SonyaRecently KitchenAid revealed Beetroot to be their “Colour of the Year”. This gorgeous rich magenta colour can be described as a positive mood booster. Â Judging by the reactions I had on social media when I shared this news, it holds true! To celebrate this news, I made this incredible cake recipe that incorporates beets! Yes, chocolate and beets are a match made in heaven. The earthiness of the beets along with the richness of using excellent quality chocolate is a beautiful balance in flavours as well as a natural colour enhancer to the recipe. When I showed the finished cake on my Instagram page, I was asked by several if you could taste the beets? It’s very faint if anything and doesn’t overpower the chocolate in any way. This is a super moist fudgey cake that my family enjoyed and worthy of sharing. Great for company or special occasions too.
Photo by Emma-Jane Hobden/Unsplash
DOUBLE CHOCOLATE BEETROOT CAKE
- Prep time: 45 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes (not including cooling time)
- Serves 10-12
- makes one 3-layer cake
Equipment you’ll need:
- KitchenAid Stand Mixer with flex edge paddle attachment
- KitchenAid Blender
- 4-quart saucepan, Â heat safe bowl
- glass measuring cup wet pour spout
- 3 x 9″ cake pans
- Cooling rack
- Offset spatula
INGREDIENTS:
1 medium (288g) beets, peeled & cubed
2 tsps (4 g) espresso powder
2 tbsps (18 g) beet powder
3 tbsps (21 g) cocoa powder
1 cup (236 ml) water
1/2 cup (120 g) sour cream OR whole fat yogurt
4 (224 g) large eggs
2 tsps (9 ml) vanilla extract
1/4 cup (60 ml) olive oil
3 cups (600 g) sugar
3 cups (408 g) all-purpose flour
2 tsps (4 g) baking soda
1 tsp (5 g) salt
1/2 cup (113 g) bittersweet chocolate
For the Frosting:
2 sticks (226 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
16 oz (452 g) cream cheese, room temperature
2 tsps (9 ml) vanilla extract
1/2 tsp  (2.5 g)  salt
1-2 tsps (3-6 g) beet powder
7 cups (875 g) powdered sugar
DIRECTIONS:
1. Make the beet puree: Place prepared beets in a pot and add enough water to cover them by an inch. Bring to a boil then reduce to medium high heat and cook for twenty minutes, or until a fork cleanly goes through. Use a slotted soon to remove the cooled beets from the water and place them into the jar of the Blender. Add 1/2 cup of the beet liquid from the pot not the blender jar (reserve the remaining liquid in the pot!!). Blend on Speed 2 until gets are a smooth puree consistency. Remove the puree from the blender and set aside.
2. Preheat the oven to 350F/176C. Grease 3 x 9″ cake pans and dust each with cocoa powder.
3. Bring the water and one cup of the beet liquid to a boil. Remove from heat. In a separate bowl whisk together the cocoa, espresso, and beet powders then pour the boiling water over the powders, whisking to fully dissolve. Then, add one cup of the beet puree and the sour cream (or yogurt) whisk again until combined. Set aside.
4. Combine the eggs, vanilla extract and the olive oil into a glass measuring cup with a pour spout. Do not mix. Set aside.
5. Attach the flex edge paddle attachment to the KitchenAid Stand Mixer and add the sugar, flour, baking soda, and salt into the mixing bowl. Turn to Speed 2 and allow it to mix for 30 seconds. Reduce speed to Stir and slowly pour the wet beet mixture into the dry mixture, then slowly add the egg/olive oil mixture one egg at a time. Once all wet ingredients are added, increase to Speed 2 for 10 seconds. Remove bowl from the mixer and set aside.
6. Melt the chocolate using a double-boiler method or microwave in ten second intervals. Hand whisk the melted chocolate into the batter.
7. Pour a third of the batter into each the prepared cake pans and bake in oven for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove cakes from the oven and allow to cool on rack for 10 minutes before removing from pans.
8. While the cakes are cooling, make the frosting. Fit the flex edge beater back onto the stand mixer and add butter, cream cheese, vanilla extract and salt to the mixing bowl. Cream the ingredients together on Speed 6 until completely combined and nicely whipped, about 3 to 4 minutes. Reduce to Stir, add in the beet powder and 1/3 of the powdered sugar, then increase to Speed 4 to incorporate; repeat two more times to mix in all the powdered sugar, then allow to whip on Speed 4 for 60 seconds.
9. When the cakes have completely cooled, place one layer of cake on a plate or cake stand and use an offset spatula to gently spread an even layer of frosting over the top, then add another layer of cake, frosting and last year of cake. Top with a final layer of frosting and decorate as you like!
A few notes from my kitchen:
It may look like a lot of steps but it’s a straight forward recipe that isn’t difficult at all. The results are delicious and moist. I actually made a heart shaped 2-layer cake (instead of 3 layer round cake) and used the rest of the batter to make cupcakes. After baking, I froze the cupcakes (without frosting) for another day.
You can often find beetroot powder at healthfood stores, and even amazon. But if you have a food dehydrator, you can make your own. Simply boil the beets, cool, then dehydrate according to your machine then grind to a fine powder before use.
For the frosting, I didn’t need a full 7 cups of sugar. I actually added and tasted the frosting before each addition and stopped to my liking which was about 4.5 cups.
As you probably already know, when doing anything with beets — make sure you cover yourself just in case you get some on your clothing!