Profondeur. Depth: listening to French music while allowing things to be as they are. Depth means absorbing words that are seductive, painful, tempting without having to know what they actually mean. It means feeling. Letting rationality take a hike and letting empathy take control; allowing sense of smell to guide. Welcoming the full spectrum of shapes and colors. Embracing the sound of beauty without need for comprehension. Tasting. Feeling deep and rich.
Chocolate beet cake is alluuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuring. That’s alluring if you remove some u’s. Appealing, attractive, tempting, interesting, coquettish, glamorous, fascinating, flirtatious, enthralling, charming. All synonyms for a word that begins with a “sek” and ends with a “sē”. And Cheeky. This, dear vixen, is your Valentine’s Day cake; it won the “Biggest Flirt” award in your high school yearbook, so heed my advice – make it for you lovey dovey on Lover’s Day.
Moons ago, I came across the sisters at Natural Sweet Recipes. They use all sorts of alternatives to cane sugar, such as agave, date sugar, powdered honey, maple syrup, etc. in their fun and very approachable recipes. I was immediately drawn to their use of coconut sugar, so when I finally brought a bag home from my local natural food store, I let my obsessive personality loose and went a little coconut sugar crazy.
And it all started with this beet cake. Here’s what I learned about coconut sugar: It is rich in minerals and B Vitamins. B VITAMINS AND MINERSLS! IN YOUR SUGAR! I thought I’d point out that there are vitamins and minerals in coconut sugar. This sugar has been used in South East Asia for thousands of years. Thooooooooooooooooousands, and I’m just now learning about it! That’s a big one up if I ever saw one! It can be used as a 1:1 ratio to replace cane sugar; it is coarse, has a brown tint and has a lovely nutty, slightly salty (some say caramel) flavor.
The other attractive characteristics of the Chocolate Beet Cake is the health benefits of the beets (folate, Vitamin C, B Vitamins, etc) the raw cacao powder (antioxidants galore, sing it!), and almond flour (proTEIN!). The texture is soft and dense, the way a deep and rich cake should be.
I’d hate to do this to you, but….
Hi, I’m Almond Flour Chocolate Beet Cake. I’m Cheeky.
Glooooooory beet thy cake!
Ingredients
- 1-1/2 cups almond meal (I use Bob’s Red Mill)
- ½ cup brown rice flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1-1/2 teaspoons sea salt
- 1-1/2 cups coconut sugar (or a combination of granulated sugar and brown sugar)
- 2/3 cup cacao powder
- ¼ cup dark chocolate chips, optional
- 2 medium sized red beets
- 3 eggs
- ½ cup almond milk
- 1/3 cup grapeseed oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Bring a full pot of water to a boil and add the beets (peel on). Boil for about 25 – 30 minutes until beets are soft when poked with a fork.
- Drain the water and allow beets to cool. Chop the beets into eighths and add the beets to a blender along with the almond milk. Blend until smooth and set aside to cool.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the almond flour, brown rice flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cacao powder and coconut sugar. Whisk to incorporate all dry ingredients together.
- In a separate mixing bowl, whisk the eggs, grapeseed oil and vanilla extract together.
- Add the pureed beets (once the puree is cool enough to not cook the eggs) to the egg mixture and mix to combine. Pour the wet beet mixture into the mixing bowl with all of the dry ingredients and stir until combined.
- Line a 9” round cake pan (or 8” square pan) with parchment paper.
- Pour the cake batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until the cake tests clean when poked in the center with a toothpick. 32 minutes was the magic number for me.
- Allow cake to cool then lift up on the parchment paper to set it on a cutting board.
- Garnish with very coarse sea salt (optional).
- Serve generous size portions of this delicious cake! Bonus points: Add homemade whipped cream on top.
I can barely handle the deliciousness going on here, especially in that photo of the slice of cake. HOLY MOLY.
Stephanie @ Girl Versus Dough recently posted..balsamic brussels sprouts salad with bacon + blueberries
Jayyyzzuuss. It’s 10:30 AM and now all I want to do is eat beets. In cake of course.
I use agave all the time, but I’ve never even heard of coconut sugar! I’ll have to check that out it sounds awesome.
Meghan recently posted..Sweet Cream Ice Cream with Pistachios, Dark Chocolate and Balsamic Reduction Swirl
Such a lovely cake, and how cool that it’s gluten free too! Great recipe!
What a glorious gluten free cake! There something magical in the pairing of beets with chocolate, such a heady combination of flavors!
you know how I feel about beets. This is next level and I am intrigued. I need a slice of this cake asap!
Wow! This sounds super tasty. I dont think I’ve had beets anyway but pickled. In a cake is always a good place to try veggies
Kelly @ Hidden Fruits and Veggies recently posted..Buffalo Tofu “Chicken” Tacos
Beet cake twins today! Yours looks chocolatey and delicious. I love that you can still see a hint of red from the beets!
