Chocolate Beet Bundt Cake with Beet Glaze
This incredibly moist fool-proof chocolate beet bundt cake is topped with a beautiful, naturally colored beet glaze.
Halloween is just around the corner! This chocolate beet bundt cake is about as festive as it gets around here. I’m very much into all-purpose holiday desserts and this cake can be made any day of the year. Literally, any day. In fact, you should make this cake as soon as possible, because it is delicious.
The psychedelic beet glaze takes it over the top. It is what I would imagine a classy monster-esque cake would look like if that, in fact, was a thing. I was originally going for a ‘blood splatter’-like glaze, but nature, beets, and powdered sugar can only do so much, you know? I’m OK with it.
And yes! This beautiful purple-magenta glaze is completely natural. Pureed beets contribute to this cake’s incredibly moist and fluffy texture, so it only made sense to reserve some for decoration as well. I’m a huge fan of using fruit (like freeze-dried fruit!) to naturally decorate desserts, so it only makes sense to turn to vegetables to do the same job.
This is actually the first chocolate beet cake that I’ve ever made in my life. I’ve been meaning to try the concept for years. I ended up discovering this recipe and adapting it to fit a standard bundt pan, because bundt cakes are da best.
This cake is all about convenience, so you’ll be making the beet puree from one can of cooked beets (the ones that come in water!). A small food processor will do the trick easily. It makes the cake virtually foolproof, because you won’t even need to measure the puree – you’ll be reserving one tablespoon of it for the glaze. I repeat, there is literally no benefit from cooking the beets from scratch, so please don’t!
In many ways, beet cake is similar in concept to pumpkin, applesauce, or banana cake, except you won’t notice any beet flavor at all. The puree is there to contribute moisture and fluffiness (and a touch of healthiness!) to the final product and this cake is no different. It is so fluffy and moist! Unlike other chocolate cakes, which use cocoa powder as the primary ‘chocolate’ flavor, the chocolate flavor in this cake comes from the addition of melted unsweetened chocolate.
The chocolate flavor is robust, but delicate (if that makes any sense). I love a super dense chocolatey cake every now and then, but this chocolate beet bundt cake is more of an all-occasion, all-purpose chocolate cake. The beet glaze was inspired by a magazine I snatched up during my recent trip to England and I love the concept!
If you wanted to up the chocolate flavor, you could totally skip the beet glaze and top it with a rich chocolate ganache. My mind is already swarming with flavor possibilities. Chocolate and orange? Go wild and have fun.
Chocolate Beet Bundt Cake with Beet Glaze
Ingredients:
Chocolate Beet Bundt Cake
- 1 (15-ounce) can of beets (in water)
- 1 and 3/4 cup (210 g) unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 and 1/2 cup (300 g) granulated sugar
- 1 cup (240 ml) coconut or vegetable) oil
- 3 large whole eggs
- 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Beet Glaze
- 3/4 cup (75 g) powdered sugar, sifted
- 1 tablespoon reserved beet puree
- 1 to 2 teaspoons canned beet juice
Directions:
- Prepare the cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (Celsius) with a rack in the center position. Generously grease a 10-inch bundt pan with baking spray and set aside. Drain the beets, reserving 1 to 2 tablespoons of the liquid. In a small food processor, puree the beets until very smooth. Reserve 1 tablespoon of the beet puree for the glaze and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking soda, and salt. In a stand mixer bowl, fitted with whisk attachment, combine the sugar, oil, and eggs. Beat at medium speed for 1 to 2 minutes or until smooth. Add the beet puree, cooled melted chocolate, and vanilla extract. Beat at medium speed for 30 seconds or until smooth. Reduce the speed to low and slowly add the flour mixture, allowing it to incorporate fully with each addition. Scrape down the bottom of the bowl to ensure all of the ingredients are incorporated evenly.
- Transfer the batter to the greased bundt pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 45 to 55 minutes. Allow the cake to cool in the pan on a wire rack for 1o to 15 minutes. Invert and allow the cake to cool completely before glazing.
