You like carrot cake, right?
When I was telling you about my failed garden, I forgot to mention beets (how uncharacteristically lacking in thoroughness that was! Can you imagine! Maybe I should go over each separate thing in my garden again, alphabetically how about? Fun!).
I do have some beets.
Beets are good, and I'm hoping that when the weeds die back a little I will find the rest and be able to pickle them, because nothing says Thanksgiving like a pretty bowl of pickled beets, right?
Right?
Back to what I was saying. If you like carrot cake, you will like beet cake. Especially because this cake has chocolate, so how can it go wrong?
I looked up some recipes, and most called for cooked beet puree. But you don't cook and puree your carrots when you make carrot cake, do you?
I didn't think so.
This search led me to make up my own recipe, based on a few ideas. It's at the bottom of this post, if you stick with me that long.
First, get you some beets and shred them.
No, first butter and flour your pan. I like to use a bundt because… I just do.
Then, cream your butter, oil, and sugar. See my mixer blade, that has a spatula built in? How amazing is that? It was a birthday present and wow! does it make this kind of baking easy. I highly recommend it.
Add your dry ingredients, including your cocoa.
Do you have something like this buttermilk at your store? I can't tell you what a difference it is — as different from regular store buttermilk as r. s. b. is from powdered. It's like a living, wholesome substance that makes your baked goods sit up and greet the day with a right good will.
You might have leftover batter, in which case you can also make cupcakes. You can drive your little friends crazy by giving them irresistible cupcakes and then telling them they've got beets in them!
No one can say no to cream cheese frosting. People, you really don't need a recipe for this. You need soft cream cheese (a couple of tablespoons), soft butter (ditto), and confectioner's sugar (a couple of cups). Maybe a splash of cream or milk. Rum? Vanilla? You really can't go wrong, no matter what the proportions. Taste it if you aren't sure. Trust me. Trust yourself. It's all about trust, and butter.
Whatever you have left over (and this is one reason I like the bundt over the two layers — you don't use as much frosting) can be tucked away for the next cake you make. It's good on anything!
In the interest of full disclosure I will tell you that this cake did not quite succeed — not because of a faulty premise (i.e. “beet” and “cake” in the same recipe title) — NO! — but because I forgot that beets are watery-er than carrots, and so it was a little teeny bit fallen.
My recipe to you is corrected for this, and you will note that your batter will not look quite as liquid as that in the pictures above, but I wasn't able to take new pictures, alas.
Other than that it, which was more of an aesthetic flaw, this cake was really amazingly good — it was moist, chocolate-y, mysterious in a way that could be described as beety if that weren't so off-putting — and this is certified by the firm of Bridget and Bridget, Picky Eaters' Accounting Group, which keeps careful watch over any and all ingredients purveyed to the public.
Chocolate Beet Cake Like Mother, Like Daughter
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups flour, sifted
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 c. cocoa
3 tsp. vanilla
4 cups shredded peeled beets
1/4 cup buttermilk
Preheat oven to 350 *
Thoroughly and carefully grease and flour 2 10-inch cake pans or a bundt pan (mine holds 8 cups and I had enough batter left over for 12 cupcakes).
Mix dry ingredients in a bowl.
Cream butter, oil, and sugar in mixer bowl. Add eggs and beat well. Add dry ingredients. Add beets and mix well.
Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes (depending on your pans and your oven) or until the center is puffed and a tester comes out clean.
Cool in the pan for 20 minutes.
Cool completely and frost with cream cheese frosting.
MomE says
Hahaha…lol…I love "it's all trust and butter!" That's great! Very interesting recipe! I love carrot cake so…hmmmm?
Decadent Housewife says
You mean there is more to beets than Borscht! Thank you, from an English girl married to an Ukrainian. I love your cake stand!
Babe says
I have a "mixer blade with spatula built in" also and I love it too. It is called SIDESWIPE SPATULA MIXER BLADE and can be ordered through Amazon.com. There are several styles which fit many KitchenAid models and several other mixers. I understand that other styles are being developed to fit other mixer models. Well worth the cost — made with long-lasting materials and contain no BPA.
Sara says
Hmmmm, she said suspiciously, it's too bad I don't have any beets in my garden.
Mrs. B. says
Well, it certainly sounds like an interesting cake! I was wondering about something, though: usually, when I shred the carrots for a carrot cake, I squeeze a lot of water out of them with a towel. Would that be a good idea for this cake, too, to eliminate the too-watery problem?(First comment here on your blog, but I have been reading for a while. I know it must sound "stale", but I love your blog: it's so… endearingly instructive!)
