I love an excuse to try a new recipe, really I do… but when my good friend Jenny raved about a red velvet cake with made with beets, I made lots of funny faces – until I realized she was serious. Not to mention that it was her birthday, so I couldn’t possibly say no!
Jenny has been on a quest to get healthier and as her workout partner, I figured I had to oblige her request for a lighter version of this quintessential southern cake (after all she could only save up so many Weight Watchers points!)
The recipe comes from Spotted Salamander Catering in Columbia, SC who introduced Jenny to beet red velvet cupcakes at one of her recent couponing workshops. They kindly shared their recipe, so I set out to recreate it and hopefully not fail at my first encounter with beets.
I had two initial observations. (#1) Fresh beets turn everything fuschia and (#2) they smell remarkably like dirt. No worries, that must mean they are filled with antioxidants and vitamins and stuff, right? Now I know where the phrase “beet red” comes from, just be sure to wear appropriately colored clothing!
As I always do when trying a new recipe, I did some pre-baking research and found lots of details and variations of beet red velvet cake. This post in particular highlighted the effect of pH on the color of the final cake and the chemical engineering nerd in me couldn’t resist an experiment of my own. Beets are naturally red from betalains, compounds whose color is very sensitive to temperature, pH and moisture.
The original recipe from Spotted Salamander really only made enough for one 9″ round cake pan, so I made two layers exactly the same way, but added lemon juice (1/4 c.) to one to see if it resulted in a brighter red cake. (if you stare at the picture below long enough you’ll notice the top layer is darker brown and the bottom layer with lemon juice retained a more reddish tone.. too bad I didn’t have any litmus paper on hand!)
The icing on the cake (heh) is that I reserved some of the beet juice to tint the cream cheese icing on the cake. No Red #40 here! When I’m piping words I like to print out the size and spacing of the text as a guide and then freehand it. This font is Minya Nouvelle for anyone interested.
And of course you need the action shot of the birthday girl blowing out quite a few glowing candles 🙂 The cake was really delicious and thankfully didn’t taste (or smell) like beets at all!
Here’s the full recipe from the Spotted Salamander with my notes added in blue:
Red Velvet With Beets
(yields one 9″ round layer)
¾ c. pureed beets (I roasted them at 350 for 30 min adding 1/2 c. of water to the pan after 10 min)
½ c. oil
¼ c. milk
1 tsp. plain yogurt (this is a strangely small amount to me)
½ tsp. balsamic vinegar
2 eggs
¾ c. flour
⅔ c. sugar (or Splenda)
½ c. dutch cocoa (I used Ghirardelli unsweetened baking cocoa)
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together all of the dry ingredients and set aside. Blend
the wet ingredients until uniform.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and stir until combined.
Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick in the center of the center comes out clean. (mine took closer to 25 min in a 9″ round). Cool before icing.
Cream Cheese Frosting
I made a standard cream cheese frosting with confectioners sugar, but Spotted Salamander suggested using Splenda.
3 blocks cream cheese (8 oz each)
2 sticks unsalted butter
¼ tsp. salt
16 oz confectioners sugar
1 tbsp. vanilla extract (or vanilla bean paste!)
Cream together the cream cheese and butter at room temperature. Add the salt and sugar and whip until light and fluffy. Stir in the vanilla. Frost your cooled cake and sprinkle sides with chopped pecans for garnish if desired.
Update: If you’d like to know more about the science and history of Red Velvet Cake, check out my guest post on ChEnected.
I didn’t know you were that close of friend to Jenny from SouthernSavers. ;)) Great job on the cake!! <3 to you and Jas!
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! Red velvet is one of my top favorites; I cannot wait to try this out. A couple questions: 1. Did you compare the flavor of the two layers? Did the addition of lemon juice make it taste better, worse, or the same? 2. Jenny posted that she had tried the cake at a catered event; did Spotted Salamander use Splenda for the icing on that cake? And if so, how did it taste compared to regular cream cheese icing? Thanks!!
Curious about the lemon juice addition. Did you have to adjust any of the other ingredients since you added extra liquid? Did the lemon juice affect the flavor?
I definitely want to try this; I don’t make red velvet because of the food coloring.
Does this work with canned beets?
