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!
Evie says
That’s so cute that your 10 year old “works with you.” :) This cake sounds amazing! I’ve never liked beets….but chocolate makes everything better, right? So I’m thinking I’ll have to try this. :)
Aline says
I’ve made it yesterday. It taste really good, i also liked the texture, BUT it was really really SWEET!! I think I cup of honey is too much! I will try with less honey..
Mountain Mama says
Excellent dessert with a lot to of nutrition and appeal! Started with this recipe to use 3 large purple beets that needed to be eaten. My alterations: 1c Maple syrup instead of agave, no stevia, added 1cup Almond flour + 1tsp raw Apple cider + 1tsp baking soda, and increased to 1c dark Cocoa powder. Greased a glass casserole with coconut oil and powdered with cocoa powder. Topped with chocolate chips. Baked at 350F for 40min. It definitely gets better after a night in the fridge. Hubby gives it a 2 thumbs up. Thanks Elana for such great recipes and inspiration!
Adriene says
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this torte! I made it on a Friday night and it was gone by Sunday morning. I’m not a huge beet fan so I like to trick myself into eating them. It’s a great way to add them to your diet and get a great dessert at the same time.
michelle monk says
Hey! Ive been making a similar recipe for a couple months now and you’re the first person I’ve found to have made any baked goods without any flours! So I’m excited to read this. Thank you.
I can have whole rice grain, sweet potatoes and beets, but nothing like almond flour, cashew flour, oats, or gluten free flour. It’s virtually impossible to find baking recipes without these things. it’s been a struggle but I’ve managed to invent ways like this to make pie crusts, pizza, and cake etc. It’s good to find someone to know that I’m not the only one doing this. Feels like it often! I’m on the candida die if you’re curious..
anyway, my recipe is very similar but I’m learning things from you. I use 1 tsp stevia instead of agave, and sometimes I add honey. We also use 4-5 beets, sometimes switch out one for a sweet potato. 4-5 eggs. 1/2 cup coconut oil/butter.
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
½ cup cacao or carob powder (we probably do this amount. Sometimes we add baking chocolate also).
½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
and then we also have been adding a couple pinches of cayenne powder, and 1-2 cups of thawed red or purple berries, strawberries, cranberries, or a drained 16 Oz can of unsweetened cherries. The idea is chocolate cherry cake that you can’t beet! And it’s awesome. We eat it with ice cream or yogurt, but I bet I could make a frosting out of cashews and stevia-vanilla and chocolate powder. Do you have other ideas?
I also add baking soda and at least 1-2 T flax powder to soak up moisture. I’m still working on the amounts but your recipe helps solidify that!
Anyway. Thank you, this is helpful.
Michelle
tinamat says
I’d love to get your recipe….are you saying you only use cocoa powder or you use in addition to the chocolate already in the recipe? Would you mind answering or providing your full recipe? I’d love to avoid more of the fat from the chocolate.
Alison says
I made this last night and served it to a group of ladies today. It was… ok. I was very relieved that the “earthy” taste of beets (personally I think they taste like dirt) was not at all apparent. However, the fruity taste of the beets definitely came through and mingled with the chocolate. It wasn’t bad, just not my cup of tea.
The recipe is a bit lacking in instruction so I’d like to clarify that you must peel fresh beets bc the skins are tough and usually have more “dirt” taste to them. The author may have assumed that everyone knows that beets need to be peeled, but I don’t think that’s the case.
Also, after peeling 8 beets, I ran them through my food processor with the shredder blade, which was awesome in that all the red juice was kept in the food processor and not all over the counter and my hands like it would have been had I used a hand grater. Turns out that about 3 medium beets probably would have been enough for this recipe.
I added the vanilla and almond extracts to the simmering beets because the smell of cooking beets is atrocious to me. Adding the extracts during this time definitely eliminated that beet odor – whew!
My batter was also seriously runny, so I added 3T coconut flour, which helped firm it up. Even with the flour and an extra 20 minutes of baking time, the final texture was still less of a torte and more of a firm custard. It was anything close to purple, but rather a reddish brown.
My husband and I both liked the taste and texture much better the next day and cold from the fridge, rather than just baked and warm. All in all, none of us were wowed by this recipe, but I’m going to play with it because I have to disagree with the author; beets are not “less nutritious” than almonds, but provide a different type of equally necessary nutrition. I can’t eat almonds or any tree nut products too frequently or I start getting heartburn, and then coughing, then terrible hives and mouth swelling. I don’t test as allergic to any of them, but clearly my system does not want or accept the quantities that the author is able to tolerate. That’s not a criticism, but rather an observation that we all have different nutritional needs. Having recipes like this as a starting point is a great blessing. Now I’m going to use all those extra shredded beets to see if I can make another batch that we like better :)
Lauren says
This is AMAZING! I used butter instead of oil and honey instead of agave (just preference). I had some cream cheese so I made a frosting using coconut milk, honey, and stevia. It was incredible! Thanks, this is my new go-to decadent dessert!
Cynthia Hadley says
Thanks Lauren,
I will try your adjustment to this gorgeous dessert.
Cynthia Hadley
valeria says
Hi dear Elena :)
I cannot eat eggs. How would you suggest to replace them on this recipe?
All the best & Cheers!
best Protein powder for weight loss says
Wow, this post is nice, my younger sister is analyzing such things, therefore I am going to convey her.
Deborah Wilson says
I made this but strayed quite far from the original recipe. It was delicious! I was in a hurry so used drained canned beets, 1/2 the amt. of honey plus 5 drops of Sweet Leaf Vanilla Cream Stevia, 1/2 cup olive oil for the fat, 2 tsp. vanilla and 1/3 tsp. almond extract. It was very watery which worried me greatly so I added 3/4 cup of almond flour. I fully understand Elana was trying to avoid it in seeking a less expensive alternative to almond flour, but truly, it was moist and delicious and you’d just never know there was 2 1/2 cups of pureed beets in it! This summer when beets are plentiful I’ll try it with pure beets. Oh yes, it did take nearly 25 extra min. to bake (55 min. total). It was springy but, oddly, when pierced with a screwer, it bubbled–but it was cooked all the way through–very strange! Hubby loved it and I’ll definitely do this one again. Thanks Elana!
Deborah Wilson says
Just an extra note. I’ve since bloated terribly after eating just one piece of this cake and I’m wondering if it’s all the natural sugar in the beets because this is how I react to sugar. I’m also having heartburn which I rarely get.
Jelena says
Hi Deborah! You could be having heartburn from all the cacao. I love it, but that’s the case with me.