Like most people, I don’t think my dreams exceed my capabilities. Sometimes they do, but I usually relegate those ideas to the realm of fantasy. Dreams though– real ambitions–those hit the heart like an arrow and only come to fruition as a result of careful, elegant work, persistence and world-building. And a little bit of luck. And opportunity. And maybe some inelegant toil in the trenches. I have a lot of dreams, most of them involve writing, some involve cooking, some personal, some within the law. I’m often torn as to which to pursue. This is the common plight of the person with ambitions beyond a chosen field, as I suspect many of you all have. Baking a cake like this is completely ambitious. I’m not great with mastering consistency and I’m a bit of a novice when it comes to baked goods. But with all of these paralyzing thoughts about decision-making and what’s in your control and what isn’t, baking is a happy reminder that I’m alive. I’m here and engaging with the challenges. And red velvet cake makes it better…even if you don’t get it right on the first try, like me.
Red velvet cake is my favorite. I love chocolate, don’t get me wrong, but there’s something about a moist red velvet cake that just feels classic, especially when its deep ruby color comes from the earth. Beetroot is the star here. Though the beet taste is negligible, it makes its presence known through its stunning beauty alone. Red velvet. The name itself invokes images of rich, royal fabric, regal and smooth to the touch. A perfect red velvet cake is moist and sweet, but not saccharine sweet. This cake achieves that and more.
Importantly, the beets are a key step here. Don’t cut corners even though it’s a little bit of a pain. You will have a lot of left over beet puree, perfect for my absolute favorite Spanish recipe on the blog, beet and goat cheese croquettes over salmorejo Cordobes (croquetas de remolacha y queso de cabra)! I took my recipe and inspiration for this cake from Beth at Local Milk. I look forward to all of her posts and her approach to each day is refreshing. I knew when I saw this cake of hers I would have to make it. I didn’t alter much, although I used Greek yogurt instead of buttermilk (against her specific advice and instruction) and I boiled the beets over the stove instead of roasting them with water in the oven. I also used canola oil instead of coconut oil. So with a little hard work, a little dreaming, a little persistence, I actually created my favorite dessert in my own oven. Celebrate the small victories. It’ll open your eyes to realizing the big ones.
Adapted from Beth at Local Milk as published on Free People.
Yields 2 small bundts or one 2 layer 8” cake or about 20 cupcakes
Ingredients:
Cake:
- 2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 2 Tbsp raw cacao or unprocessed cocoa powder (non–alkalized)
- 1/3 + 1/4 cup coconut oil (refined)(I used canola), at room temp
- 4 Tbsp unsalted butter, at room temp
- 1 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 eggs, room temp
- 1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp reduced beet puree (fully cool)
- 2.5 tsp champagne vinegar (or other white vinegar)
- 180 g (3/4 cup) buttermilk (or Greek yogurt), at room temp
goat cheese glaze:
- 8 oz goat cheese, at room temp
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tsp thyme, finely minced & packed
beet puree:
- 3 small beets or 2 medium
- 1/2 cup water + 1/4 cup water
Directions:
Make Beet PureE
I actually boiled my beets for about 20 minutes until cooked through and used a paper towel to remove the skin then cut into chunks and combined in a mini food processor with a little less than 1/2 cup water. But you can also…Heat oven to 400°F. Wash beets thoroughly, scrubbing to remove any dirt. Line a small baking dish with tin foil, place beets along with water in the dish. Cover tightly with additional foil and bake for one hour or until beets are completely tender when pierced. Using a paper towel and being careful to not burn yourself, wipe off the skin—it’ll come right off! Cut beets in to chunks. Place beets along with the left over beet water in the bottom of the pan and the additional 1/4 cup of water into a food processor or blender….However you get there the next step is to puree completely until absolutely no lumps remain. Press this puree through a sieve, setting aside any pulp that does not pass through for the croquetas and into a small sauce pan. Simmer the beet puree until reduced, about ten minutes. You should have a little over 1/4 cup by the end. Place reduced beet puree in a bowl and set aside to cool completely while you make your cake.
Make Cake
Heat oven to 350°F. Grease cake tin of your choice thoroughly with butter or organic cooking spray. If using traditional round tins, line bottom with parchment after greasing and then grease parchment.
In a medium bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, and cocoa to combine thoroughly.
In the bowl of a stand mixer cream oil, butter, salt, and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes, stopping to scrape down the bowl at the half way mark. (I don’t have a mixer so I just used my good old fashioned muscles). With the mixer on low, add the vanilla and then add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl between each addition. Mix until smooth and thoroughly combined. Scrape down bowl again, and add in beet puree and vinegar. Mix to combine thoroughly on low, again scraping down the bowl as needed.
With the mixer on low, add in the flour and buttermilk (or yogurt) in three additions, alternating between the two, beginning with flour and ending on buttermilk and scraping down the bowl, making sure to scrape up the very bottom, as needed. Once just combined remove bowl from mixer and give it a stir gently with your spatula just to make sure it’s thoroughly mixed.
