satisfying dessert. There isn't a scrap of fat to be found in these, but no one will mind.
I also found, at last, a use for all that beet powder. A single teaspoon in this icing turns it a lovely shade of pink, speckled just a bit. It's completely natural, a little earthy in taste, but not terribly so. In fact, I loved the taste. A teaspoon of beet powder, it turns out, is just enough.
For a final touch, a note of toasty marshmallow, I toasted the tops of some of the cupcakes with my kitchen torch. It gives a slightly burnt taste and balances all that sweetness!

makes between 12 and 15 cupcakes
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
2/3 cup cake flour, sifted
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 egg whites from large egg whites, at room temperature
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
Heat the oven to 325°F. Lightly grease a muffin pan with baking spray. (You can bake these in paper muffin cups, as I did, but be aware that they will stick to the paper cups. For a cleaner look, bake in a nonstick muffin pan.) In a medium bowl whisk together the confectioner's sugar, cake flour, and salt.
In the bowl of a stand mixer mix the egg whites, water, vanilla extract, and cream of tartar. (You can also do this in a large bowl, using a hand mixer.) Mix on low speed until foamy, then turn the speed to medium and begin to add the granulated sugar in 1 tablespoon increments. Add the sugar very gradually over a period of three to four minutes. When all the sugar has been added, turn the speed to high and beat for an additional three to five minutes, or until the mixture forms medium peaks. Don't beat until the mixture is extremely glossy and stiff; it should be modestly glossy, but the very tips of the peaks formed when you dip your finger in should flop over just a bit.
Add the dry ingredients in two installments. Sift the dry ingredients through a fine mesh strainer, tapping them through and into the egg whites. Fold them in carefully, not overmixing. Fold in the second half of the dry ingredients.
Spoon the batter into the prepared baking pan. Bake for 18 minutes or until the tops are slightly golden. Remove from the oven and let cool completely before removing and icing.
Naturally Pink Meringue Icing
makes enough to frost 12 cupcakes
2 egg whites from large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
Pinch salt
1 teaspoon beet powder
Place the egg whites with the vanilla in the clean bowl of a stand mixer. Whisk the water and sugar together in a small, high-sided saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and cook for four to eight minutes, or until the syrup reaches 234°F on a candy thermometer.
While the sugar syrup is boiling, whip the egg whites on low speed until they form foamy peaks. When the syrup has reached the correct temperature, slowly drizzle it into the egg whites, turning the speed to medium-high as you do so. Continue to whip until the egg whites form stiff, glossy peaks.
Beat in the salt and beet powder until the mixture is an even, consistent shade of pink.
Fill a piping bag and frost cupcakes. If desired, toast the top of the meringue with a kitchen torch.
More Hot Pink at The Kitchn!
Pictured above
• Look! A Hot Pink Kitchen
• Recipe: Hot Pink Raspberry Cake
• How To Make Sprinkles for Cupcakes, Cookies & Cakes!
And more...
• A Hot Pink Gratin with Turnips and Potatoes
• Recipe: Spring Radishes Braised with Shallots and Vinegar
• Kitchen Spotlight: Holly and Sean's Hot Pink
• Pink In the Kitchen: Color Inspiration for Cooks
(Images: Faith Durand)



Kart Serving Tray b...

Comments (21)
They are lovely! So glad you found a use for the beet powder that didn't turn out too beet-y.
They look like little cloud poufs! so pretty.
lucky mr. durand. ;]
I was on a quest for dye-free velvet cake a while back and never found anything either. Glad to see a pro came to the same conclusion. I can ingest all kinds of sugar and fat, but the thought of all the dye that goes into a red velvet cake just seems a little too much.
Thanks a lot for trying. And I'm psyched to try out that beautiful frosting some day. Lovely!
quite frankly I don't understand the hype with red velvet. I've never had it cause it seems weird to me plus I never see it around here, these cupcakes are way prettier in my opinion
Cook's Illustrated tried to do red velvet cake with natural coloring, but wasn't able to acheive it. (They talked about it in an episode of Cook's Country TV as well.) It ended up that they needed a full bottle (2 tablespoons) of red food coloring to get the red right. I figure that red velvet cake once a year (sharing the rest of the batch with my coworkers) is okay.
agree with bluepuppy - i think the hype of dyed cake is strange.
I agree with the others...I just don't put dye in my cakes. As far as historical accuracy is concerned, it was just a novelty to dye the cake and for no other reason was the cake red. It does not add/subtract to the flavor, just the visual appeal. These darling pink cupcakes are much more attractive than any red cake would ever be!
made red velvet ones minus the food coloring, and just called them brown velvet. they were lovely, but I think I need to make these next.
I would like to Know should I TRY Chocolate with PINK icing??? How would it TASTE like....
You can also use strawberry powder or raspberry powder which imparts a little less earthy flavor. I love using blueberry powder which adds the best bright purple color.
CHEAPER AND EASIER-just soak some cut up beets in the water. Don't heat, just stir before removing them. Let sit a few hours (it take seconds to cut a beet), until very dark red water and you'll still have beet-less tasting water to add to your frosting. Enjoy!
I would love to make these for my boss on her birthday. Does anyone know how they will keep if I make them the day before then cart them in to work?
These cupcakes are beautiful!
For those of you inquiring about red velvet cake, Cybele Pascal posted an allergy-friendly red velvet recipe on her site not too long ago:
http://www.cybelepascal.com/?p=1988
She says: "This old-fashioned Southern favorite can be made even healthier by using Seelect Natural Food Coloring, which I order online"
I haven't tried these "natural" food colorings she refers to, but curious. Also, I seem to recall seeing some natural food colorings at Whole Foods, but they were ridiculously expensive- something like $20 for 3 tiny bottles, I think.
I just tried these cupcakes but with different frosting. I have to say, they're not angel food cake, they came out TOO eggy. They're ok but they don't taste like cake.
I made a whipped cream cream cheese frosting with some mashed blackberries mixed in to give it some color, the frosting came out good fortunately.
@lita_g a typical homemade angel food cake will indeed taste more "eggy" than a storebought angel food cake. But that eggy taste gets more pronounced as the cake sits, so I definitely recommend eating these the first day they're made.
@Faith, I did try them the first day and they were just too eggy for my taste, and didn't rise much either. I'll keep experimenting :)
I just tried these (in a greased cupcake tin) and mine didn't rise either... they kind of shrunk.
It didn't say how high to fill each cup with the batter so I did the regular 3/4 of the way. I think next time I'll fill them to the brim.
In old Angel Food cake recipes, there were quite strong warnings about all pans/utensils/bowls being grease free, because the cake wouldn't rise if there was a speck of oil...perhaps this is the reason some didn't have properly risen cakes?
I was wondering about the greasing as well- I was always taught to do angel food cake pans grease free, or it won't rise right. Of course, maybe that was a very different batter recipe.
WOW!These look amazing!Love the cupcakes!Looks yummy!
Thanks for sharing the recipe!