I would also like to know if this can be accomplished with canned beets. I never had Red Velvet on my cake list because I HATE using dyes, but it is so popular and most people don’t care that it has dyes in it. I have been trying to experiment with different natural alternatives. So far, this recipe seems to be the best, but I have a friend that grows her own beets and cans them, so I was wondering if I would get the same result using those.
could not get to print out receipe is this me or you
Thanks Trisha
I have honestly never served my family beets. Ever since elementary school, I have been turned off. I will try this recipe. It helps that I can hide them from myself. Thank you so much.
That seems like a high ratio of cream cheese and butter to confectioners sugar to me. I’ve made cream cheese frosting for years and 1 8oz. block to 1 stick of butter, and one 16 oz box of confectioners sugar always made enough to ice one triple layer 8 in. round carrot cake. I use the recipe from Southern Living. It’s spreadable, but also stiff enough to pipe a border with a pastry bag. The above recipe seemed pretty healthy until you added 2 sticks of butter into the equation.
Incredible!!! Love the pics and LOVE how you detailed how to make it! Thank you!! I might just try it (maybe sneak it in for the kid’s bday parties?! hmmm…lol)
Very interesting read….I would have NEVER thought of beets in a cake, but it sounds like it turned out to be delicious! I’d love to make for my kiddos and then tell them AFTER they ate it what was in it! 🙂
Thanks for sharing!
this looks awesome!! how do you think this would turn out in cupcake form?
red velvet cake from beets
Mmm…The BakeCaker did it again. It was such a good cake!
Red Velvet Cake is so beautiful… using beets instead of artificial colors is such a great idea (and a great way to sneak some beets into one’s diet- I happen to love beets, though…)
And now, to veganize it!
Awesome! I would love to try it! Thank you so much for the recipe. I’ve been looking for Red Velvet cake recipe for my son’s Birthday. I would not tell him about beets though lol.
Your blog is lovely.
Is there a substitute for the balsamic vinegar? I am a allergic to grapes and it is made with wine. Does the lemon juice do the job there? Thanks!
COULD YOU NOT USE THE PLAIN CANNED BEETS? THEY ARE ONLY PACKED IN WATER?
Thank you for sharing this recipe and tips with us. I have never heard of this! I can’t wait to give it a try. 🙂
Beautiful!! I will definitely try this since one of my daughters is very allergic to food dyes, especially red. One questions–did you just add 1/4 cup lemon juice, or did it substitute for some of the other liquid?
This is fantastic! I’m going to enjoy trying this recipe. I tried one last year and didn’t like the results. It DID taste a bit like beets, and I’m not sure I pureed them enough either. Thank you so much for sharing this. The finished product was just beautiful with the perfectly done lettering and the pecans. Great job!
Do you think I could receive the same results using carob powder instead of cocoa powder?
Great Job ! Did you adjust any other liquid when you used the lemon juice and/or did you adjust sugar ? It does seem to keep the red color, to me anyways/.
Thank you! And thank you to the Spotted Salamander too! I live in Georgia and my husband loooves red velvet cake, but it’s a little far for me to order from them. 🙂
Thank you for sharing the recipe AND your research notes! I can’t wait to bake this one.
Copy and paste to print. I can’t wait to give this a try. Looks delich!!
I wanted to know if you can just double the recipe or should you make each layer seperately and can you use canned beets and like others did the lemon juice make the difference in the tast and final question would that be 1/4 c lemon juice per layer or if you double the recipe 1/2 c. I really want to try this..can’t wait!!
I use to live in Columbia and love to see the hometown girls on blogs! This is a great recipe. Thank you for sharing. It will be really interesting if you had your readers make cakes using the recipe substituting their ingredients to make it a healther version than it already is.
Hey Everybody,
Thanks for all the questions and feedback! Here are my thoughts:
Just noticed your replies to common questions, thx! : )
Thank you for sharing… I am going to make this for Easter….:)
Does anyone know the calories, carbs, and etc?
Looks like per sparkpeople.com – one cake layer divided into 8 pcs would be 211 calories per pc. That’s using splenda as a sweetener and I didn’t calculate the cream cheese frosting.
Amy, thanks so much. The last time I made red velvet cake, my grandson had a negative gastric reaction(scared the bee-jeesus out of his dad). I wonder if this one made with beets and no red dye will have the same negative GI results. Let’s hope not. His dad also is NOT a veggie eater, so this is a tricky way to get him to eat them. Also recommend Jessica Seinfeld’s Deceptively Delicious cookbook for similar veggie haters.
