It’s amazing what you can do without any flour! I made this gluten free chocolate cake using beets. Being “Deceptively Delicious” I fooled my husband. While my children are game to eat pretty much anything I make, my husband is known as the “picky” eater around here.
Because of his strong critiques and my perfectionist bent, I often find myself testing a new recipe four, five or more times. Though this one I nailed the second time, it was that easy.
As I whipped up beet cake 2.0, I did find myself thinking, “How can I hide this mystery ingredient from him?” He had scoffed at beet cake 1.0, spitting it into the sink. “How can I fool him?” I thought as I stirred the batter. I guess that would make me Jessica Seinfeld to his Jerry.
Though unlike Ms. Seinfeld, I found myself sneaking beets in not to add nourishment (all of my recipes are fairly nourishing with high protein almond flour and low glycemic agave). I was rather, trying to figure out a way to make a less costly cake.
Almond flour is fabulous to cook with, though pricey. I wanted to come up with a cake that would be cheaper to make -though do keep in mind that this cake while cheaper, does not offer the same nutritional benefits that one made with almond flour would.
Here’s my “deceptive” purple velvet torte. Enjoy!
Purple Velvet Torte
Ingredients
- 2½ cups grated beets
- 1 cup agave nectar or honey
- 4 large eggs
- ½ cup grapeseed oil or palm shortening
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- ½ cup cacao powder
- ½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, heat the beets and agave to a boil, then cover
- Reduce to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes, until beets are soft
- Transfer beet-agave mixture to a vitamix and puree on highest speed until smooth
- Blend in eggs, oil, vanilla, almond extract, cacao and salt until thoroughly incorporated
- Pour batter into a well greased 9 inch springform pan
- Bake at 350°F for 30-35 minutes until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean
- Cool and serve
My older son has been steadily working away on this blog with me. He is 10 years old and every week he discusses what “we” will be posting. He often sneaks down after I put him and his brother to bed, for a blogging session during which we take photos or write copy here.
This week, as I was on a deadline for another project, he decided that he would be the one shooting the pictures of the purple velvet torte. So, please welcome my new phototgrapher! He took these pictures on his own as I proofread another document, knocking the camera over only once. Besides that incident he was a total pro! Really.
He was however, very disappointed as he “proofread” this copy that I used the word “sneaks” above. He wanted me to say that we “work together,” and I must say, he is correct. I guess that would make me Heather to his Leta (once her daughter starts reading dooce Ms. Armstrong may have her hands full).
Update: I’ve edited the cooking time in this recipe thanks to one of the comments below. The one in the recipe above is now correct and my family is very happy since they are eating this gluten-free torte yet again (since I made it a third time to verify the cooking time). As always, thanks for your comments!
Dianne Shaw says
Going to try this but without agave ! Please research. I was surprised, too. One of ten most toxic foods! Scary! See Ron and Lisa or do a search. We no longer touch the stuff! But honey or real sugar will probably work. Thanks for the recipe!
Shona says
I made this cake on Saturday and is soooo good! I used chocolate and orange protein powder instead of the cacao powder to make a great pre workout snack!!
Def making this again!!
Thanks for the receipie
Mamatha says
Elana, thank you so much for this fabulous recipe. I made this 2 days ago and it was perfect. My 2 yo toddler loved it so much that he made a meal out of it, twice. I’m making it again today with the lone beet I have on hand. I hope I scale down the ingredients appropriately. This recipe is going to made many times over in my home.
Karen says
This was a total disaster for me. Thought I might have done something wrong and tried a slice but the rest had to be binned. Is it possible there’s an ingredient missing from the above list as it was like eating cooked beetroot. No texture to it at all.
Beth Shores says
hey, i just wanted you to know if there is a trader joe’s near you, they have the lowest prices i’ve ever found for almond flour..hope this helps you and thanks for the brownie recipe…i made it today and my kids have no idea they are eating grain free :)
Jenna says
This may not be as high in protein, but beets are nutritional powerhouses. Can’t wait to try it! Thanks Elana!
Angelfeathers says
I’m so glad to find this as I had beetroot in my veggie box this week and was sad that I wouldn’t be able to make the chocolate beetroot cake I’ve always made before with them. But now I can make an even cheaper one, since this uses cacao (which will be cocoa as I don’t have cacao) and the other cake uses quite a lot of melted chocolate. I’m looking forward to seeing if it turns out as yummy as the old one used to!
Mollie Frances says
Hi Elana,
I linked to this recipe from my post for Baby Beet Cakes.
http://www.thealmondflower.com/2012/02/baby-beet-cakes.html
I used almond flour and pre-steamed and peeled beets from Trader Joe’s and instead of chocolate it is full of yummy spices- including one of your faves, cinnamon!
Great job to your son for the pics, love the gorgeous red color.
Mollie
Tammy says
Hi, I’ve heard of this site a long time ago but haven’t tried anything here until now because I don’t bake a lot. What brought me to this page is, I’m on a gluten free diet and had golden beets on hand. I felt that I needed to make a cake from these golden beets. I also had unsweetened coconut on hand. This brings me to a variation from your recipe that I’m approaching!
The beets I had were already cooked. I roasted them in the oven, until they were fork tender. When I measured them out, I only had about 2 cups so I added a shredded apple to that and the agave syrup and coconut. Since the beets were already cooked but not too soft, I simmered them for about 10-15 minutes with the agave, 1 grated apple and 1/2 cup of coconut (I didn’t have cocoa powder on hand).
I don’t have a Vitamix (but I want one badly) so I used my blender on it’s liquefy setting and added in the salt, oil, eggs, 1 tblsp vanilla paste (which I prefer to vanilla extract) and I omitted the almond extract because… you’ve probably guessed… I didn’t have any! (LOL)
Anyhow, the batter is delicious and it’s in the oven now. I can’t wait to try it! And I hope it turns out as good as your red-beet chocolate cake.
Tammy says
My variation on this was a little on the sweet side but the texture was light and springy. I bet lemon zest would have been a good addition.
Melissa says
Making this now, can’t wait to see how it turns out! Any ideas on what to make with about an extra cup of grated beets?