Erica {Coffee & Quinoa} recently posted..Red Velvet Beet Cake with Raspberry Cream Cheese Frosting
I’ve seen so many recipes for beet cake recently! I love that yours involves almond flour. YUM!
Becky @ Olives n Wine recently posted..Raspberry Jam-Filled Ebelskivers
Gurrrrrrrl, you slay me! Seriously, I want to dive head first into this cake and swim around regardless if I turn red!
I willingly went red for this cake too. And there’s absolutely no reason to feel guilty about it, cause there’s nothing but amazing ingredients in it! We can be red together and no one will judge!
Julia, your status has just been elevated to genius!!! A chocolate cake that’s good for you is brilliant. However, for me the chocolate chips are not an option, they’re a must.
Kari@Loaves n Dishes recently posted..LIGHTEN UP SHRIMP SCAMPI PASTA WITH SPINACH
You make baking with beets looks SO good, girl.
Oh, this looks yummy. See, I’m sensible and like chocolate. I haven’t heard of coconut sugar, so I’ll have to see if I can find any in our small farm town. Then, once I find some, I’m a-gonna make me a chocolate beet cake!
That coconut sugar is so cool!! It’s like cake bling
I love that you used beets in this, and that nice, moist, fluffy, tasty, picture is just torture! 
Abby recently posted..Pepperoni Pizza Bites
you inspired me to cook more beets last night. Beet soup anyone? So good. The only thing missing was a slice of this beet cake for dessert!
Yumm! I love beets in anything, so this cake looks amazing!
Thanks for stopping by my blog so I could find yours!
Stunning photos! And I love that you used coconut sugar…I’ll have to track some down to test
I LOVE baking that incorporates hidden nutrients like this!! And the photography looks stunning. Just lovely!
Whoa! I’m in heaven here. This cake sounds amazing and I love that cake can kinda be health food too! I’ve been telling myself I’m going to make a chocolate beet cake. After seeing yours, I know I need to make this happen in my kitchen. Lovely!
Kate | Food Babbles recently posted..The Weekend Whisk – 2/9/13
this look great- So glad to be posting with you through the chocolate party
Elizabeth@ Food Ramblings recently posted..Nutella Swirled “Blondies”
I love beets and chocolate and although I have seen a couple of recipes that call for both I’ve been a little reticent, but I have to say your cake looks absolutely stunning! and the sprinkle of salt, oh my!
Thanks for participating in this month chocolate party, hope you’ll join us again every month
Roxana | Roxana’s Home Baking recently posted..Red velvet whoopie pies with cream cheese frosting
I love this! That cake looks phenomenal – so incredibly moist, fluffy and decadent. I can’t believe it was made using beets (mind is blown!). I love coconut sugar too – I’ve been using it for a while. It makes me feel like I’m being healthy even though I’m eating tons of baked goods. I’m really digging your writing style too – I’m so glad I’m part of the Chocolate Party so that I can discover other awesome bloggers.
I have never try baking chocolate cake using beet. This is a great idea adding all the goodness and natural sweetness of beet into a chocolate cake.
Beets have such a wonderful earthy, richness that they are a great partner for chocolate. I would love to try this cake. Your photos have me sold!
So glad you like the idea of marrying beets with chocolate! It took me a while to work myself up to making the cake but it truly does turn out incredible! Let me know if you try it!
Hi Julia, so happy to find your lovely blog. I am going to make the cake this weekend. Just wondering, have you ever used the vacuum-packed cooked beets for this? They should work, right? Thanks!
Hey Cathy! I’ve actually never used vacuum-packed beets..As long as they can be blended up and aren’t overly juicy or overly dry (same water content as fresh beets), I would assume they’d work. Let me know if you try it!!
Thanks. Also note, the vanilla extract is not listed in your list of ingredients. I’m assuming a teaspoon! I’m also going to melt the chocolate chips and add it to the egg/oil mixture, I hope that works.
Hey Cathy, thanks for letting me know! I’ll add the vanilla extract now
There’s no doubt in my mind that melting the chocolate will turn out phenomenal too. Good luck and let me know how you like it!!
I used vegetable oil instead of grapeseed, and used mixed sugars instead of coconut sugar. I didn’t do any of the sifting involved – just stirred together anything wet and then piled on top anything dry into one big bowl. Put the batter into a cupcake pan and they turned out great, none of those extra steps required!
Thanks KC! I can go a little overboard on my instructions so I’m happy to hear you went in headfirst and the recipe turned out! Beet cupcakes sound like a nice little b-day treat for some lucky human
Hope you had a fun weekend!