- Prepare the glaze: In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, reserved beet puree, and roughly 1 teaspoon of the canned beet juice. If the glaze is too thick, add an additional teaspoon of beet juice at a time until the glaze is thin enough to drizzle from a spoon. Drizzle the cooled cake with the glaze in a zigzag motion (or in one layer). Allow the glaze to set before slicing. Cake can be wrapped well and stored at room temperature for 3 to 4 days.
Tips For Success:
Organic powdered sugar is not as white as regular powdered sugar and will produce a slightly more muted glaze color.
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This cake is beautiful! I love that you used the beets to make such a gorgeous glaze–it looks perfect for Halloween! Does the glaze have a strong beet flavor?
Great question! It has the slightest, slightest (and even that is an exaggeration!) beet flavor when you tried the glaze by itself – certainly not strong. You won’t taste any beet flavor when the glaze is on the cake though!
Hi Laura! I don’t have canned beets available in the area I live. Can you please help me out with the measurements and the process if I start to make the beet puree from scratch? How many grams of beets would I need and how long would I need to cook them? Thank you!
Hi! Great question – I wish I could be super specific, but unfortunately I haven’t made beet puree from scratch for this cake. This is all guestimates: you’ll need between about 1 and 1/4 cup (roughly 300 grams) beet puree total. I would imagine that’s about 3-4 beets worth…at most? I would personally peel the beets, cut into large chunks, and boil them, but you could also roast them too, it would just take longer. Hope this helps! Again, I haven’t tried it with homemade puree, so the thickness and density would probably vary. I have a feeling it shouldn’t affect the cake very much, but it’s hard to know without testing it.
Oh Laura, you are making this dark and moody cake SO good! I still haven’t used beets in a cake and that needs to change!
Gah! Somehow your comment landed in my spam folder (not cool WordPress). Thank you so much Abby!! xo I have to say, I couldn’t stop eating it, haha!
cool cake! arthur would like it:)
I love chocolate beet cake! My husband is hardcore against beets so doesn’t understand how I could do that to a cake… But the funny thing is that he never even knows it’s there. Muhahaha. Love the icing on this, too 🙂
Haha!!! Love the sneakiness. But for real, you can’t taste them and they give the cake the best texture!
What a fun cake for Halloween Laura!! This is awesome!! I can’t believe how bright it is!
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What a wonderful looking cake Laura and I love beetroot in all it’s forms. Just used the last of my home grown (sniff sniff). The 2oz (50g) of chocolate seems small to the size of the cake – is this a misprint? Can I add more???? Maybe substitute some of the flour for cocoa powder or would this be just chocolate overdose? Love the funky purple icing too.
with love
Nice result! I added a little cocoa powder to the mix for fear that it would not be so chocolaty without it, and I used a different glaze (with just semi-sweet chocolate and half-and-half). It was not quite as moist or indulgent as other chocolate cakes I’ve had, but it’s certainly healthier and still tasty. I would definitely make this one again.
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Hi there,
This looks wonderful. I think I’m going to try it for an Easter dessert. I might try to thicken the glaze to piping consistency and pipe flowers. I also might cover the cake in a ganache first, because you can never have too much chocolate. This sounds great for my soster who is allergic to dairy. I dont have canned beets, but precooked organic beets from Costco. I should have enough I hope. I dont have a bundt pan so do I buy one or use a 9×13 and layer it? Hmmmm I love experimenting! Thanks for sharing this recipe!
This is a delicious cake! Thanks for the recipe. I used half melted butter/half oil and added some cocoa to the flour mixture as well and I had two roasted normal-sized beets on hand and that was just the right amount (for any of you that don’t have a can of beets on hand). I used a bit less than a cup of sugar, and most of it was brown for that added taste and it was plenty sweet. so moist and delicious, like a brownie cake 🙂
Love your adaptations!! Thanks for sharing and providing your feedback Bridget! 🙂