Red Velvet Cupcakes

This is my own red velvet cake recipe I used to make my Easter cupcakes. It uses beet purée to give it that red color instead of a horrendous amount of artificial food dye. The beets also keep the cupcakes nice and moist, but you definitely cannot detect any beet flavor, as long as it is smoothly puréed. I just used a can of beets and added a little water, so I didn't add any extra salt to the recipe since there was already some in the beets. This recipe won't be as red as many other red velvet cake recipes since it only uses a small amount of beets for color, and it also contains a lot more cocoa than usual for extra chocolate flavor, which masks more of the red color. Bonus: recipe has no eggs, and is vegan if you don't use dairy milk!

Red Velvet Cupcakes
3/4 cup beet purée
1/3 cup oil
1 1/4 cups granulated (white) sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup milk (any kind)
1 cup all-purpose (plain)

Preheat oven to 350◦F. Grease or line muffin cups.
In a large bowl, mix together the beets and oil. Beat in the sugar and vanilla until no lumps remain. Stir in the cocoa, powder, and soda. Stir in 1/2 cup milk, then 1/2 cup flour, then 1/2 cup milk, then 1/2 cup flour. Mix well until batter is completely smooth. Divide batter evenly among prepared cups. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.