Chocolate Beet Cake

This Chocolate Beet Cake is incredibly moist and delicious and has absolutely no beet taste at all. It's topped with an all-natural pink buttercream frosting and it's one of my favorite cake combos! I promise you'll love it.

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I feel a little sneaky sharing this cake with you.

If it wasn't for the title of this post, you'd think this beet cake was just another chocolate cake with frosting dyed pink with creepy food coloring. You'd probably wonder what's going on since pretty pink cake recipes feel a little out of place on this blog.

But, this is no ordinary chocolate cake. Hidden inside the rich, moist and utterly decadent chocolate cake are (wait for it…) roasted beets.

You heard me right; I snuck some beets into chocolate cake. Beet cake, oh my. Now I'm not going to try and convince you that this is some kind of health food cake. It's not. This here is a healthy chocolate cake. But in this recipe, the beets serve a purpose other than sneaking veggies into your diet.

The purpose of the beets is to turn this chocolate cake into the most delicious cake you've ever tasted. That's a big statement, I know. The truth is that it's the best chocolate cake I've tasted. If you make it (and I think you should treat yourself!), let me know what you think of it. I know you're going to love this chocolate beet cake.

The concept of putting vegetables or fruit into a cake is not a new one. My granny's secret to the best chocolate cake was one chopped apple. We've all had carrot cake, banana bread, and zucchini muffins.

What is different about this chocolate beet cake is that it still manages to stay light and fluffy while being moist and tender.

Question: how do you feel about the word ‘moist'?

I keep using the word moist to describe this cake and every time I go to write it I think about the BuzzFeed post about Why Moist is The Worst Word Ever. Have you seen it? If not, you should quickly click over there to read it before coming back here for the recipe. It's hilarious!

How do you feel about moist chocolate beet cake?

You're probably wondering if you can taste the beets, right?

The answer: Nope. No. Not at all. Not even one little bit. If you're making this for someone you think might squirm at the idea of beets in a cake, just don't tell them. I promise you they'll never know. It'll be our little secret.

What about the naturally colored icing?

Its all-natural pink color comes from the liquid leftover after you roast the beets. Again, there is no beet flavor. Not even a hint. All there is pretty pink all-natural frosting.

The cake you see in the pictures here was frosted with 1 ½ times the icing in the recipe. Honestly, though, it's total overkill. The amount of icing in the recipe is plenty.

Also, try this olive oil cake!

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Delicious Chocolate Dessert Recipes:

• Flourless Molten Chocolate Lava Cakes
• Chocolate Dipped Vegan Cookie Dough Pops
• Valentine's Day Cupcakes with Dark Chocolate and Cinnamon Hearts
• Dairy Free Cake
• Dark Chocolate Rhubarb Brownies

Chocolate Beet Cake Recipe

Yield: 9 inch layer cake

Prep Time: 2 hours hrs

Cook Time: 25 minutes mins

Total Time: 2 hours hrs 25 minutes mins

This Dark Chocolate Beet Cake recipe is incredibly moist and delicious and has absolutely no beet taste at all. It's topped with an all-natural pink buttercream frosting and it's one of my favorite cake combos! I promise you'll love it.

If you love this recipe as much as we do, let us know with a 5-star rating!

4.98 stars (42 ratings)

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Ingredients

• 2 medium beets
• 2 tablespoons water
• ¾ cup butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• ¾ cup brown sugar, packed
• 2 large eggs
• 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
• 1 ¼ cups cold coffee, see notes
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• ½ cup cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup dark chocolate chips
• Sprinkles for decorating, optional

All-Natural Pink Frosting

• 1 cup butter, at room temperature
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1-2 tablespoons reserved beet juice
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 4-6 tablespoons cream or milk, can use dairy-free milk

Instructions 

• Turn the oven to 425 degrees. Butter and flour the insides of two 8" or 9" cake pans.
• Peel and quarter the beets then put them in a small baking dish with the water and cover the dish tightly. Put the beets in the oven (you don't need to wait for it to preheat) and let them bake for 25-30 minutes, or until they can be pierced with a fork. Remove the beets from the oven and turn the oven temp down to 350 degrees. Check to see how much liquid is in the pan and if there is less than two tablespoons add a little bit of water. Let the beets cool, covered. Once they are cool enough to handle, grate them with the small holes of a grater. Reserve the liquid left in the baking dish.
  2 medium beets, 2 tablespoons water
• While the beets are cooling, prepare the rest of the cake. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugars. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Slowly beat in the cold coffee.
  ¾ cup butter, 1 cup granulated sugar, ¾ cup brown sugar, 2 large eggs, 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla, 1 ¼ cups cold coffee
• In a second bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa powder, sea salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Add this mixture to the liquids in 2 parts, beating well between each. Beat in the grated beets then stir in the chocolate chips.
  2 cups all-purpose flour, ½ cup cocoa powder, 1 teaspoon sea salt, 1 teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon baking powder, 1 cup dark chocolate chips
• Pour the batter evenly between the prepared cake pans and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
• Remove the cakes from the oven and let them cool for 10 minutes in the pans. Carefully invert the cakes onto a cooling rack and let them cool completely, which is at least 1 hour.

All-Natural Pink Icing

• In a large bowl, beat the butter, powdered sugar, and 1 tablespoon of the reserved beet juice. Add the vanilla and 4 tablespoons of cream or milk and beat the icing well. Add the remaining tablespoon of beet juice if you want more color and the remaining cream or milk if you would like a softer icing. (see notes for more about the icing)
  1 cup butter, 3 cups powdered sugar, 1-2 tablespoons reserved beet juice, 1 tablespoon vanilla, 4-6 tablespoons cream or milk

Assemble the cake

• Place 1 cake on a flat plate or cake stand and cover the top of it with a thick layer of icing, focusing on the edges. Top with the second cake and spread the remaining icing over the top. Add a few pretty sprinkles if you like.
  Sprinkles for decorating

Notes

The cake you see in the pictures has 1 ½ times the icing on it. Honestly, though, it's a bit much and I wouldn't recommend it unless you're taking pictures and want them to turn out extra pretty, and this is coming from someone who loves icing.

The coffee helps bring out the flavor of the chocolate. Don't worry if you're not a coffee fan. Once the cake is baked, you won't taste it at all.

Serving: 1 slice (of 12), Calories: 667kcal, Carbohydrates: 90g, Protein: 6g, Fat: 33g, Saturated Fat: 22g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 8g, Trans Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 102mg, Sodium: 598mg, Potassium: 325mg, Fiber: 3g, Sugar: 67g, Vitamin A: 893IU, Vitamin C: 1mg, Calcium: 99mg, Iron: 2mg

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