Looking for something new to make with all those beets? How about making Chocolate Orange Beet Cake? It’s a moist chocolate cake made with pureed roasted beets, fresh orange and lots of warm spice. As if that’s not enough, it’s finished with luscious chocolate orange glaze.
October 1st is World Vegetarian Day and the whole month of October is Vegetarian Awareness Month. I can’t think of a better way to kick start it off than with fabulous vegetable-based recipes from the #SundaySupper tastemakers.
Honestly, I’d never really cooked with beets until I joined a co-op farm. With our farm share we get whatever the farmer grows that year, and every year we get lots of beets, mostly in the spring and fall. I’ve tried lots of great beet recipes over the years, but my favorite is a simple roasted beet salad with orange segments and goat cheese. That salad was the inspiration for the flavors in this Chocolate Orange Beet Cake. If beets and oranges taste so great together in a salad, they should taste great together in a cake, right? Also, chocolate and orange are fantastic flavor partners.
How is this Chocolate Beet Cake Different than others?
I’m glad you asked! Since it seemed like a natural paring to me, I was surprised not to find many beet and orange cakes out there on the inter-webs.
I adapted a chocolate beet cake recipe I got from a chef I worked for many years ago. I started by upping the beet puree a little and adding the zest and juice of an orange. Speaking of beet puree, I roasted the beets instead of boiling them, since roasting the beets is a hands-off process and it concentrates the flavors. You can roast the beets several days ahead and refrigerate them until you’re ready to make the batter. I never boil beets for any recipe, only roast em.
Roast, peel and puree the beets.
The beet puree make the batter a beautiful shade of magenta.
This is a truly fabulous cake. If you really know it’s there and look for it you can taste just a hint of beet earthiness. The beet puree makes the cake very moist and the orange and spice are the perfect complimentary flavors for both the beets and the cocoa.
If you’ve got beets in the back of the crisper drawer in your refrigerator, why not dig them out and give this Chocolate Orange Beet Cake recipe a try? If you do, let me know how you like it.
Yields 12 servings
Chocolate Orange Beet Cake is a moist chocolate cake made with pureed roasted beets, fresh orange and lots of warm spice. As if that's not enough, it's finished with luscious chocolate orange glaze.
30 minPrep Time
50 minCook Time
1 hr, 20 Total Time
Save RecipeIngredients
- 1/2 pound (about 3-4 medium) beets, roasted and peeled (see note)
- Zest and juice of 1 orange
- 2 1/4 cups (1 lb 2 oz, 515 g) brown sugar
- 1.5 cups (350 ml) vegetable oil
- 4 eggs
- 1 teaspoon real vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon real orange extract
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (5 oz, 140 g) cake flour
- 1 cup (5 oz, 140 g) all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup (1 oz, 30 g) cocoa
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1.5 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1.5 teaspoons ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 8 oz semi sweet chocolate, chopped
- 4 oz unsalted butter, cut into 1" chunks
- 1/3 cup corn syrup
- Zest of 1 orange
- 1 teaspoon real vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon real orange extract
Instructions
- Thoroughly butter and flour a 12 cup Bundt pan.
- Preheat the oven to 325°F convection or 350°F regular.
- Puree the roasted beets with the orange zest and juice. You should have 1.5 cups of puree (add orange juice to bring it up to 1.5 cups if needed).
- Combine the sugar, eggs, oil and extracts in a mixer bowl (see note).
- Beat on medium low for 1 minute to emulsify the oil and eggs.
- Sift the dry ingredients and then whisk them together to evenly distribute the spices cocoa and baking soda.
- With the mixer running on low speed, alternate adding the dry ingredients and the beet puree to the egg mixture. Scrape the bowl between additions.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until the center springs back when lightly pressed or a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs.
- Cool for 10 minutes in the pan before inverting onto a cooling rack.
- Cool to room temperature. While the cake is baking, make the glaze.
