I love beetroot! Whether it’s roasted, shredded up raw in a salad or squished up in a burger, it’s blimmin’ delicious AND it’s in season for most of the year! Win, win, win you might say? Well not always…
If we take asparagus as a contrasting example, it’s in season for such a short amount of time that it’s like, quick, quick cook something delicious before the season is over! But with beetroot, it’s just there month after month and it’s like, more beetroot but I already had it fives ways last week, what can I do with it now?
Well I have the answer, chocolate beetroot cake!!!
This isn’t as super healthy as some of our recent recipes but it’s not too far off so lets not worry about it too much : )
Vegan Chocolate Beetroot Cake
2 Medium sized beetroots, peeled and finely grated
115 g Spelt flour
70 g Brown rice flour
50 g Coconut palm sugar
3 tbsp Cacao powder (or 5 tbsp cocoa powder)
2 tsp Baking powder
Pinch of salt
60 ml Maple syrup
50 g Dark chocolate (80% or more)
150 ml Rapeseed oil
50 ml Non-dairy milk
For the topping:
50 g Dark chocolate (80% or more)
3-5 tbsp water
50 g Pistachios
- Over a low heat, melt the chocolate and maple syrup in a saucepan.
- Once melted, remove from the heat and leave to cool slightly whilst you measure all the dry ingredients into a separate mixing bowl.
- Stir in the oil and almond milk into the melted chocolate before adding the grated beetroot.
- Mix well before stirring in the dry ingredients.
- Pour the mixture into a well greased 18cm cake tin and bake in a preheated oven at 180C for 25 minutes of until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
- Turn out the cake onto a wire rack and leave to cool.
- Over a low heat, melt the chocolate. Slowly add in a tablespoon of water at a time, stirring continuously. Keep stirring and adding a little more water until you get a nice smooth consistency that has a lighter colour, resembling milk chocolate.
- Pour the chocolate over the cake and spread evenly.
- Roughly chop the pistachios and sprinkle over the cake.
Amy x
Welcome to Wrapped in Newspaper - a blog based around delicious recipes and mindful living. I'm Ronnie and the recipes I create here are centred around plants, you'll also find me posting about living mindfully to help us be our best selves for our health and the planet.
Love beetroot cakes! This is definitely a delicious cake I need to make.. love that it’s vegan especially.
Thanks Thalia. We love our vegan cakes : ) a x
Beautiful cake! I just love the pistachios sprinkled over the top. I haven’t tried chocolate cake with beetroot in it before, but I can imagine how lovely the flavour would be. Definitely going to give the one a try, thanks for the recipe!
Thanks! Yes chocolate and beetroot are great together : ) A x
Hi, wondering if I can substitute the brown rice flour with more spelt flour? This looks delicious btw!!
Hi Amadea,
I find that spelt has quite a strong flavour so I always mix in another flour but you don’t have to. You could try using ground almonds instead of the rice flour if you have any to hand.
Hope this helps!
Amy x
Cripes that’s one beautiful looking cake!
Cripes, that’s one beautiful looking cake! Would love to try this with rice flour instead of spelt (for my gluten-free tum!) Beetroot always makes cakes so rich and juicy.
This looks a gorgeous cake but think I will just make with caster sugar as unsure what to think about using coconut palm sugar. I read something to say that by producing this sugar, the coconuts cannot be grown which in turn leads to less coconut products being produced. The website from which I gained the information is: https://www.tropicaltraditions.com/coconut_palm_sugar.htm
Hi Anna, thanks for the info. Sugar is a tricky one -I’m not really sure there is a ‘good’ sugar in terms of how it’s produced so we always try to use as little processed sugar as possible (for our health and the environment). The coconut sugar can definitely be substituted! I used xylitol when I made it the other day. I just tend to use whatever I happen to have in my cupboard! Amy x
Congratulations ,to both of you 🙂
winners of the Great Vegan Bake Off
All the best 🙂
Thanks Erika!! A xx
I am so pleased a Beetroot Cake won this year in Great VeganBake Off. You may know that i entered in 2013 with a Beetroot Chocolate cake too and came Runner Up, so I am delighted you both won – congratulations – truly. http://allotment2kitchen.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/vegan-beetroot-chocolate-cake-with.html
Hi Shaheen, thanks so much!!! I didn’t realise you’d entered a chocolate beetroot recipe -the beetroot icing looks amazing! A xx
Hi made your beetroot choc cake today , used golden caster sugar but otherwise stuck rigidly to your ingredients . although it tastes good found it rather dry and crumbly . where did I go wrong ? Gail
Hi Gail, I’m really sorry the cake turned out a bit dry for you, it should be quite a moist cake! It might just have needed a bit more milk or the beetroot grating finer, or a little less time in the oven. Or you could try adding a flax egg (1 tbsp ground flax seeds whisked with 3 tbsp water) to help bind it more.
Hope this helps! Amy x
This looks absolutely delicious! Chocolate cakes can be sometimes so dry, but this is such a great recipe (with the addition of the beetroot) . Love the reddish colour too – so tempting to eat and have a second slice straightaway!
Thanks Magdalena x