Chocolate Beet Cake is a popular cake in my home.
This super moist and decadent cake is easy and quick to prepare.
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Lately, I have been obsessed with two ingredients mixed, beets and chocolate.
You wouldn't imagine the earthy sweet pink/red beetroot together with the sinful dark chocolate, and yet, both complement each other outrageously well.
Do you like chocolate cakes? Then you will like my easy black forest cake.
In the past few years, I witnessed how known chefs and TV cook-show personalities combined beets and chocolate in desserts, I never clicked for the idea back then.
The concept just seemed far too strange for somebody like me, who didn't appreciate the humble beet, except if used sparingly in the Beet Apple Carrot Juice.
🔪 Preparation Methods
I took out my favorite, super reliable, chocolate cake recipe, adjusted the ingredients and came up with a brand new Chocolate Beet Cake Recipe.
At first, I was thinking of shredding the beet before adding it to the batter.
I ended up boiling and making a puree of the root after having researched about cooked beetroot preparations.
Carrot cake and Zucchini cake are both mostly prepared with shredded veggies instead of a puree.
Technically you could try it out that way too.
Another idea is to roast beet slices in the oven for 50 minutes until soft but you will end up with extra waiting time.
The boiling of the beetroot and turning into a puree tactic worked well for me, it is the easiest and fastest option.
💡 Reasons to make this
- it will take only 20 minutes altogether to prepare the batter
- beets makes this cake super moist and healthier
- only about one beetroot is necessary
- bittersweet dark chocolate and earthy flavors of beets are meant to be together
- It's the ultimate comfort cake
The natural vibrant red color of a beet is fun to work with.
Melting into the chocolate batter, it still lends the cake a certain rouge, even after baking.
I mixed some powdered sugar with a few drops of water into a sugary liquid, which I poured over the cake for the finish.
The sparkling sugar crystals made the top of the Chocolate Beet Cake cake appear dark red-brown and turn the cake into a gorgeous treat!
Do you like beets and what's your favorite way to consume this root vegetable?
📖 Recipe
Chocolate Beet Cake Recipe
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 1 large Beet
- 7 ounces Dark Cacao Chocolate Unsweetened
- 2 Tablespoons Butter
- 1 cup All-purpose Flour
- pinch Salt
- 7 ounces Powdered Sugar
- 2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
- 4 Eggs
- ¼ cup Milk
For the simple sugar icing:
- Powdered Sugar
- Water 3-5 drops
Instructions
- Wash, peel and cut your beet into smaller cubes. Boil with some water until cooked and soft. Strain and blend the cooked beet into a smooth puree. Keep aside
- In a double boiler, melt the chocolate and butter together on slow heat. make sure that the chocolate doesn't burn and turn off the stove once melted.
- Preheat the oven to 350° Fahrenheit/ 180° Celsius.
- In the meantime, while keeping an eye on the melting chocolate, add flour salt, ¾ of the powdered sugar and baking powder to a mixing bowl. Separate the yolks from the whites and add the yolks to the mixing bowl with the flour etc. Combine the whole content, then mix in the beet puree too and at the end the slightly not too hot melted chocolate butter mixture. Combine the whole content to a smooth batter.
- Beat the egg whites and when they are half way stiff, add the remaining powdered sugar and continue to beat to a stiff snow. First fold half of the stiff snow into the beet flour chocolate batter from earlier and then add the remaining half as well. Fold in carefully and don't mix in a turning motion, the folding helps to retain the fluffiness of the egg whites. Make sure that it is well combined into a smooth batter.
- Spread some butter into the mold and dust with some flour, so that the cake won't stick after baking, and pour in the batter. I used two smaller square molds for the whole batter because I didn't have a bigger round mold. Best is to use a bigger round baking mold.
- Bake at 350° Fahrenheit/ 180° Celsius. If you use smaller molds bake for 35-40 minutes, if you use a bigger mold bake for around 45 minutes. Test the cake after baking by poking into the center with a toothpick. If the toothpick returns gooey, the cake needs some more baking time.