Fill cake tins no more than 1/2-3/4 the way full. Bake for 25-35 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean when inserted in multiple places in the cake. Mine took about 30 minutes.
When done, remove cake from oven and allow to cool in tin on a rack for about 5-10 minutes. Turn cake out onto a plate and allow to cool fully before icing…or it will melt. If you only want a light glaze, you can put your icing on a warm cake, which is what I do. But if you want a thicker icing, definitely wait until totally cool!
While the cake cools…
make the glaze:
In a medium bowl whisk the powdered sugar and thyme into the goat cheese. It will turn into an icing consistency without any additional liquid added. Who knew it was that easy?
Red Velvet Cake DOES make everything better! Great recipe.
🙂 Thanks.
I’ve tried neither beetroot nor bundt cake but really want to, and now I can do both at the same time 🙂 I love you photos, and the icing sounds so unusual. In fact,the whole recipe is a gorgeous mix of sweet and savoury – it must have been a divine taste sensation!
Thanks, Trixie. I’m surprised! You’re such a good baker. The icing was actually a bit savory for my taste so next time I’ll use cream cheese and maybe leave out the herbs, but it was definitely a cool twist on a classic and I found myself kind of craving it the next day.
Amanda, I really enjoy your writing, not only for the delicious stories you craft around food, but also for the perspectives you offer on life in general. I am glad you achieved the making of your favorite red velvet cake to your likeness—it is important to create what we love (and then to eat it), is it not? Red velvet was my wedding cake, and I mean to recreate it for my anniversary this summer. I am sure my husband would much prefer your beetroot red velvet to the traditional (he does not like sugary cakes)–thanks for the recipe!
Thanks for your kind comment, Ngan. That’s so cool that you had a red velvet wedding cake! I would have loved that. I went for chocolate cannolli cream. I wouldn’t even attempt that. As it was, this one took a couple of tries. I can’t rival the bakeries, but this was pretty darn good.
Excellent – I bet you had hands like lady Macbeth afterwards 😉
Totally. And a bloody knife and all over the floor too. I actually called my husband in to look at the murder scene.
ROFL 🙂
I have wanted to try a beet red velvet recipe for a long time…but I almost always just default to red food coloring! This post has inspired me though, I vow that the next red velvet cake I make will be naturally colored!! Thanks for inspiration 😀
Wow, I’m impressed that you actually make red velvet cakes more than once 🙂 It’s definitely an effort, but so worth it. Thanks for your comment.
Wow that looks amazing. I really like the idea of the goats cheese and thyme icing, one to try!
Thanks! It is definitely different. I’d say it’s strong for most people’s taste, but it added a cool flavor. Worth a shot.
Great recipe! I love red velvet cake. The glaze sounds fabulous!
Thanks. It really was a wonder this turned out decently for me!
you write beautifully and those photos are WOW. Who know beet juice stains could be so pretty? And my favorite line: “baking is a happy reminder that I’m alive” Yes! Thanks for sharing your adventure.
Thanks, Liz. I really appreciate your kind words. Beet juice is oddly pretty, especially all over your hands and the floor 🙂
ooooh ooooh interesting – although the cream cheese on top looks as though it has herbs in it and that cannot be right can it?? Beet and goats cheese croquettes however sound perfect too. If only I were not stuck on a tuna fish and salad diet right now (based on opportunity the salad bar, time and current favourites, and the absence of time to cook.
It does have herbs in it. It makes for a interesting glaze. I may have gone a little wild with the thyme. I’m a big fan of tuna and salad 🙂 I actually finished baking this at midnight. I never have time, but it was a challenge for myself!
aha – that explains it for me red velvet was sweet and because you wrote not overly sweet I assumed it was still sweet. Interesting thx for responding and happy experimenting
Looks divine Amanda! Love your use of beet juice to replace the icky red food coloring. Your photos, once again, are beautiful!
Thanks so much, Nancy!
My husband loves red velvet cake and the idea of making it with natural red coloring than artifical is dye is very appealing. A bit more work , but certainly worth the effort. Your cake has great height – beautiful.
FYI I keep a box of surgical gloves in my pantry for peeling beets,cutting chilis, etc.
Brilliant about the gloves. You should have seen my hands! And I can’t tell you how many times I have trouble sleeping after cutting up chilis because my hands are on fire! Red velvet is my fave, but I hate food coloring. I’d been meaning to do this for a while.
This cake is so gorgeous, love the icing, sugar and thyme. Great tips too!
Thanks so much, Cheri! 🙂
Not only does this look delicious, but this post is beautifully written!!
Gracias amiguis. It means a lot coming from someone as insightful and self reflective as yourself.
Red velvet cake is beginning to properly take off over here now. I don’t really ‘get’ it – in the sense of putting food colouring in a cake mixture, just not my thing. Naturally coloured with glorious beetroot however is a different thing! This cake sounds so interesting – I’ve never had goaty icing, but I’d definitely give it a try, especially if it were brunchy time. Good job with the cake and great post!
