Chocolate Beet Cake with Orange
Looking for something new to make with all those beets? How about making Chocolate Beet Cake scented with fresh orange? It’s a moist Bundt cake made with pureed roasted beets, fresh orange and lots of warm spice. As if that’s not enough, it’s finished with luscious chocolate orange glaze.
Honestly, I’d never really cooked with beets until I joined a co-op farm. With our farm share we get whatever the farmer grows that year, and every year we get lots of beets, mostly in the spring and fall.
I’ve tried a lot of great beet recipes over the years, but my favorite is a simple roasted beet salad with orange segments and goat cheese.
That salad was the inspiration for the flavors in this Chocolate Beet Cake. If beets and oranges taste so great together in a salad, they should taste great together in a cake, right? Also, chocolate and orange are fantastic flavor partners.
How to make the best ever Chocolate Beet Cake
- Adding a hint of orange makes this cake extra special. There are many, many, Chocolate Beet Bundt Cake recipes out there, but not many that up the flavor with fresh orange.
- This recipe has lots of beet puree for extra moisture and flavor.
- Roast the beets instead of boiling them. Roasting the beets is a hands-off process and it concentrates the flavor. You can roast the beets several days ahead and refrigerate them until you’re ready to make the batter.
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To roast the beets, wash the beets and trim the roots and stem. Wrap the beets in foil and roast at 350°F for about 1 hour or until tender. Allow the beets to cool in the foil. Use a paring knife to peel the skin from the cooled beets.
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This batter can easily be mixed by hand if you don’t have a mixer. Use a hand whisk to emulsify the eggs/oil/sugar.
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The glaze can be made ahead and re-warmed before glazing the cake.
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Glaze the cake with a luscious chocolate orange ganache for a decadent finish.
Scroll through the step by step photos to see how to make Chocolate Beet Cake with Orange Glaze:
This is a truly fabulous cake. If you really know it’s there and look for it you can taste just a hint of beet earthiness.
If you’ve got beets in the back of the crisper drawer in your refrigerator, why not dig them out and give this Chocolate Orange Beet Cake recipe a try?
If you want to try a really unusual recipe using beets, make this wonderful Golden Beet Orange Cake for a real treat.
If you love this recipe as much as I do, I’d really appreciate a 5-star review!
Chocolate Beet Cake with Chocolate Orange Glaze
Ingredients
Cake Batter
- 8 oz red beets (roasted and peeled (see note))
- 1 orange (finely grated zest and juice)
- 18 oz brown sugar (2 ¼ cups)
- 12 oz vegetable oil (1 ½ cups)
- 4 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon orange extract
- 5 oz cake flour (1 cup plus 2 tablespoons, see note)
- 5 oz all purpose flour (1 cup)
- 1 oz dutch process cocoa powder (¼ cup)
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1½ teaspoons ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon table salt
Chocolate Orange Glaze
- 8 oz semi-sweet chocolate (chopped)
- 4 oz unsalted butter (cut into 1″ chunks)
- 1 orange (finely grated zest)
- 4 oz corn syrup (⅓ cup)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon orange extract
Instructions
- Thoroughly butter and flour a 12 cup Bundt pan. Preheat the oven to 350 °F.
Cake Batter
- In a food processor or blender, puree 8 oz red beets (roasted) with the finely grated zest and juice from 1 orange. You should have 1½ cups of puree (add orange juice to bring it up to 1½ cups if needed).
- Combine 18 oz brown sugar,12 oz vegetable oil, 4 large eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and ½ teaspoon orange extract in a mixer bowl (see note). Beat on medium low for 1 minute to emulsify the oil and eggs.
- Sift 5 oz cake flour, 5 oz all purpose flour, 1 oz dutch process cocoa powder, 2 teaspoons baking soda,1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon, 1½ teaspoons ground ginger, ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg, ½ teaspoon ground cloves, and ½ teaspoon table salt into a medium bowl and then whisk them together to evenly distribute the spices cocoa and baking soda.
- With the mixer running on low speed, alternate adding the dry ingredients and the beet puree to the egg mixture. Scrape the bowl between additions.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until the center springs back when lightly pressed or a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs, about 45 minutes.
- Cool for 10 minutes in the pan before inverting onto a cooling rack. Cool to room temperature. While the cake is baking, make the glaze.
Chocolate Orange Glaze
- Combine 8 oz semi-sweet chocolate, 4 oz unsalted butter and finely grated zest from 1 orange in a microwave safe bowl.
- Microwave in 1 minute increments (stirring between increments) until the chocolate is completely melted.
- Add 4 oz corn syrup, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and ¼ teaspoon orange extract. Stir until smooth and glossy.
Finish the cake
- Place the cooled cake on a rack over a clean sheet pan. Pour the glaze over the cake to completely cover (you can scoop up the drips from the sheet pan and cover any gaps in the coating.
- Allow the glaze to set before transferring the cake to a serving platter.
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Notes
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I was skeptical when I read the name but I’m always up for new types of recipes. My oh my!! The cake was an absolute hit with my family! It’s so so soft and moist. You don’t need anything else with it! And best of all you don’t get the smell of beets in the cake which was my initial worry. I did soak the cake a bit with orange juice which intensified the flavour.
I’m definitely making this again and again!
The texture of your cake looks perfect!
There’s a local juicer at the farmer’s market and my favorite combination is beet & orange. Can’t wait to try this chocolate cake!
Thanks, Lauren.
I love the idea of using beets!
Thanks, Anne.
That is one beautiful cake! Even the beet puree looks tasty to me. I am a hopeless baker but a true lover of baked goods. I could and probably would eat this whole thing. Great flavor combination too!
Thanks, Denise. I would eat a bowl of the beet puree and enjoy every bite.
Wow, this cake looks amazing! I love the addition of beets.
Thanks, Kate!
I love this idea! Can’t wait to give it a try!
Thanks!!
Beet puree! Pure genius. The cake looks so moist and tasty! Well done.
Thanks, Matt!
Chocolate and beets are one of my favorite combos. I love you added orange to it. Does this mean the cake is healthy????
I’ve completely convinced myself of the “healthiness” of this cake!
This cake looks so amazing. I love all of these flavors!!
Thanks, Mindy.
Looks so moist and decadent! Nettie
Thanks, Nettie!
I love chocolate and beet together and chocolate and orange is common too but haven’t tried all three – looks tasty!
Thanks Caroline.
I love including vegetables in baked goods. I also love how you incorporated orange juice with the roasted beets. Definitely pinning (and flipping) to try. Wonderful post! Thanks for sharing ♥
Thanks, Maria.
I just made a chocolate beet cake for another event that I was in . I absolutely love the idea of adding orange to it. YUM
It really is a great flavor combination, Wendy.
Ditto to what Liz said! This is a gorgeous cake, Eileen. It makes complete sense that orange – a citrus – would brighten up the beauty made with lovely beets =) I’m thinking golden beets would be nice, too =)
I agree, golden beets would be great.
What a gorgeous cake! SO moist and beautiful!!
Thanks, Liz.
Beet cake is one of the best cakes!
I agree! And you can pretend it’s healthy.
I agree, roasting beets is the way to go. All these flavors together sound like one delicious cake!
Thanks, Cindy.