- Combine the chocolate, butter and orange zest in a microwave safe bowl.
- Microwave in 1 minute increments (stirring between increments) until the chocolate is completely melted.
- Add the corn syrup and the extracts.
- Stir until smooth and glossy.
- Place the cooled cake on a rack over a clean sheet pan.
- Pour the glaze over the cake to completely cover (you can scoop up the drips from the sheet pan and cover any gaps in the coating.
- Allow the glaze to set before transferring the cake to a serving platter.
Notes
Wash the beets and trim the roots and stem. Wrap the beets in foil and roast at 350°F for about 1 hour or until tender. Allow the beets to cool in the foil. Use a paring knife to peel the skin from the cooled beets.
This batter can easily be mixed by hand if you don't have a mixer. Use a hand whisk to emulsify the eggs/oil/sugar.
The glaze can be made ahead and re-warmed before glazing the cake.
The beets can be roasted several days ahead.
You might also like:
A Better Carrot Cake
Buttermilk Bundt Cake
Blueberry Crumb Cake
Flourless Chocolate Cake
Meyer Lemon Olive Oil Cake
Golden Beet Orange Cake
A huge “thank you” to Susan Pridmore from The Wimpy Vegetarian for hosting today’s event.
Check out all these fabulous veggie based recipes from the #SundaySupper group:
Appetizers
- Citrus Marinated Olives by Cricket’s Confections
- Goat Cheese and Red Onion Quesadilla by The Freshman Cook
- Grilled Green Tomato and Mozzarella Salad by Monica’s Table
- Italian Lupini Beans by She Loves Biscotti
- Orange Ginger Carrot Soup by Cindy’s Recipes and Writings
Desserts
- Chocolate Orange Beet Cake by Baking Sense
- Chocolate Zucchini Cake by Mindy’s Cooking Obsession
- Make Your Children Eat Their Vegetables…in a Cupcake! by The Ninja Baker
- Zucchini Blueberry Coffee Cake by Pies and Plots
Entrees
- Butternut Squash Zoodles with Fried Sage Sauce by Home Sweet Homestead
- Caprese Stuffed Roasted Eggplant by Sunday Supper Movement
- Cheesy Cauliflower Cake by Food Lust People Love
- Chipotle Tofu Tacos with Plantain by Caroline’s Cooking
- Glazed Carrot and Quinoa Salad with Crispy Chickpeas by Helpful Homemade
- Green Goddess Mac and Cheese by Moore or Less Cooking
- Mujaddara by A Day in the Life on the Farm
- Penne-Wise Pumpkin Pasta by Wholistic Woman
- Pumpkin Gnocchi and Spinach with Sage Brown Butter Sauce by The Redhead Baker
- Radical Reuben Sandwich by Palatable Pastime
- Roasted Delicata Squash with Sriracha Aioli by The Hungry Goddess
- Roasted Vegetable Casserole by A Mind “Full”Mom
- Spicy Tofu and Rice Stir Fry by Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks
- Spinach Stuffed Pasta Shells by That Skinny Chick Can Bake
- Strawberry Soba Noodle Salad by Sew You Think You Can Cook
- Vegan Creamy Butternut Squash Soup with Spinach by Cooking Chat
- Vegetarian Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie by Take A Bite Out of Boca
- Veggie Riggies: A Rigatoni Sauté by Hardly A Goddess
Sides
- Caramelized Onions and Cauliflower by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
- Cauliflower Tabbouleh with Chickpeas by Simple and Savory
- Cheesy Broccoli Cauliflower Rice by My Life Cookbook
- Locro de Papa (Ecuadorian Potato Soup) by Curious Cuisiniere
- South African Yellow Rice by What Smells So Good?
- Spiralized Sweet Potato and Apple Sauté with Dates by The Wimpy Vegetarian
- Turmeric Hummus Casserole by Dizzy Busy and Hungry
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