I made this over the weekend and it came out looking and tasting like a chocolate cake instead of red velvet. I think it has too much cocoa powder and oil. Before I added the cocoa it was the right the color but still tasted slightly like beets. When I added the cocoa powder it turned dark brown. Once baked, the cake it was a little too oily for me. My grandmother’s recipe (which is still my favorite!) has only 3 T of cocoa powder and a total of 1/2 cup crisco (no oil).
Hi Stephanie, thanks for the feedback! I agree that this red velvet is on the chocolaty side, but I love chocolate, so I really enjoyed that ;). As far as the oil goes, I’d also be interested in finding ways to reduce this. The main reason why oil is better than lard healthwise is saturated vs. unsaturated fat. I think Spotted Salamander used this much oil because they also make a Splenda version and Splenda can REALLY dry out a cake. As far as it turning brown, I’m wondering if you added the lemon juice and whether you used canned or fresh beets. My batter was still bright red when it went into the oven and darkened somewhat as it baked.
Tried the recipe this weekend. It tasted great! A few comments & questions:
First, my batter was bright red, but turned brown as it baked. I used the lemon juice. Does anyone have other suggestions for keeping the cake red?
I used sugar (not splenda). I also thought the cake was a bit oily. Next time I would like to decrease the oil and increase the yogurt. If anyone has suggestions for the right proportions, I would appreciate it!
I made cupcakes, so I could share my creation with my co-workers. My oven tends to cook slow, but they were done in about 18 minutes.
Kelli, I made them into cupcakes this weekend too for Easter. I used Splenda instead of sugar and the cupcakes were PERFECT, not oily at all. It was incredibly moist, probably the most moist cake I’ve ever made. Incredibly light & fluffy too, the frosting almost weighed them down (or maybe I just put far too much frosting on 🙂 ) Mine cooked in 15 minutes.
I cut the amount of cocoa powder down to 1/4 c after reading people’s comments that they tasted too chocolatey and did not hold their red color. Even with the additional lemon juice & reduced cocoa I had chocolate looking cupcakes. Hardly any red tinge at all.
A note for those using Splenda though – when it is batter, it will taste “diet-y”. I was worried that they were going to bake up and taste horrible because the batter tasted very artificially sweetened. Once they were baked though, they tasted exactly the same as a regular cupcake. I did not use Splenda for the frosting, and modified this frosting too since it looked very sweet. I used 1 brick of cream cheese, 2/3 stick of butter, 1 tsp vanilla extract, and about 1/3 cup confectioners sugar (I sort of eye-balled it). I got enough frosting for all 12 cupcakes with a star tip in my pastry bag (big mound of frosting), injected some directly into the cupcakes, and still had a bit left over (which we ate out of the bowl with a spoon).
Thanks for this recipe.
[…] spent the next few days reading other blogs and websites. Amy, from CakeBakery, had a recipe that was a great starting point. From her post, I could see that it could be done. Then, with the […]
[…] its unique flavor. Yet, the red food coloring (and in some cases, the red color produced by beets https://bakecakery.com/2011/03/16/red-velvet-cake-with-beets/) allows bakers worldwide to get away with the lack of a universal red velvet flavor. Even the most […]
Thanks so much for this recipe. It was great and very tasty. My 4 year old son kept asking for chocolate cake…and well, how could I resist?! 😉 I’m a baker and my recent challenge was to tackle how to NOT use food color for this cake. I agree with you on possibly incorporating more yogurt into the cake..perhaps, I will try 1/4 cup oil and replace with 1/4 cup of yogurt. I found that the oil could’ve been less. When making my cake, I used 1/4 cup buttermilk, 1 tsp vinegar, reduced cocoa to 1/4 cup, and left out the baking soda and salt altogether because I was nervous that the baking soda would further brown the color of my cake. It came out very similar in color to your top layer. I, too, love to play chemist in the kitchen, so I’m going to work on getting it redder in color. Overall, I loved it and again thank you for being selfless in your VELVET experience!!
I really think there is too much cocoa in this recipe. Red velvet cakes usually have a few teaspoons to tablespoons in the recipe. I made this tonight and cut the cocoa down by almost half and it was still very brown, with hardly any red tint left. The beets that I used I grew in my own garden and they are the reddest beets I have ever seen. They practically ooze red color and the beets blended with milk and oil was a vibrant red color so I don’t think the beets were the issue. I also added lemon juice and it did not seem to help. Next time I make this I think I will only add 1/4c for a triple batch!