Melanie B says
You had me at chocolate. Makes me wish we'd planted beets this year. I'll have to buy some and give it a go. And I love, love, love the mixer blade with built in spatula. I'm going to have to find one of those.
Deirdre says
I'm beginning to realize that my role on this site tends to be a little one-dimensional. I check in, drool over photos, and affirm the tastiness of any and all foods referenced. But… really. If my role is repetitive, so be it. Seeing the evidence of past culinary triumphs of which I've been a witness and beneficiary, I am moved to speak out. I just want all you ladies out there to believe what you see and read! I've eaten this cake! It's outstanding! It comes close to how yummy that herb & cheese bread is (see previous post)! Furthermore – lovely photos, Mom. The pleasure of looking at your work is marred only by the pain of not having access to eat it. (for those of you who don't know, I'm currently away at school)
Anonymous says
Dearest Leila you are so creative! I suppose years of experience just kick in and take over… We love beetroot in Australia having it on burgers, salad rolls, in salads.. but most of us lazily use the prepared-to-go slices from a tin although my mum would carefully boil(because of the purpley staining of everything in it's path) some up for my father during my fuss-eating childhood.What treats I missed.Thanks for your posts. From Linda
Pippajo says
Um…I can't say I'm with you on this one. Yes, it's chocolate, but it's also…beets! I'm trying to wrap my brain around it, telling myself, "Now, self, you wouldn't think carrots or zucchini would be good in cake and you've eaten those so get over it…," but it's not working.It's BEETS!But seriously? "It's all about trust, and butter" is the perfect name for a cooking blog. Or a cookbook. How very very profound.
Alice says
This reminds me a bit of when Suki convinced me to try your Zucchini bread for the first time, and then recited "Green Eggs and Ham" to me. Oh, it's a lovely bread.I'm filing your beet-cake recipe away for a friend with such a great love of beets, I thought of writing a children's book about it ("Kolya and the Recalcitrant Beet").Pickled beets are wonderful wonderful things.
April says
Mmmm, I love, love, love beets. Someday I will learn to plant them in intervals so I have them growing all summer, I don't know why that is so hard for me to learn. I want to make this cake right now. For some reason it seems like the better alternative to a red velvet, maybe it was the original red velvet!
Hillary says
You're so right about the cream cheese frosting.
50s Housewife says
This looks wonderful! I would never have thought to put beets in a cake. I'm tempted to buy some beets just so I can try it.Oh, and I agree with the others: "It's all about trust, and butter" is a fantastic idea for a cookbook title! When should we expect it? 🙂
Margo says
hmmm. I'm intrigued. I might try this. My friend made a chocolate beet cake with the mashed variety and said it was horrible – and we are not picky at all. So I'm going to try yours.My favorite thing to do with lots of beets is chop them up (don't bother to peel), toss with some olive oil, maybe some rosemary or garlic cloves and roast whenever something else is in the oven. Then I keep them in the fridge to make salad with or eat as snacks (my kids love them but, oooo, scary diapers).
Christine says
You know what I'll be doing this weekend!Yummy!
Leila says
DH– Thanks, I love my cakestand too! It's from TJMaxx, of course…Babe — Thanks for the product info, I'm so lazy :)Margo — Scary diapers!! SO true. I've thought many a time that things were very wrong, until I remembered…
Ferrers Locke says
Mmmm. Beetroot and chocolate? Sounds good.But I've never seen buttermilk of any sort for sale. I'm guessing that soured skimmed milk would be an adequate substitute: does anyone know?
Dawn says
Yum, Yum, Yum. Never thought about beet cake but that looks scrumptious. And of course anything topped with cream cheese frosting's gotta be good!
Dawn says
Dear Ferrers Locke: What? No buttermilk? If it's not in the dairy case with the cream and such, check out the baking section for powdered. And I think you can make a substitute with some lemon juice or vinegar and milk and let stand a bit. But I don't remember the ratio.
Ferrers Locke says
Thanks, Dawn.No buttermilk – I'm benighted in UKia, and you'd be amazed what isn't in the shops. But I found several plausible substitutes at http://tinyurl.com/m8cnge, and this looks like the ideal way to test them out.
shwell says
Australian Womens Weekly Magazine has a line of cookbooks and in one of their cake books is a beet cake recipe which is very delicious
beets are called beetroot downunder