Sugar Free Chocolate & Beetroot Fudge Cake
What if I told you I had a chocolate cake recipe for you that would be perfect for Easter that can be made entirely in one blender and a cake tin, is sugar free, super fudgy and rich, completely delicious, sweet, cheap to make, easy to decorate and even contains a serve of vegetables that you simply cannot taste?
I know, can’t be done, right?
Except that it can. This is it.
Fudgy, rich, decadent, sweet, super-chocolatey. And packed with antioxidants, cancer-beating properties, wholegrains, fibre, magnesium-rich cacao and vitamin C. Oh, and it’s vegan. Yeah, that’s right, this cake is actually good for you. Well, as long as you are not eating the whole thing in one go that is! Moderation is key, right?
To be honest, it is actually hard to eat too much of this cake, simply because it is so so rich. You cannot taste the beetroot at all, but it lends a fudgy richness to the cake that means that, while the delicious taste makes it very more-ish, it is a struggle to eat lots of the cake in one go.
Not to mention this cake is so incredibly simple and foolproof to make that my 3-and-a-half-year-old can make it all herself if I pre-measure the ingredients out for her. Keep an eye on your young children around the blades in the mixer, but if you measure everything out for them, they can just dump it in and press the button to mix it all together for you themselves.
If you have some sugar free and/or vegetables in sweet things skeptics in the house then shh, just tell them at the end when they’ve licked their plates clean. 😉
Seriously, you simply cannot lose with this cake. It is most definitely what my family will be eating this Easter!
Happy Easter everybody! Hope it is a lovely one without too many sugar highs and crashes, but also with a little indulgence here and there, because there’s nothing wrong with a little treat every now and then.
A one bowl, cheap, quick and incredibly easy recipe that tastes completely sweet, fudgy, rich and delicious but is sugar free and even contains some vegetables! Packed with goodness but without any beetroot flavour, this is the perfect healthy Easter treat to enjoy together this holiday.
- 125 ml (1/2 cup) olive oil (not extra virgin*)
- 200 g (7oz) cooked peeled beetroot (you can buy a pack pre-cooked or roast raw ones yourself at 220C/425F/gas 7 for about 45 mins-1 hour then peel and use - they would be more nutritious but means the extra faff!)
- 150 g (3/4 cup) xylitol (if you are used to shop-bought sugary cakes, I recommend adding a little more sweetener - I would use a few drops of liquid stevia**, but you could add more xylitol if you prefer)
- 200 g (1 cup) plain full-fat natural yogurt (or unsweetened coconut yogurt for vegan)
- 2 tsp sugar free vanilla extract
- pinch of sea salt (about 1/4 tsp)
- 200 g (2 cups) wholemeal spelt flour (or wholewheat flour)
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 50 g (1/2 cup) cacao powder
- creme fraiche and fresh fruit, to serve (edible flowers and/or non-edible Easter decorations can look lovely, too!)
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Preheat oven to 180C/350F/gas 4. Grease and line a 6" (15cm) deep cake tin (you can also make this in an 8" (20cm) cake tin, but it won't be as tall a cake and you may need to reduce the baking time).
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Blitz the olive oil, beetroot and xylitol in a food processor until smooth. Add the rest of the cake ingredients and pulse until combined as a smooth batter. Pour into the prepared cake tin and bake in the preheated oven for 40-50 mins, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool*** and serve topped with creme fraiche, fresh fruit and/or edible flowers or Easter decorations.
* I have not tested this with extra virgin olive oil as I feel the flavour would potentially be a bit strong and come through. However, if you don't mind the flavour in cake, it could be delicious and contain even more health benefits!
**You can get liquid stevia here. I bought mine almost two years ago and am still using it, as you only need a drop or two at a time to sweeten things since it is 300 times sweeter than sugar.
***Although delicious (and the least beetroot-y) cold, our favourite way to have this is cooled on the top but still ever so slightly warm on the inside. It makes the cake super fudgy. With a deep 6" cake, we left it to cool for about 20-30 mins to have it still be slightly warm in the centre.
I just made this for my mum as she is trying to eat healthier, but is struggling to give up cake. It turned out pretty well – not too sweet, but tastes great. It wasn’t that chocolatey, perhaps the effect of the beetroot, but very nice. I added a little applesauce for sweetness, which I suspect made it even more gooey. It is very filling, which fortunately stopped me eating too much (although I think I’ll go and have another slice now).
Thanks for this recipe, it makes a nice alternative to the norm of ridiculously sugary cakes.
Thanks Brianna, I’m glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Hi, this recipe looks fantastic to be veganized!
Can I use coconut sugar instead of the xilitol? And do you know how much quantity?
