Vegan Chocolate Beet Cake
Should veggies really have a place in dessert recipes? I say yes! We use carrots to make delectable cakes, so why not use beets to enhance the flavor of a chocolate cake! Colleen Patrick-Goudreau’s Beet Bundt Cake recipe from her cookbook, The Vegan Table: 200 Unforgettable Recipes for Entertaining Every Guest at Every Occasion, ensures that all you will taste is a dense, chocolate treat that is sure to leave you wanting seconds!
Gather your ingredients. For me, there’s nothing worse than getting halfway through a recipe before realizing I’m missing something!
First, place the beets in a pot of boiling water — the water will likely turn red but that’s ok! It takes a while to soften the beets, so I recommend starting with this step.
Did you know that beets have crazy health benefits? They help lower blood pressure, boost stamina, fight inflammation, have anti-cancer properties, are rich in nutrients and fiber, and help with detoxification. That’s pretty impressive for a vegetable! If you want to learn more about the benefits of beets, click here!
Once the beets are ready, place them in the food processor…
And pulse until pureed!
Next, melt the chocolate chips.
Place the canola oil, brown sugar, pureed beets, melted chocolate chips, and vanilla into a bowl. I also like to throw in some extra chocolate chips (and no I don’t think an extra 1/2 cup is too much!), so that my cake will have small bursts of chocolatey flavor!
Mix the wet ingredients together and admire the beautiful dark red batter!
Mix the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, and salt) in a separate bowl.
And add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in small batches.
Once combined, it’s time to pour the batter into the bundt cake pan. As you can see from my picture, the batter did NOT fill up my bundt cake pan. If that’s the case for you, remember that your cooking time will be less. Or you can always double the recipe for a full bundt pan and even more cake
And after a short stay in the oven, you’ll have a delicious looking cake!
Wait for the cake to cool a little before removing the it from the pan. Then sprinkle lightly with powdered sugar!
Personally, I love the subtle chocolate flavor and thickness of this cake. However, there are some easy and tasty substitutions you can also implement according to personal taste like…
– adding extra chocolate chips for extra bursts of chocolate flavor
– adding some cocoa powder for an overall bolder chocolate taste
– topping the cake with a vegan frosting or glaze
– making the batter into cupcakes
- ½ cup canola oil
- 1.5 cups packed brown sugar
- 2 cups pureed beets
- 1 cup vegan semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ⅓ teaspoon salt
- powdered sugar for dusting cake
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease bundt pan.
- Mix canola oil, brown sugar, pureed beets, chocolate chips, and vanilla together.
- In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt.
- Add to wet ingredients and mix until combined.
- Pour cake batter into bundt cake pan and bake for 30-40 minutes.
- Allow cake to cook at least 10 minutes before trying to remove from bundt pan.
- Decorate with powdered sugar and any other toppings.
- Serve immediately or allow cake to cool completely and store in airtight container.