Chocolate Beet Cake, (otherwise known as “the BEST chocolate cake”)
This is absolutely one of the best chocolate cakes I have ever had! This is my husband’s new FAVORITE cake. And no, you did not read this wrong. It is chalk full of beets.
This actually started with this imaginary cake that I could see in my day dreams. It was blissfully, insanely fluorescent purple- just like the juice that comes of a raw beet. I was so excited to see this day dream come to life, and the reality was so sad. Turns out beets in baked goods turn out a bit of a muddy reddish brown. Also turns out I am a snob when it comes to my cake. I had to start over.
This time, I thought why not take the moistness of the beets, the earthy flavor of the beets and compliment them with rich chocolate and a tiny touch of cinnamon. I added cocoa to the cake batter and the result was the most intensely moist and chocolaty cake I have ever had. It turns out that the earthy beet flavor mostly disappeared and brought out more chocolate than ever. I paired the cake with a rich chocolate butter cream with a touch of espresso. The entire combination was really fantastic. I know it seems strange, but please, if there is one chocolate cake that you go the extra mile to make- this should be it!
Chocolate Beet Cake, serves 12
¾ cup butter, room temperature
1 ½ cups white sugar
1 ½ tsp vanilla
3 eggs
1 ¼ cups beet puree (comes from 2-3 large beets)
1 ½ cups flour
1 ½ cups cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
½ tsp cinnamon
1 cup milk
Chocolate Butter Cream Frosting
1 cup salted butter, room temperature
½ cup whipping cream room temperature
3 cups powdered sugar
1 cup cocoa powder
2 TBS espresso
2 tsp vanilla extract
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
Beet Puree
In a medium pot filled with simmering water, boil the beets.
When the beets are fork tender drain them and let them sit until cool enough to handle. Peel the skin off and trim the top off of them.
Chop the beets into large pieces and throw them in the food processor. Pulse the beets until they are a smooth puree. Set the puree aside
Beet Cake:
In the bowl of a standing mixer, beat the sugar and butter together until light and fluffy.
Add the vanilla and the eggs and beat to combine.
Add the beets and combine well. It will look like the batter has curdled, but it is fine!
In a separate bowl add the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices and sift them all together.
Add half of the flour mixture to the batter, and then half of the milk.
Combine completely and then add the rest of the flour and the rest of the milk. Mix the batter until it is completely combined.
Prepare two 9” round cake pans with baking spray. Divide the batter evenly between the two pans.
Bake the cake rounds for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Remove the cakes from the heat and let them cool on a rack completely.
Butter Cream
Beat all of the frosting ingredients, whipping them until fluffy and uniform.
To assemble the cake, ice the first layer of the cake and then the top and sides.
If desired decorate with sprinkles.
Slice, serve and enjoy!
Print Recipe
This cake looks fantastic!!!I think this to be my next experiment. Nothing can be so delicious as moist chocolate cake.
Thanks for sharing with us!
That cake does look absoluately amazing! I am going to give this one a try for sure.
My friend made a beet/chocolate cake a while back. Because of the moist-ness of the beet puree, she was able to do fun things to make it vegan and gluten free. Hers came out very fudge-y and decadent. If you ever need to make a vegan cake, you should try tweaking this one!
Very, very interesting!! As a lover of both chocolate and beets, I’m going to have to make this for myself!
What an interesting combination. I’ll make it and get back to you.
The officers at work are waiting for some kind of surprise Valentine’s Day treat. Surprise! how can they wait for a surprise? They look to see if I’m carrying anything interesting when I walk in the door. Stinkers.
I have a can of beets, do you think those would work out as well? I know fresh is better, but I’m afraid these will just sit in my pantry.
Listen, sometimes canned is what we have to work with! I bet it will be just fine. Just make sure they are not pickled!!
We have beets in the fall that I don’t know what to do with them all…this looks like and awesome recipe! Thanks for sharing.
I just made it! Devine! I’m frosting a cake for valentines that says “You make my heart beet.”
Erin- when I saw your comment- I got so excited- i love it- you are very clever!
Just made this for my husband and me for Valentine’s Day, and it was really good. Didn’t have 2 9-inch pans, so I just made a larger thinner cake, but it was still really moist. Also didn’t have espresso for the frosting; I put Kahlua instead! :
Baking this cake in my oven right now. The batter looked really good and it smells delicious. Will update on taste once we’ve had it tomorrow. : )
This cake turned out really well. It was super moist and no one guessed that there were beets in it. Would definitely make this again. Thanks for the recipe!
yay!! I have been waiting all day to hear how you liked it!
