{"id":669,"date":"2015-02-13T01:58:49","date_gmt":"2015-02-13T01:58:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/betondinner.com\/?p=669"},"modified":"2017-12-28T01:42:47","modified_gmt":"2017-12-28T01:42:47","slug":"natural-dye-free-pink-icing-beets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/betondinner.com\/natural-dye-free-pink-icing-beets\/","title":{"rendered":"Natural, Dye-Free Pink Icing (with beets!)."},"content":{"rendered":"

The first several years we were married, Jay and I had a Valentine’s Day tradition of going out to a different burger place each year. It beat fighting the crowds at a nicer restaurant, it fit our seminary\u00a0budget, and frankly, there’s just not much I love more than a burger! Now that we have kids (and specifically, a three-year-old who\u00a0LOVES any kind of celebration), it’s fun to start having some more family traditions around the holidays. This year, we’ve been counting down to Valentine’s Day<\/a> with this free printable from Happy Home Fairy, and I had seen this cute heart-shaped cake<\/a> on Pinterest and wanted to make one.<\/p>\n

We try to avoid eating artificial food dyes, and for the last few cake occasions it hasn’t been a problem because our girl always requests chocolate icing – smart kid. But I wanted a pink cake, so I started poking around for a way to naturally tint\u00a0the icing. I came across this post on Back to Her Roots<\/a>\u00a0and decided to give beets a try for dye-free pink icing!<\/p>\n

So: make a cake. You want an 8×8 square pan and an 8″ round pan (not a 9″ pan like me or your heart will be a little wonky, but you can make it work). I made Perfected Yellow Cake<\/a> from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe because it’s amazing. Buttery, sweet but not too sweet, somehow both light and dense and not at all dry and crumbly like other yellow cake recipes I’ve tried. When Mel first posted her recipe, I was 6 months pregnant with our now-6-month-old and I made a special trip to Target for sour cream. And Jay was all like, what’s the sour cream for? And I was all like, I’m making a cake, because it’s a Thursday\u00a0and I’m pregnant and I want a cake. And I ate about a fourth of it that night without even bothering with icing. #healthy #restraint<\/p>\n

\"making<\/a>Not only was my round pan the wrong size, I naively thought that the heart-shaped cake would fit on my cute red plate. Nope.<\/em><\/p>\n

Then you need a couple of beets. I peeled and sliced them (yes, on a paper towel because I didn’t know if it would stain my cutting board!) and covered them with water in a small saucepan and simmered them until most of the water evaporated. The liquid that’s left is a deep, rich purply-red color!<\/p>\n

\"beets<\/a><\/p>\n

\"beet<\/a>I didn’t manage to take a picture of it until after I had already frozen the tablespoon or so I didn’t use in the icing in this little container!<\/em><\/p>\n

For the icing, I whipped softened butter with powdered sugar, vanilla, and a splash of milk. I used a little over a tablespoon of the beet cooking liquid to get this soft pink color. I promise the icing doesn’t taste anything like beets!<\/p>\n

\"mixing<\/a><\/p>\n

I did a thin coat of icing to keep the crumbs down before I let the professional take over. She’s always a great helper in the kitchen, but spreading out clouds of pink icing was pretty much her jam.<\/p>\n

\"spreading<\/a><\/p>\n

\"eating<\/a>Also: eating the cake. That’s right up her alley, too.<\/em><\/p>\n

Yum! Happy Valentine’s Day!<\/p>\nPrint<\/a>

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