Can I Make The Red Velvet Cupcakes With Beet Powder Instead Of Food Colouring?

Our answer

Nigella's Red Velvet Cupcakes (from KITCHEN) uses concentrated food colouring gel to help give the sponge its distinctive colour. Using a concentrated gel means that you can use less vs the regular food colouring liquids, which should mean that you should not taste the food colouring. Also, some of the gels are labelled as "no-taste", so they should not affect the flavour of the cake at all.

Using beetroot (beets) is a popular way to naturally colour foods. The main drawback is that beets have a slightly earthy flavour that can come through in the cakes and this flavour is also in beetroot powder. So it may still not be ideal for the cupcakes. The other drawback with beet powder is that if the cake batter is too alkaline then the beet powder will turn brown rather than giving a red hue. We would estimate that you need 2-3 tablespoons of beet powder for the recipe, but you may need to add slightly more apple cider vinegar and also tweak the combination of baking powder and bicarbonate of soda. Without testing the recipe it is difficult to know exactly what changes are needed. So on balance we would prefer to suggest using a no-taste concentrated red food gel for the cupcakes.