Thank you
Hi Sofia, yes, this is a really nice easy one to make vegan if you swap out the plain yogurt for a dairy-free one like coconut. I don’t generally use coconut sugar as it’s quite high in fructose so I haven’t tested this recipe with it I’m afraid. Xylitol can be used pretty much in a 1:1 ratio for table sugar, so if coconut sugar is similar, you could swap the same amount for the xylitol I guess? I feel like coconut sugar may be slightly sweeter than regular sugar, so you may want to use a little less… Sorry, wish I could be of more help but I’ve never baked with coconut sugar so couldn’t advise accurately! Hope it works really well for you. 🙂
What else can you use instead of Xylitol? How about Honey or maple syrup?
Xylitol is a natural sugar free granulated sweetener, so switching to honey or maple syrup would change the consistency far too much to work. You’d also end up with a cake that had a fair bit of free sugar/fructose sugar in it, as honey and maple syrup are processed exactly the same way as table sugar by your body, which discerns no difference at all, particularly in the liver. If you were happy to have the sugar in it as a treat (it would still be lower in sugar than many cake recipes), I would recommend replacing the xylitol with the same amount of ordinary cane sugar instead of honey or maple syrup, as it would probably be more successful as it is more similar in consistency. Hope that’s helpful!
I used about 75ml maple syrup and added extra cocoa . It just made it extra fudge and yummy.
Sounds delicious Rhian, thanks for sharing!
Hi! This cake looks great. I dont have any xylitol. Can I use rice malt sugar or just stevia. If so what would the quantities be of each.
Hi Kathryn, I haven’t tested it without xylitol so cannot 100% guarantee the results. Rice syrup is less sweet so you would need more of it, or you could use a combination of rice syrup and stevia, but it would probably leave the batter wetter since you are adding more wet ingredients, so might need a little more flour to compensate? Stevia is much much sweeter than xylitol, so you could try with some but would only want to use a tiny tiny amount and adjust to taste so it wouldn’t become overpowering or bitter. I like liquid stevia as I find it less bitter and I often use half xylitol and just 2-4 drops stevia in recipes. But for pure stevia (liquid or crystallised) you will want to start with less than a teaspoon and taste the batter, adjusting until it tastes right. Sorry I couldn’t be of more help, it’s really tricky to convert recipes from a granulated sugar-like sweetener to super-sweet granulated or liquid without having to change quite a few other things in the recipe! My instinct would be to try either rice syrup (same amount as xylitol) with a little more flour if the batter looks too wet and a few drops of stevia. Alternatively, you could replace the xylitol with half the amount in sugar and use a few drops of stevia to make up the sweetness without adding so much sugar?
is xylitol safe for kids?
Yes and no. Xylitol occurs naturally in some fruits, vegetables and wood like birch. It is extracted and processed, meaning both that you need to be careful of where you are sourcing it from (go for birch over corn, which is often GMO) and that you are dealing with a natural, but processed, sweetener, so it should always be consumed in moderation. Xylitol is very beneficial for dental health, as it protects your teeth from decay, and it is commonly used to treat ear infections in children as it is effective in killing off the bacteria that cause these. So obviously, yes, it is safe for children to consume. But we use it with the same parameters as sugar (no more than 3 tsp a day for kids or 6 for adults) because if consumed in excess (we are talking 30-50g – some studies even say 90g – per day) then it can cause some stomach pain and loose stools. It is a FODMAP so if a child has IBS I wouldn’t recommend it, but for most children, xylitol shouldn’t be a problem, and we use it with our kids, although only for a weekend treat. It is just nice that although it has a few downsides, it has less problems than sugar and even protects their teeth. However, if you feel more comfortable using sugar, it is swappable in a 1:1 ratio and I try to keep my recipes to less than the RDA for adults (and most of the time for children, too) per serving, so you can use any sugar in its place. Hope that helps! 🙂
Delicious! I sliced this and froze it so I have a ready stash of healthy treats available. I pop into the microwave for a minute and top with yoghurt or just eat plain. I’m trying to cut out cakes and biscuits but still crave chocolate and this satisfies me immensely!
That’s great Ingrid, I’m glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Claire, this cake is absolutely divine. My husband who is diabetic loved it and he is really hard to please. I did substitute a few of the ingredients, e.g. I did not have spelt flour so added added almond flour instead, I did not have xylitol so I used stevia. It is amazing. My husband who is very good at avoiding cakes absolutely demolished it . Thank you so much for such a great recipe. Absolutely love your site.
I’m so pleased you enjoyed it so much Cristina, and that’s great to know it works so well with almond flour and stevia, too! 🙂