Notes to self:
You always need to wear an apron in the kitchen. I know you think you can just stir the sauce once and then walk away clean, but you're wrong. Always wear an apron.
Unloading the dishwasher can wait. Hug your babies. Read them a story. Let them climb all over you. They'll be gone before you know it.
Vegetables are delicious. Its ok to put them in baked goods. Its not ok not to warn your husband about it before he eats it.
This is your warning. There are beets in this cake.
Someone asked me if this cake tastes like beets. I don't know. This is my first beet!
I can tell you that this cake tastes like chocolate and sugar. We all know that's good.
This is a very dense cake, almost brownie-like. The frosting gives it a nice tang and a beautiful pop of color.
Beets are super easy to prepare and give off the most beautiful magenta color. Thoroughly rinse them and trim the stems to one inch. Drizzle them with a little vegetable oil and wrap them in aluminum foil. Bake them at 400ºF for about an hour or until easily pierced with a fork. Open them up and let them cool a bit. Then, to avoid beet stained hands, I would recommend using disposable gloves (or plastic sandwich bags, I'm awesome) on your hands. Use a paring knife to peel the skin from the beets, or simply rub it off with your fingers. Cut off the stem end and puree the beets in a food processor until smooth.
This would be the perfect treat to make for a Valentine's Day party, obviously.
I'm not a huge fan of the color pink, but the color that comes out of beets is really, truly beautiful. God really knew what he was doing when he created this beautiful little vegetable. Oh, and cake, too.
Cake is awesome.
Recipe
Chocolate Beet Cake with Cream Cheese Beet Frosting
Ingredients
For the Cake
- ¼ cup butter
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 3 ounces bittersweet chocolate,, melted and cooled
- ½ cup pureed beets
- ½ cup buttermilk
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
For the Frosting
- 16 ounces cream cheese
- 3 ½ cups confectioners' sugar
- 1 tablespoon beet puree
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Coat an 8 or 9 inch baking pan with butter.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs and beat well. Beat in the chocolate, beets, buttermilk, and vanilla. Add the flour and soda and beat until smooth. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan 5 minutes before removing it to a rack to cool completely.
- To make the frosting, beat the cream cheese, confectioners' sugar, beets, and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until smooth. Cut the cooled cake in half horizontally and spread ⅓ of the frosting over the bottom layer. Replace top layer and spread the remaining frosting over the top and sides of the cake. Place the finished cake in the refrigerator for 30 minutes before slicing. The cake will keep, well covered, in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Valerie @ From Valerie's Kitchen says
Oh this is SO perfect for Valentine's Day! I've heard of making cake with beets and I would love to try it. Very pretty!
bhumika says
Wow...The cake looks yum..we don't get cream cheese so easily here..Will the beetroot cake go with buttercream beetroot frosting?Thanks in advance!
Lindsay Moe says
It would be delicious with an ordinary buttercream frosting. If you'd like to keep the frosting beet tinted as well, I would try adding a little bit of beet puree at a time, perhaps before whatever liquid ingredients your buttercream recipe calls for. Enjoy!
Mary says
Just tried this, and think it might be too much flour and/or too little liquid and chocolate. Perhaps a typo? I initially followed the recipe, but it tasted like flour and not chocolate, and was incredibly dry. In the end, it came out okay, but first I had to double the butter, triple the chocolate, double the buttermilk, and add oil, just to get a semi-reasonable (and still quite dense) consistency.
Lindsay Moe says
I'm sorry you had trouble with this recipe. Baking with vegetables can be especially tricky because of varying moisture content in the puree. I will look into this issue further and appreciate your feedback.