Yes, it tastes like beets.
Had to get that out of the way.
On Saturday I mentioned that I had pinned many beet cake recipes in preparation for a post this week. Well, here it is! A bright red cake filled with roasted and pureed beets. Yum?
If you don’t like beets, I’m not sure if you’ll like this, to be honest. You can taste them, although if you didn’t know they were there, you might not guess it. If you’re OK with beets, though, you will absolutely love this cake, if for no other reason than the fun color.
In general, I’m not a huge fan of “secret ingredients” (a.k.a. hiding vegetables in things), but the beets aren’t hidden here. Boom, there they are! You can taste their earthy flavor and you can deeeefinitely see them right in front of your nose.
Can you believe there’s not a drop of food coloring in this whole cake?
We all know I’m obsessed with colorful food, so I just can’t get over this bright red batter. So beautiful! And perfect for a certain romantic holiday coming up.
And then there are the raspberries that make the frosting such a nice girly pink. Actually, these photos don’t even do the frosting justice. It was even pinker than this!
I made this cake on a snowy day, and learned the hard way that pink frosting is the most difficult thing EVER to photograph. Low blue light + reflective Barbie-pink surfaces = photography nightmare. Sigh. It tastes good, I promise.
Speaking of Barbie… I made this cake with Valentine’s Day in mind, but I can’t help but think that it would be adorable for a little girl’s birthday party. Or a big girl’s birthday party! As long as that girl loves pink.
So what do you think… will you allow some vegetables in your cake? I think these beets are pretty enough that they can get away with practically anything.
- 3 medium-sized beets
- 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature, divided
- 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
- 3 eggs, at room temperature
- 3 oz. dark chocolate (I used Ghirardelli’s 60%)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup maple syrup
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp nutmeg
- 12 oz frozen raspberries
- juice of ½ a lemon (about 2 Tbsp)
- 8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- fresh raspberries
- First, roast and peel the beets. This is my preferred method. Then roughly chop the beets and puree them in a food processor until smooth. You should have about 1 cup of beet puree. Set aside. (This can also be done ahead of time.)
- Preheat oven to 375. Grease and flour a bundt pan (or any cake pan of your choice).
- In a large bowl, beat together 3/4 cup of the butter with the brown sugar. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Melt the chocolate with the remaining butter in the microwave in 30-second increments. Beat the melted chocolate mixture, vanilla extract, maple syrup, and beet puree into the butter/sugar/egg mixture, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flours, baking soda, salt, and spices. Dump into the wet ingredients and mix until thoroughly combined. Pour into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs. This took me about 40 minutes, but the original recipe says 60-70. The baking time will vary depending on which type of pan you use, so I would suggest starting to check at 40 minutes.
- Cool completely in pan on a wire rack. After cooling, you can frost the cake immediately or wrap it in plastic and refrigerate it for up to 2 days before continuing.
- While cake cools, make the raspberry cream cheese frosting. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the frozen raspberries and lemon juice. Bring to a boil and allow to simmer for 10-15 minutes, until the raspberries have broken down. Pour through a mesh strainer into a small bowl and cool completely. This should yield between 3/4 and 1 cup raspberry sauce.
- Cream together the cream cheese and butter. Sift in the powdered sugar and beat until incorporated. Beat in the raspberry sauce. You can choose to use as much of the sauce as you want for a frosting anywhere from subtle to shocking pink!
- Pour frosting over cooled cake and garnish with fresh raspberries.
- The cake will keep covered for several days in the fridge. Bring to room temperature before serving.
OMG! What an interesting combo to use beets!! It adds such a beautiful color and the flavors sound really yummy!
The flavors do go really well together – it’s kind of surprising, actually. I think I’ll have to do another beet & raspberry cake sometime, probably with more chocolate :)
Such a pretty cake! Love that this cake has beets in it, so healthy :)
That’s what I keep telling myself :)
Gorgeous photos! I love beets but I’d have to make this without my husband knowing the “secret” ingredient. I couldn’t get him to eat a beet if my life depended on it ;) The color is perfect for Valentine’s day!
Thanks! Yeah, I suspect your husband isn’t the only one. That’s OK, it takes all kinds!
I am a beet lover! this is my kind of cake! yum
I’m sure it would taste even better with farm-fresh beets!
You may might not like secret ingredients, but that’s the only way I can get some people to eat real vegetables ;-) This sounds great and looks beautiful!
Use whatever works! Sounds like this cake is right up your alley :)
Beet cake twins indeed! Clearly, turning veggie into dessert is a worthy Valentine’s treat :)
I would have to agree!
I appreciate the honesty that it will taste like Beets — last year I made a beet Red velvet cake expecting it to taste JUST LIKE red velvet (which is how the blogger described it…) and, well, let me just say that it did not. Haha
But I do like beets, so it was good, just not a recipe I would bring to a large group of people if I didn’t know their taste buds! :)
Great pics too
That would be an unpleasant surprise! Good thing you like beets :)
Ah I love baking things with beets. Their colour is unbeatable and they have such a beautiful earthy flavour!! I’m a huge fan:)
This was my first time baking with them and I was a little skeptical, but now I’m a huge fan too. I still can’t get over the color!
That’s “unbeetable!”
I just saw another beet cake recipe! I am so loving this idea!!!
Haha I saw a few today, too. A red vegetable that’s in season for V-Day – I guess it’s bound to happen!
I love beets, especially roasted! This is a beautiful cake.
Thanks! Me too.
Beautiful pictures as always :)
I friggin love the color of this! You snuck a vegetable AND WW flour in there, so basically this is a health food…right? ;) My dad loves beets, I may have to send this to my mom and tell her to make it for him for V-day!
Definitely a health food – I like the way you think! :)
It is so crazy, but this is the third recipe that I have seen made with beets on the blogs today! Who knew beets were so popular? I do not think that I have ever actually even eaten a beet, but all of these recipes have me very intrigued. I am especially curious about the use of beets in sweet recipes, like this one. It is so creative and clever. Thanks for sharing! :)
I know, I saw two others, too! Great minds think alike :)
I love love love beets but have never used them in a baked good. I’m so curious to know how it tastes!
If you like beets, I think you’ll love them in baked goods, too!
I am impressed! And these look like professional pictures!
Thank you Kate!
What a gorgeous cake. Perfect for a romantic date. :) The raspberry cream cheese frosting is so beautiful.
I was just recently introduced to beets and I love them – this cake looks absolutely fantastic and the photography, teach me your ways!