Thanks for the feedback. The cocoa is one ingredient that definitely can be adjusted according to taste. As far as it affecting the color, even if you bake the cake with no cocoa, it can still take on a brown hue if the pH isn’t acidic enough. I would love to hear how you modify it and the results!
A tip for the lemon juice substitution…if you have an citric acid on hand, 1tsp citric acid = 1/4c lemon juice. Just mix it with the same amount of water so you don’t lose water content. I’ve tried it and although the beets are sour before baking I couldn’t taste any sourness afterwards!
I have searched & found many beet cake recipes. All of the chocolate ones require cooking the beets first. Many of the non-chocolate ones do not require cooking the beets forst. Is that really a necessary step? Can the raw beets be processed in a food processor (like carrots when making carrot cake?).
I’ve tried the recipe and I’m keeping it. It may not be like the usual red velvet cake where you can hardly taste the cocoa, but this one is just amazing. It’s moist and chocolatey. Tasted even better when paired with my favourite cream cheese frosting. Thanks for sharing! 😀
No one said how tasty it was. Please someone who has tried this inform. My mother is a love on beets so I would like to prepare for her.
According to http://enlightenedcooking.blogspot.com/2011/10/vegan-red-velvet-cake.html, using dutch cocoa will alter the color of the cake. Maybe you could try your lemon juice modification with non-dutch cocoa to get a brighter red.
I would never recommend splenda- it is not healthy- try honey is place of your sugar-
This recipe was vert good I used cream chees frosting as a crumb frosting – then covered with fondant
[…] finally settled on a recipe from bakecakery.com. Instead of a cake, I decided to make cupcakes instead–that way I could taste one the day […]
When did you add the lemon juice and did it effect the taste? Thanks!
You can’t taste the lemon juice at all…. or the beets for that matter. Just add it into the batter with the other liquids.
Just made these into cupcakes, got a nice deep red color using the called for cocoa and 1/4c lemon juice. I omitted the vinegar as i’m making this for soemone allergic to grapes, could that have been why they didn’t rise much, and sank when cooled? They’re tasty, but I would like them to rise more and keep their loft, and also need to puree the beets EVEN more to have them blend better. (Made 22 very small standard sized cupcakes)
This is way better than a whole bottle of food coloring :). My beets are in the blender. I wonder, can I replace the milk in the recipe with lemon juice? I totally see the color difference when you added the lemon juice. Also, I was wondering if the cocoa powder helped the red or covered it up a bit?
The cocoa powder does definitely cover up the red some and it’s a pretty chocolate-y version of red velvet so you could reduce it if you want. If you have issues with dairy, you can replace the milk, but I liked the little bit of texture/flavor it gives to the batter.
Made this recipe today, in mini cupcake size. Amazing!! Thank you so much for this easy to follow delicious post.
Wonderful recipe! I made some minor changes to get the red color.
Ingredients:
1 ¼ cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugars
2 tablespoons cocoa (Hershey cocoa powder)
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ cup beet puree (Roasted beets)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
¼ cup lime juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Lite Cool Whip for frosting – (mixed 2 tablespoons of beet puree with 16 oz. of Lite Cool Whip) – Perfect pink color for Valentines!!!
Notes – It’s on the denser side but very moist. The lime made it more acidic so it keep the color truly red. The Hershey cocoa keep the color deep red. You can taste the sourness of the lime in the cake. If you don’t like the sour taste you can add more sugar to make it sweet.
This recipe made 12 cupcakes.
Thank you for sharing your recipe!!! :-))
It should be noted that beet juice washes completely out of any and all clothing items (even a plain white cotton t-shirt.) Pretty delightful as a temporary dye, should halloween costumes require ‘blood’.
Thanks for posting this recipe. I understand the original red velvet cake recipes used beets. I make red velvet ice cream using beets and it tastes great, yes like chocolate. I hate the idea of using red food coloring in anything. I don’t cook the beets before I use them in recipes, I just put them in food processor.
How did the beets affect the taste??
thanks for this sharing this amazing recipe. First time I used this recipe exactly. Second time I made I used 1/4 cup of oil and 1/4 cup each of milk and yogurt to reduce the amount of oil and it worked perfectly for moist and soft cupcakes. I used 2 tbsp of redwine vinegar and added it while roasting the beets along with water. i was a bit nervous about the outcome but it worked out fantastic. Thanks for the inspiration.
