Have Your Cake...

...and eat your veggies too! Say what?? Sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself. I've just been soooo excited about this post!! How's your week going?? If its been touch and go, I've got good news; tomorrow is Friday! That makes everything a little bit better :)

Okay, enough postponing it. Time to share my newest recipe! I got the recipe from this cute blog, who found the recipe originally from this video. I snatched a few beets from my parents' house (oops, they weren't in the kitchen at the moment) and my pursuit for a healthified beet cake began! I looked at loads of recipes and was disappointed to find that none of them made the cake recipe any healthier, they just tossed in some beets for extra flavor. Laaaame. I say, if you're going to add veggies to something, you mind as well make the whole thing healthier!

I spent my whole break (I'm referencing my awkward hour-and-a-half afternoon gap between training sessions) the other day concocting this, and I am so pleased with the results! This was my first complete rewrite of a cake recipe, so I was a little nervous, but I managed to pull it off! True to the countless recipes I read, beets and chocolate really are lovely complements to each other :) If you aren't a beet lover, have no fear, it doesn't taste like beets! Riley couldn't guess the secret ingredient, teehee :) The beets add an indescribable extra flavor to the cake that makes the chocolate part come out and taste even better. I'm not sure how else to describe it, you'll just have to make one to understand ;)

My healthified recipe includes no added unnatural sugar (with the exception of the added sugars coming from the chocolate, of course) and still manages to be perfectly moist, cake-y and scrumptious (here's a little close-up so you can tell)!

Because this is still cake, despite being healthified, it has sugars and fats and such to make it something to be enjoyed as a treat/dessert and still won't cut it for breakfast! However, it boasts quite a bit of fiber and protein for a cake and you might find yourself feeling much more full and satisfied after a piece than you normally would post-cake eating. I've gone on too long; here's the recipe!! :)

Healthified Chocolate Beet Cake 

Makes 2 8-inch round cakes, 1 8-inch square cake (baking dish) or 1 8-inch and 1 little 16-ounce round Pyrex dish (that's if you're silly like me and forgot you don't have the round cake one!)

Serves: 12

Ingredients:

4 roasted, pureed beets (2 cups pureed)

2 tbsp semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted (you could use milk or dark chocolate instead!)

1 ¾ cup whole wheat pastry flour (I've not tried this with gluten-free but would love to hear if it works!)

2 tbsp cocoa powder

2 tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

½ cup unsweetened applesauce

½ cup Fage 0% greek yogurt

½ cup Truvia for baking

2 tbsp light agave nectar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

tiny bit of powdered sugar for the top (optional)

Directions:

Grease and flour your cake pan(s), and preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

To roast beets, either wash and wrap in tinfoil to bake for an hour at 425 degrees F or wash and boil for 30-45 minutes, until you can stab them with a fork and they are soft in the middle (I chose the latter). Toss them into the food processor with a little of the bright pink water they boiled in and puree them until all the chunks are gone! Bring an inch of water to a boil and pour your chocolate chips in a small bowl to set in the boiling water to melt (or if you're good enough, melt them in the microwave. I'm just bad at it and usually burn them).

In a mixing bowl, mix the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.

In your mixer, beat the applesauce, greek yogurt, truvia and agave nectar together until fluffy-ish. Add the egg, then the pretty pink beets, chocolate and vanilla. Slowly add the flour mixture until it is combined and looks batter-y (I left a tiny bit of my flour mixture out because it looked perfect before I finished pouring it all in. Go with your gut on this part). You'll probs have to scrape down the sides of the bowl a few times, but use a cute spatula and it makes it fun (mine has a cupcake on it...)! :)

Pour the batter into your cake pan and pop it in the oven! Bake for 40-45 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean from the middle. Feel free to go for a little run while its baking; the delicious smell is a wonderful welcome when you walk back in the door! :)

Let it cool then dust the top with your powdered sugar. Slice and enjoy! :)

Nutrition per slice: 112.5 calories; 1.5 grams fat (.6 g saturated); 6.6 grams sugar; 3.6 g fiber; 3.9 g protein

Soooo yummy :)

I hope you get the chance to whip one of these up and see what you think! I was so excited and pleased with this recipe, I hope you will be too!! :)

I'll be back with a yoga-infused workout for next time as a tribute to my love for my new hot power yoga place close to me! Check it out :) It is my bed time, have an amazing Friday tomorrow! Sweet dreams :)

--KQ