Here’s a sentence I never thought I would write: A few weeks ago I was thinking about coffee cake.

I think coffee cake is pretty genius because it’s really just a cake. By sticking the word “coffee” on it, we get to eat it for breakfast. Let’s not kid ourselves though… it’s still cake!

To be honest, I don’t really like coffee cake much as a breakfast. It tends to be too sweet for me. I will completely destroy a piece as an afternoon snack or even for dessert with some tea.

So really, I make coffee cake but then never eat it with coffee.

So basically I make cake. Really delicious cake like this Golden Beet Coffee Cake.

This version of (coffee) cake has beets in it and that makes it both beautiful and delicious.

Golden Beet Coffee Cake

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Author: Nick Evans
Servings: 8 Serving
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
A perfectly sweet shredded golden beet coffee cake with a brown sugar crumb. Think carrot cake, except with beets! Perfect for breakfast, brunch or dessert!

Ingredients 

  • ¾ cup unsalted butter, soft
  • cup sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ½ cup sour cream
  • 1 cup milk
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 ½ cups grated golden beets, 2-3 beets

Crumb:

  • ¾ cup brown sugar
  • cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • ¼ cup butter, melted

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Peel and grate golden beets until you have about 1 ½ cups.
  • In a medium bowl, mix together dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt) and toss in shredded beets.
  • In a large mixing bowl, add butter and sugar and cream together with a hand mixer. Cream these together until the mixture is light and fluffy.
  • Mix in eggs, one at a time, and vanilla. Combine well.
  • Mix in sour cream, followed by the dry ingredients, followed by milk. Stir or mix until it’s combined well.
  • In a separate bowl, stir together crumb ingredients until well combined.
  • Pour batter into a buttered 2 ½ quart baking dish (or you can use an 8×8 baking dish) and top with brown sugar crumb.
  • Bake the coffee cake for 60-65 minutes until the coffee cake is golden brown and a tester comes out clean.
  • Let coffee cake cool for 15-20 minutes and the slice and serve!
  • Leftover coffee cake will keep fine in an airtight container for 3 days.

Nutrition

Serving: 1Piece | Calories: 566kcal | Carbohydrates: 73g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 28g | Saturated Fat: 17g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 114mg | Sodium: 510mg | Potassium: 237mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 44g | Vitamin A: 917IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 124mg | Iron: 2mg
Course: Breads, Breakfast & Brunch

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Tag @crunchtimekitchen

Golden Beet Coffee Cake

Beets Me

You might be confused by the beet addition, but I’ll be quick to remind you that carrot cake exists. This is essentially the same thing, but I would argue that beets are a better choice because they are naturally sweet.

I wouldn’t use the red ones though because the color might end up being weird. Golden beets are perfect though. Just peel them and grate them up!

Shredded golden beets - beet coffee cake
Shredded.

The rest of the coffee cake is pretty standard. I did cut down on the sugar a tiny bit since the beets are a bit sweet also.

As with any cake batter, it helps to cream together the butter and sugar first and then beat in the eggs and vanilla.

Starting the batter - Beet Coffee Cake
Starting the batter.

Meanwhile, stir together all the dry ingredients and then toss the beets with the dry ingredients. Coating the beet shreds with the dry ingredients helps to make sure they don’t clump together while they bake.

Dry stuff! Golden Beet Coffee Cake
Dry stuff!

Stir the sour cream, dry bowl, and milk into the creamed butter and your beet coffee cake batter is done!

beet coffee cake batter mixed
Batter mixed.

Baking and Eating

Pour the batter into a buttered 2 1/2 quart baking dish. You could also use an 8×8 baking dish but it’ll be pretty full.

Then mix together the crumb ingredients and sprinkle that on the top of the cake.

Ready to bake this Beet Coffee Cake
Ready to bake this guy.

Bake this whole dish at 350 degrees F. for 60-65 minutes until it’s golden brown and a tester comes out clean from the center.

Golden Beet Coffee Cake - All baked!
All baked!

The other nice thing about using the beets is that they keep the cake really moist while it bakes.

When the beet coffee cake comes out, give it 20 minutes to cool before slicing and serving. If you cut it too early, it won’t set up completely and you’ll need a spoon to eat it!

The color is just killer on these bars.

Make some coffee cake this weekend and eat it whenever you want. I won’t tell.

Golden Beet Coffee Cake: Shredded sweet golden beets folded into a dense and rich coffee cake. The results are a little like carrot cake, but not quite as a sugary. Really perfect with a cup of coffee!