Golden Beet Orange Cake is super moist and flavorful. With a hint of roasted beet flavor behind the orange, this usual cake is as tasty as it is beautiful.
I’m so excited about this recipe. The idea for this cake had been simmering at the back of my mind since I picked up our last farm share in November. All winter I’ve had one last bunch of beets hanging around the refrigerator. This week I finally got around to roasting those beets. The chioggia beets ended up in a salad. The golden beets were destined for this cake.
It was a no-brainer to use my Chocolate Orange Beet Cake recipe as the starting point for this recipe. I knew I would use fresh orange again since beet and orange are a match made in heaven.
It was a simple 1:1 swap to replace the golden beet puree for the red beet puree. Almond flour replaced the cocoa in the batter. Either cocoa or almond flour can replace a portion of flour in most cake recipes so this was an easy switch.
Without the acidic cocoa and brown sugar, there is no need to use baking soda along with baking powder. There’s a little acidity in the batter from the orange juice, but the cake works just fine with only baking powder. The final touch is an orange glaze to finish.
This really is an easy recipe. Once the beets are roasted and pureed, everything is made in one bowl, no creaming , no folding or whipping. The beets can be roasted several days ahead.
How to make Golden Beet Orange Cake
- Wash the beets and trim the roots. Wrap in foil and bake at 350 until tender.
- Peel the cooled beets and puree with the orange juice until smooth.
- The thin batter has a beautiful golden color.
- Pour the glaze over the slightly warm cake.
- You can leave the glaze with a drip design or scoop up the glaze from the sheet pan and apply it to the uncovered areas.
- Let the cake cool and the glaze set before moving to a serving platter.
If you love this recipe as much as I do, I’d really appreciate a 5-star review.
Golden Beet Orange Cake
Golden Beet Orange Cake is super moist and flavorful. With a hint of roasted beet flavor behind the orange, this usual cake is as tasty as it is beautiful.
Ingredients
Cake Batter
- 1/2 pound (about 3-4 medium) golden beets, roasted and peeled (see note 1)
- Zest and juice of 1 orange
- 2 1/4 cups (1 lb 2 oz, 515 g) granulated sugar
- 1.5 cups (350 ml) vegetable oil
- 4 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon real vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon natural orange extract
- 1 cup (4.5 oz, 125 g) cake flour
- 1 cup (5 oz, 140 g) all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup (2.5 oz, 65g) almond flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Orange glaze
- 1.5 cups (6 oz, 180 g) powdered sugar
- Zest from 1 orange
- 3 tablespoons Juice
Instructions
- Thoroughly butter and flour a 12 cup Bundt pan.
- Preheat the oven to 325°F convection or 350°F regular.
Cake Batter
- 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 extract in a mixer bowl (see note 2).
- Beat on medium low for 2 minutes to emulsify the oil and eggs.
- Sift together the cake flour, all purpose flour, baking powder and salt
- Whisk the almond flour into the dry ingredients.
- 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, about 45 minutes.
Make the glaze
- Whisk together the powdered sugar, zest and juice. The glaze should have the consistency of pancake batter.
Finish the cake
- Cool for 10 minutes in the pan before inverting onto a cooling rack set over a clean sheet pan.
- Pour the glaze over the cake while its still slightly warm. You can scoop up the glaze from the pan and reapply to uncovered parts of the cake or you can leave the glaze with a drip pattern.
- Cool to room temperature and allow the glaze to set before tranferring to a serving plate.
- The cake will keep at room temperature for several days, up to about a week.
Notes
1. 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. The beets can be roasted several days ahead.
2. 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.
Carrie
Wednesday 18th of May 2022
Hi,
In your recipe you call for baking powder, however in the directions you call or baking powder. Could you let me know which one I am supposed to use, please.
Thank you, Carrie
Eileen Gray
Wednesday 18th of May 2022
Thanks for pointing that out. It's been fixed.
Allison hanson
Sunday 14th of May 2017
Golden beets, what a perfect ingredient for a unusual cake. Great idea, I can't wait to try this!
Christine
Monday 13th of March 2017
So interesting! I've never thought to put beets in a cake but I'm guessing it makes the cake super moist!
Eileen Gray
Monday 13th of March 2017
Yes, the beets make the cake super moist and give it a really great flavor and color.Thanks, Christine!
Erin
Saturday 11th of March 2017
Very unique flavors! Love it.
Eileen Gray
Sunday 12th of March 2017
Thanks, Erin.