So, I’m going to start this post by apologising.
I thought that the vegan chocolate cake recipes I’ve shared up to now were great, but I realise now that they were only good, because I just made a chocolate cake that puts them all to shame. I actually just made it twice…in one week. Yes, that’s right, twice.
First I made it for my son’s birthday party at preschool. I wasn’t sure how much cake 35 kids can eat, so I made a big slab cake. They had the decency to leave me a small piece which I was excited about until I saw that it was covered with unidentifiable crumbs, so I tossed it, not wanting to take any chances. But then my son raved about the cake, saying it was the yummiest of any birthday cake I had ever made him, and when a four year old says this to you, you listen. So I made another batch, this time as English loaf cake, because who really needs a giant slab cake? This time I made some minor changes to make the recipe a bit healthier (fyi – it’s still NOT that healthy) and all I can say is wow! 24 hours later, we’re down from three medium loaf cakes to just one and a half.
So, what’s the secret? Beets and baking soda. I’ve been wanting to bake with beets for a while now, so when the time came to make my son’s cake and I actually had beets in the fridge I figured, why not? What better guinea pigs than a class of children?
I knew it needed to be a large cake so rather than make a double recipe I looked online for a recipe that was big enough for a layered cake and found this one from egglessbaking.com to adapt. I was especially happy since the tofu it calls for was an easy candidate to substitute for beets, so it looked like the chocolate beet cake was happening!
I considered just grating the beets raw, but decided to roast them first and then after letting them cool I peeled them and pulsed the beets to a puree in my food processor.
In a large bowl I added the beets, oil, sugar (reduced to only 1.5 cups), vanilla, soy milk (obviously use your milk of choice), and applesauce (one of my health edits – I halved the oil and subbed in a half cup of applesauce), and stirred until the colour evened out to a nice pepto bismal pink.
Next I added my dry ingredients. If you’ve read some of my other recipes, you know that I can be a lazy baker and will just pour my dry ingredients right in, giving them a gentle stir to mix everything together before mixing it into the wet ingredients. Feel free to take the two bowl approach and mix your dry ingredients (flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda (note that that is 2 TBSP, not TSP) and salt) together in a separate bowl before folding it into your wet ingredients.
Be sure to whisk the batter well to get rid of any lumps, and then poor it into your choice of cake pan. This recipe will work for one large slab cake, 3 medium (8″) loaf cakes (probably 2 full loaf cakes would work too), or two 9″ circular springform pans, with minor adjustments to cook time. Fill the pan half to two-thirds to allow for the cake to rise (expect it to rise at about 50%).
If you are making a birthday cake or just want to have some sort of frosting for your chocolate beet cake, I definitely recommend preparing this easy, vegan chocolate ganache recipe that I came across at Delicious Everyday, which I have included in my recipe below. It has quickly become my go-to cake topping and is great for supporting fondant since it cools to a slightly hardened (yet still melt-in-your-mouth creamy) hardshell (the cake recipe on this page is also delicious). All you need to make the ganache is chocolate chips and coconut cream – quickly heat them to melting and then let cool before smoothing on your cake. Look at my recipe details below for full instructions.
Whether you’re looking to make a birthday cake or simply feel a great chocolate cake, this vegan chocolate beet cake recipe will be a winner for everyone, I promise.
If anyone tries this with gluten-free flour before me, send me a mail and let me know how it turns out and I will add your input to this post to share with others. Thanks!
- 2 cups flour (I used whole wheat)
- ¾ cup cocoa powder
- 1½ cups sugar (I used cane sugar)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 2 tsp baking soda
- ½ cup oil (I used grapeseed oil)
- ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
- 2 cups milk (use the alt milk of your choice)
- ⅔ cup pureed roast beet (equivalent to 1 medium-large beet)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup unsweetened vegan chocolate chips
- ⅔ cup coconut cream
- Preheat the oven to 180 C
- Roast a medium-large beet for 30-40 minutes (until tender).
- Let cool, remove the peel and then pulse in a food processor until you have a fine puree.
- Measure off ⅔ cup and freeze anything remaining.
- In a large bowl combine the oil, vanilla, sugar, applesauce, beet and milk.
- In a smaller bowl combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
- Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and then whisk until there are no clumps hiding. Be sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl.
- Poor the batter into a rectangular cake pan and bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Remove the cake from the oven and let cool.
- To prepare the chocolate ganache topping, first put your coconut milk in the freezer for 20 minutes. Then remove and turn over before opening the can. All of the thick, rich cream will have collected on the side you open, having separated from the coconut water. Measure your ¾ cup from this rich cream.
- In a saucepan, heat the chocolate chips on medium heat on the stove.
- When it starts to melt, add the coconut cream and stir continuously until evenly melted and combined.
- Remove from the burner and let cool before smoothing on the surface of your cooled cake.
- Serve as is or top with your choice of fondant shapes, fresh berries, or crushed nuts.
- Keep any leftover cake in an appropriate container/wrapper in the fridge or freezer.
Welcome!
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