I never realized baking cakes with vegetables wasn’t a thing everywhere, until I met my dear friend Nicky. Nicky is from South Africa, and kindly informed me that this practice was indeed odd, but how did I do it because she was interested in making a cake with vegetables for her son’s first birthday.

Any prairie person worth their salt (who enjoys baking) will have a standard recipe for zucchini cake or carrot cake. Beet cake is equally delicious and a great way to use up those larger beets you grew that weren’t as nice for canning.

Related: Beet Leaf Rolls and Red Velvet Cake with Beets

This old fashioned beet cake is very similar to carrot cake, and is delicious with cream cheese icing. I took it to a recent choir rehearsal, and it was devoured by my singers.

How do You Bake with Beets?

To use beets in your baking, start by boiling or roasting chopped beets until tender. Beets always take longer than I expect to roast them–often over an hour at 375 degrees Fahrenheit. However, you might be blessed with a higher quality oven that I am and it will go quicker for you.

Put your beets into a blender or food processor and puree them with a bit of water. There’s no exact science to this. Just blend the beets until your desired texture.

If you have extras, you can always save the pureed beets in a freezer bag and use at a later date. Beets keep well in the freezer and you should have no problems using them later in the year.