Awesome! I love using yogurt in baked goods… great flavor and better for you!
Hey! I used your recipe as a basis for my own RVC experiements. Thank you so much! I mentioned you on my blog: http://brynncody.blogspot.com/2012/06/spoiler-you-dont-love-red-velvet-cake.html
Hi there !! Quick check…..did the beet puree stain the foodprocessor’s plastic bowl ??
thanks joan
BEAUTIFUL CAKE. I’ve been looking for a good recipe for this. will try it out this weekend!
THANKS
This is the best cake I have ever made.( I’ve been baking for over 35 yrs)
I live in UK right now, I have grown my own beetroots and I like to pickle them. I do like chocolate beetroot cake and I thought it might be worth the mention that if you boil fresh beetroot (with skins on) they slip right out of the skins after boiling them. Saves on peeling them as it appears in the picture (probably less messy too!). They are also cooked up for pureeing them too.
My son wanted to make red velvet cupcakes with fresh beets for his teachers for Christmas so we tried your recipe and they turned out fabulous!
I was curious about baking with beets, using some of it’s natural sweetness to enhance baked good.. how did this turn out?
Thank you for th post , i am making a birthday cake for my child and i have messed up 2 cakes already this time i thought id follow a pro.
[…] […]
[…] recipes is the last thing I want to do! Fortunately, I came across Bake Cakery’s post on Red Velvet Cake made with beets. This was the perfect inspiration to use beets in another ice cream recipe and in a way that will […]
Thanks for sharing this recipe cuz I have been trying to find an ‘original’ red velvet cake recipe for ages and most of them do not use beet root and comes out really dry and tasteless!! Me and my mom are going to try and bake red velvet cake using your recipe really soon!! 😀 😀
There was too much chocolate in this cake and it came out way too brown. It tasted great though. It needs less than half this amount of cocoa.
I agree that it is a very chocolatey version of Red Velvet cake! For me, the more chocolate the better though 🙂
I made this for my daughter’s 14th birthday and it tasted like beets. It was just awful. None of us could eat it.
So sorry to hear that! I’m curious if you roasted the beets ahead of time? With the 1/4 c. of chocolate and having cooked the beets, it just tasted like cake to me!
[…] adapted from BakeCakery […]
Carob: If you wish to substitute carob powder for the cocoa powder, I recommend using at least 1c of carob powder per layer (twice the cocoa powder called for above) and reducing the flour amount accordingly. (Actually, I would use at least 1.5 cups, but one might do it.) I also recommend replacing the milk and oil with yoghurt, and still adding the lemon juice; carob does not have the sharp edge of chocolate, and you really want to keep that edge in the cake.
It didnt turn out crimson red. brownish red. But I tasted the beetroot. I guess if you like beetroot you would love the cake.
Can’t you substitute applesauce for the oil? Also, maybe using cornstarch instead of soda?
Got to try this!!
Hi There, thx for your post. I wanted to ask you — you mentioned adding lemon juice, but yet your recipe did not include lemon juice. Did you decide to leave it out of the recipe for some reason? (too tangy or watery?) I have tried beets in cake previously and I could definitely taste the beets, which is fine for me (love beets) but not fine for some of our customers, so I am on the quest for a non-beet tasting version! Thought I would try yours : )
Thx again!
Thanks for sharing your recipe and the science behind it! I tried it out without the eggs so no saturated fat as well as becoming suitable for vegans! I had to play with the recipe a little to make it work that way, but I have posted it on my blog with a link to your original recipe and credit http://oaksgrow.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/red-velvet-cake-with-natural-colouring.html Thanks again for sharing!
Amy,
I tried to locate your page on the engineering website. I have a son that has Aspergers and can not eat red food coloring but LOVES red velvet cake. We are going to try the recipe for Thanksgiving. Can you send me a copy of your report that you had on the engineering site? I would really like to share it with my son.
Thank you,
Christy
Oh..I love your recipe and so much like mine. I am happy to read about the lemon juice as my cupcakes turn out dark brown ..I add a bit more cocoa than you do. I love the “earthy” chocolate flavour that the cake has with beets and chocolate. Does the pink icing taste ‘beety”?