Whether you're baking for someone with food sensitivities or you'd just rather avoid the sometimes bitter aftertaste of red food dye, tinting frostings or glazes with beets is a fantastic alternative. You won't taste the beets, but you will get a lovely soft pink colour that's perfect for glazing doughnuts, decorating cookies or drizzling on cake.
Recipe makes enough to glaze one regular sized bundt cake, 6 doughnuts or at least a dozen sugar cookies - more if your cookies are on the small side.
INGREDIENTS
1 small red beet
1 cup of icing sugar
2-3 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
cheesecloth
METHOD
Wash and grate the beet into some cheesecloth. Squeeze the grated beet through the cheesecloth and collect the liquid in a bowl. You'll want 2-3 teaspoons of beet juice. Keep squeezing until you have enough.
Combine icing sugar, milk and vanilla in a bowl and whisk until smooth. Add the beet juice―a little at a time, until you come to your desired shade. Add more milk to thin and more beet juice for a deeper colour. To make this dairy-free, substitute the milk for lemon juice.