Hi Heather! I’m making this now and was wondering if the espresso that goes in the icing is hot or powdered? I’m assuming it’s hot, but thought I’d check 🙂
It’s hot Katrina!!
My daughters and husband all enthusiastically agreed that this was by far the best chocolate cake they’d ever had!
I am making carrot cake for my daughter’s birthday, but my son wants chocolate cake too, so I figured beets go with carrots, haha, he will never know! I need to make this cake bigger, for a big family who is gonna want a piece of each. What would you recommend for maintaining the moistness by using larger pans and doubling?
Eek!! I can’t be sure when I tell you this, because I haven’t done it before.I would guess like 2 10″ pans and bake close to 40 minutes. But again- I can’t be sure, and you will need to check them often to make sure that they are not under or over baking? Sorry I am not sure on times!!
Hi. Wondering if I should use dutch process cocoa or regular, or if it matters….
REGULAR!!!! For future, you never want to use dutch unless it is specified- it has a totally different chemical makeup and would greatly affect the turnout of your baked goods. I do however recommend for this cake that you use DARK cocoa powder- my favorite is Hersheys brand.
I used this cake recipe for a birthday cake for my mom, and it was outstanding! I had canned beets I needed to use up, and 3 cans was the perfect amount for doubling this recipe. The only change I made was heating up the milk and dissolving about a little instant espresso powder- I always add it for chocolate recipes. I used another frosting that better suited the idea for my cake but the actual cake was amazing. Dark and decadent! NO ONE could tell there were beets in it! Thanks!
Can’t wait to try this recipe
can’t wait to make it
I made this today, tried to tag you on IG, hope you saw.
I am zaftig412 on IG.
(Above, you should have said CHOCK full instead of chalk full.)
can this recipe be put in9 X13 pan?? or muffin tins
yes it could paulette- but I am not sure on cook times.
I’m excited to make this! I was reading through the instructions for making the cake batter and it says to mix the flour, baking powder and spices. The picture looks like there is coco powder but it doesn’t mention adding the coco powder. Is this where I add it?
Thanks for posting this! All your pictures look amazing!
You are so right! add the cocoa powder! Just a typo on my end!
i made this cake and it is the best ever of chocolate beet cake it is so moist and delicious it a winner for me i will always keep this recipe thank u very very much heather for this lovely recipe any body that are craving for a chocolate cake i recommend this recipe you wants be disappointed at all
About how long should the beets take to boil? I’m starting to think I may have messed up the recipe at the very first step.
Hi Jessica- depending on size, maybe 20 minutes?
I’ve made this cake for years now and never posted how wonderful it is!! All of my friends and family request specially! Thanks for such a delicious and moist cake.
Thank you Cara!
I made this cake last night for Rashashana. It’s a good chocolate cake almost like a flourless. But I didn’t see the point of adding the beets when it didn’t enhance the cake. It did not even substitute for the sugar or butter, I did reduce the butter by 1/4 cup and used mostly brown sugar since the beets were very sweet.
Hi Heather,
I just made this cake, but subbed 1/2 cup yogurt for the milk, and einkorn flour, it is an amazing flour with loads of health benefits. It turned out beautifully decadent, thank you for sharing!
Wonderful!! THank you for sharing Virginia!
Is the espresso a must for the icing? I don’t have any on hand so hoping it will still be chocolatey without it.
absolutely make it without it! it’s just for extra chocolatey flavor!
Made this cake for a birthday… SOOO good! It’s now a bookmarked favorite. Actually, attempting it again tonight for another birthday! Twice in one month, it must be good. We are a gluten free household so I used Bob Red Mill 1-1 Blue Bag flour and it still turned out FANTASTIC! And used cashew/oat milk instead of regular… still delicious. I added a Salmonberry preserves in the middle (wild berry on Kodiak, Alaska) … tonight I’m making it with Rhubarb from the garden! YUM!
Hi can I use coconut sugar, honey or xylitol instead of white sugar. I’m trying to cut out white sugar
Yes you can use coconut sugar, but just know that it runs at about half as sweet as white sugar!
This cake is SUPER delicious!
May i leave the expresso out of the icing