Vanilla Sheet Cake with Pink Beet Frosting

Name: Vanilla Sheet Cake with Pink Beet Frosting
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 50 min
Ingredients: 3 cups all purpose flour; 2 tsp baking powder; 3/4 tsp salt; 4 whole eggs; 1.5 cups sugar; 3/4 cup vegetable oil; 1 cup whole milk; 1 tbsp vanilla extract; 1 large beet; 1 cup butter (softened); 2 cups confectioners sugar (a little less than a 1lb bag); 2 tsp vanilla extract

Well, hello there 🙂

Thank you guys for bearing with me the past month! I didn’t mean to disappear, but I was so busy with the kids that I did not have an extra second in my day to write a post. We finally got Grayson in, what we believe, is the absolute perfect school situation! YAY! He is finishing up his first week there and totally loves it. I feel so good about the whole thing and just so incredibly happy we found the right spot for him. Sometimes you just don’t get everything right the first time! Anyway, I feel like a little bit of balance is being restored to our lives with that whole “situation” working out.

And guess what? I made you the most amazing cake for Valentine’s Day! Okay, the cake IS good…but it’s really the frosting here that is so special. Oh my gosh, you guys, please believe me when I tell you it could be the very best frosting I have ever made! And the special ingredient: roasted beets! But you’d never know it!!!!! Just take my word for it okay?

It all started with my desire to make a hot pink cake without using food coloring. Now, I totally know I am not the first person (or blogger, I am sure!) to use beets in a frosting. But…this was new to me! I am so glad it worked and even more glad that it didn’t just work…it turned out AMAZING! Way better than I even expected!

Now this does take a little bit of prep work. You need to roast your beet first and that does take an hour. But you can do this even a day or two ahead of time. While you’re at it, roast a bunch! You’ll want them on hand for salads with goat cheese. 🙂 Then, you puree your roasted beet with a little water and mix that smooth puree into your buttercream. I don’t want to toot my own horn too much here, but it sort of turned out to be the perfect shade.

Next time I am called upon to bake a pink cake, I am totally doing this again. Last year, Grayson had a hot pink strawberry birthday cake so we’ll see if he wants that again for his birthday in May. I also want to use this frosting to top my copycat lofthouse cookies with. I might do that next week, actually, as a fun project with the boys.

I hope you guys enjoy this one!

Vanilla Sheet Cake with Pink Beet Frosting

Prep Time

10 mins

Cook Time

40 mins

Total Time

50 mins

Course: Dessert

Ingredients

3 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
4 whole eggs
1.5 cups sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup whole milk
1 tbsp vanilla extract

for beet frosting ~

1 large beet
1 cup butter softened
2 cups confectioners sugar a little less than a 1lb bag
2 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Wash, trim and chop one beet into large chunks. Wrap it in foil, place in oven and roast for about an hour, until very soft. Unwrap and let cool. (you can do this step even a few days ahead of time!)
To make the cake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9 x 13" pan and set aside.
Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, mix together the eggs, sugar, vanilla and oil.
Alternate adding the dry ingredients and the milk to the egg mixture, and mix until batter is well incorporated.
Pour batter into your prepared pan and bake for 40 minutes, until golden and sides are pulling away from the pan. Let cool completely.
To make the frosting, first start with the beet puree. Place the roasted beet in either a mini food processor or a blender (I used a blender) with about 1/4 cup water. Blend until very smooth. You don't want any chunks at all - make sure you get it really really smooth, even if it means adding more water. It will be fine.
To make the frosting, beat together the softened butter, sugar and vanilla until incorporated. Add as much beet puree as you want to get your achieved level of pink. I used about 2 tbsp to get a hot pink! Continue beating your frosting for about five minutes until very light and fluffy.
When cake as completely cooled, top with frosting. Enjoy!