Thanks so much. I should look into its history. I really am wondering where this whole idea started now.
Stunning – hope you had rubber gloves on! Oops just saw your comments to Mad Dog, I guess you didn’t 😉
Ha! Thanks. Lesson learned though 🙂
Small victories add up to big ones…congratulations on baking a beautiful cake. 🙂
Thanks so much, Karen. I agree with you 🙂
Another amazing cake for me to try. Wow, this looks *outstanding*. Amanda, I often use beets and goat cheese on a salad, but I have never thought to combine the two into a moist, flavorful and tender cake. These photos just sell it… scrum-didily-umptious!!!!!!!
Thanks, Shanna. You are so sweet. I do like the bet and goat cheese combo for salads. I still think in a purist when it comes to the cake though. Cream cheese may still be my fav.
There is nothing like a cream cheese icing… I could take a bath in that stuff. Anything would be great in the cake (I have bookmarked the recipe!!!).
I astound people with my chocolate beet cake. It is just the tastiest thing ever and filled with nutrition. I hope people try your recipe, because once they do, they’ll never make another kind of cake again 🙂 l. The sugar is the only unhealthy ingredient, but you do need a sweetener. Last time out I used just 1 cup of the sweet white poison and topped up with stevia. (You can tell that I have no love for granulated sugar – but sometimes you need a little just for its crystalline structure!).
I totally agree with you. Boy do I want to try yours now! I like your substitution. It is hard to get rid of the granulated sugar all together though. Thanks for the comment and the tip!
I know – you need a little sugar in a cake. I made it the other day, though, with 1 cup of granulated sugar and 1/2 cup stevia sugar – it came out fine – no-one noticed the stevia and it was plenty sweet enough 🙂
I must make this cake. The cake itself is so wonderful and to think of a goat cheese and thyme glaze creates a sense of urgency for me to collect the ingredients right away. And my favorite cake shape is using a bundt pan. Lovely Amanda. Thank you for making it and sharing it with us. I actually have everything on hand (except goat cheese), including buttermilk which I usually NEVER have!
Wow in so impressed. If you do it let me know how it turns out. I’d love to know what you think of the combos. I think my perfect cane would sick with cream cheese but still have only a tiny hint of thyme. I’ll have to try again. I’ve never actually made a bundt cake before this but I was enamored with the pan shape. It got lost a little on this one so on my next try I’ll see if I can get those pretty angles.
Even though I’m not so keen on beetroot I’m definitely less keen on cochineal! So I’d happily grab a slice of yours. Not so the other. And I like the idea of thyme leaves in the glaze. Partly as they’re usually too saccharine for my liking.
I totally agree with you about too sweet. I also only recently learned to appreciate beets. This one combines a little old and a little new in a way I think we both would like!
Amanda, this is just plain stunning! I adore anything with beets, and the fact that this is cake with a goat cheese glaze has my taste buds dancing thinking about it. Pure indulgence.
Thanks, Hannah. I’ve become a recent convert to beets. I don’t see why everyone doesn’t use then for red velvet. So good!
I love that you used the natural color of beets to make this red velvet cake. The goat cheese is an interesting addition too!
Thanks, Mary Frances. Interesting is the word. I thought the beet and goat cheese combo goes well in nature, but I still think cream cheese and red velvet is the way to go. 🙂
I have to agree with Mary Frances 🙂 I love that you used beetroot instead of doing it with food coloring – it’s really much more natural and I’m sure it adds a really nice flavor to the cake, especially in combination with the goat’s cheese 🙂
Thanks for your comment. The flavor of the cake doesn’t change too much, but it really is so worth it instead of using coloring. So worth it!
I love beets and goat cheese, but I hardly imagine how it tastes in a cake? Looks really delicious! The cake itself is not very sweet?
It tastes just like a red velvet cake made without beets. The beets are for color more than taste. It’s not too sweet, but moist and yummy. You might like it. Thanks for stopping by!
i’ve never cooked with beetroots in a cake – but what a delicious cake it looks like its turned out to be! yum!!
just stumbled across your blog and simply love it.
looking forward to future posts!
hope your having a great week 🙂
Daisy and the Fox
http://www.daisyandthefox.wordpress.com
Thanks for the comment! It really was a pretty good cake! So glad you found me so that I could find you 🙂 Enjoy your week too!
My son is insisting on a red velvet cake for his 8th birthday so I have been googling red velvet bundt cakes with beetroot. (He is a Waldorf school child so don’t want to use 2 tablespoons of red dye!!!). So this seems to be the best recipe so far I have stumbled across. I will probably use normal cream cheese “frosting” as the Americans call it, and will make 2 cakes to form the number 8. I will report back on the outcome 😉
Oh awesome. You should use regular cream cheese frosting. It tastes better. This cake is good. The beats add a nice color. Good luck with it! Enjoy.