- If you want to cover the cake after baking with icing sugar then mix powdered (icing) sugar and a few drops of water into a smooth liquid paste and cover the cake with it.
hi helene,
tried your recipe, the cake came out very moist and delicous, however i forgot to add the milk, but i dont think that made much of a difference. i expected the cake to rise due to the addition of the egg whites, but there was hardly any.
thanks
Denise
Hi Denis,
The cake rises a bit but due to the addition of the heavier beetroot it does that less. That's normal. 🙂
Dear Helene,
Tried your beet/choco cake recipe, it came out so moist and dense and delicious !! this recipe is going into my all time favorites.
thank you.
What an interesting recipe Helene. I recently baked Black Bean Brownies that were really yummy. I have a feeling your Beetroot Chocolate Cake would be just as good or better! Thank you so much for being so adventurous and of course for sharing...
Your blog looks as delicious as ever, Louise:)
I too have seen beet root around in sweet applications but to be honest, I haven't been able to bring myself to try it. Although I totally adore beet root as a vegetable, roasted, boiled and even raw. I have heard of people using this ingredient in the popular Red Velvet Cakes instead of food colouring, but I can't stand red velvet cakes (yes, call me odd) so I haven't tried it.
I do a dark chocolate beet muffin for my personal chef clients with kids and they have no idea they are eating something with a vegetable. It's a natural combination that I love and I look forward to making this for them!
Helene,
I get more beets from the farm share than we can eat in a week, so I routinely roast and freeze them. Then I've got bags of roasted beets I don't know what to do with! I've put them into pizza dough, and muffins, and lots of smoothies, and just recently I've been pairing them with chocolate in sweets.
It is a lovely combination--like this cake. It looks lovely.
Thank you!
Chocolate cake with beetroot is a very innovative idea I must say. I have never heard about it nor have I tried preparing. Thank u for the share. Keep posting.
thank you for visiting my blog Helen.
This beet chocolate cake looks absolutely divine !! I can have all of them ..
that looks absolutely amazing!
Helene, I think I can actually imagine the combo being outrageously good. Beet being sweet, and chocolate bringing in that sinful silk and dark bitterness that is irresistible, this does sound like a winning combo. I need to try this. lately I have been experimenting with cakes, and while I am still not happy with the results, I think I am getting there. This goes into my must try list.
This looks super yummy!! Thank you for sharing! <3 - http://www.domesticgeekgirl.com
My SIL made me a Beetroot chocolate cake for my birthday a couple of years ago and I must say it was the best chocolate cake I've even had. Your cake looks just as moist and as delicious! Thanks for sharing a cake recipe that only takes 20 minutes. I can do this. 🙂
MY husband made a beetroot bread a few days ago, in time for Valentine's Day. He loves beetroot. I must introduce him this recipe because I want it! Nice photo!
I have to start adding beets into my cake... this looks moist and delicious! 🙂
This looks like a really moist cake and no one would ever know it was hiding vegetables! I do love a bitter-sweet chocolate cake xx
a) I love these photos
b) Beetroot cake? Never thought of it but seeing YOU share it, I want to try it! 🙂 Beets are $1.49 a KG at the moment!!
PS Why can't I rate it 5 stars?? Can only do 4??
hm there seems to be a bug with the rating system. Thanks for letting me know Nagi and I think you will love this cake. 🙂
I love that mango bowl. It's good that it packs flat for shipping too.
Your cake is outstanding, Helene! It looks so fudgy and moist and because there are beets in there and that's a vegetable, I think we can have two pieces.
Until now I only ever ate beetroot boiled...lol. But all my friends at google+ have provided me with really great alternatives !! This cake is one of them... great recipe!
I love the combo of beetroot and chocolate too. This looks beautiful and delicious.
I'm fascinated by the combo of beetroot and chocolate! Not something I've ever played with, but I will. This looks terrific -- really creative. Thanks.
I made a red velvet cake with beetroot before and it was moist and delicious. So, it must be even better with chocolate!! Looks gorgeous!
You know I am a huge fan of "bitter sweet dark chocolate and earthy sweet beetroot"! I am so so honored that my beet hot chocolate helped you give this combo a go! The things you can make with these two are endless! I have made 2 types of cookies with them - one an indulgent treat for Valentines day http://runninsrilankan.com/2015/02/06/rustic-valentines-day-hangout-recipes-wcapri-sun/ and one a healthier breakfast cookie http://runninsrilankan.com/2014/11/06/chocolate-beet-cookies-leftovers-club/ .
This cake looks so incredibly decadent, Helene!
A wonderful cake and combination. Nice table...
Cheers,
Rosa