Chocolate Cake (with Beets)

This cake is the real deal: chocoately, moist, fluffy, and healthy. Yes, healthy, for a number of reasons. First, there isn't a whole lot of sweetner in here, as compared with most other chocolate cakes out there. Second, it's packed with protein and fiber, thanks to almond flour. And lastly (my favorite part), there are vegetables baked right on in: beets! I recreated Jessica Seinfeld's chocolate cake recipe from her Deceptively Delicious cookbook to be both gluten and sugar free.

If you haven't read her cookbook, I encourage you to grab a copy at your local library and read about her system of keeping pureed veggies and fruits on hand all the time, allowing you to instantly blitz any recipe with nutrients. Then peruse through her fun and creative array of recipes and find a few to try using purees.

I started keeping purees on hand when my oldest was a baby, to use as baby food, and even after he was off of purees and onto solids, I would still keep purees in my freezer and add them to all sorts meals. (Four years and another baby later and you'll still find purees in my freezer!)

I use a bit of a different system than Jessica. Instead of storing purees in plastic bags in the freezer, I freeze my purees in ice cube trays; once frozen, I pop them out and store in a plastic bag, allowing me to have 2 tablespoons of any given puree at any given time (see Ruth Yaron's Super Baby Foods for this method).

This week I was cleaning my freezer and stumbled upon some pureed beets that had been in there for a while. I pulled them out to de-thaw in my fridge for a few days, not really knowing what I was going to do with them at the time. When the baking (and chocolate) urge struck later on in the week, I knew I needed a chocolate cake, so into the cake the beets went!

I do have to warn you though: when you pour the batter into the pan before baking, it will be a nice, deep pinkish color. But once it is baked and cooled, it takes on its natural dark chocolately color that we all expect from chocolate cake, allowing you to be a bit sneaky when feeding this to your kiddos and hubbies alike. I admit, I do love the element of surprise on people's faces when, after they've finished their serving, they find out it has unexpected veggies in it.

Tell me about your experience with pureed fruits and veggies and adding them "deceptively" to other dishes by leaving a comment below...


Chocolate Cake (with Beets)

Dry Ingredients:

2 cups almond flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 tablespoons Xylosweet
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch salt
2 tablespoons powdered Xylosweet or sugar (optional)

Wet Ingredients:

3 eggs

1/3 cup pureed beets

1/3 cup + 2 tablespoons coconut oil

1/4 cup agave

1/4 cup almond (or other) milk

5 drops liquid stevia (optional)

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 inch round cake pan with coconut oil. 

Combine dry ingredients in large bowl. 

Whisk eggs in a separate bowl. Add beets. Melt coconut oil and add to bowl along with the rest of the ingredients (through vanilla). 

Add wet ingredients to dry and stir to incorporate, getting rid of most lumps (a few lumps are ok). 

Pour into prepared cake pan and bake for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool on a wire rack for 15-20 minutes. Sprinkle powdered Xylosweet or sugar over the top if using. 

Tastes amazing with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!