Lily's Chocolate Beet Mini Birthday Cakes - Gluten Free

Last winter I did some experimenting with beets.  I personally have never been a fan of beets whether they were boiled, pickled or roasted it didn't matter, I just never liked them.  But they are so good for you I had to try a way to get beets into our diet.  Upon searching the Internet I found a few grain/gluten free recipes and tried a few with the results being quite tasty if a little gummy in the middle.

Since we are your normal busy family, it's always a good idea to have a quick grab and go snack on hand.  Muffins are one of those snacks and this winter since I have had a bit more experience with gluten free cooking I have "created" a very flexible gluten free flour mix that works quite well with many different kinds of muffins.

One of the best parts of this flour mixture is the muffins hold together beautifully even though they contain no added gums (guar or xanathan), I don't like to use gums as they seem to upset my stomach and I think they haven't been around long enough to know whether they are safe to consume long term.  Natural is always better.

Lily's Chocolate Beet Mini Birthday Cake - Gluten Free


Preheat oven to 375F with cast iron pans in the oven.


In a medium sized bowl, combine the dry ingredients, mixing well.

1 cup almond flour
1 cup brown rice
1/4 cup ground flax seed
1/4 cup arrowroot flour
3/4 cup cocoa
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder

In a blender mix together until creamy:

4 eggs
3 cups cooked, mashed and cooled beets

Using a spatula scrape the beet/egg mixture into a large bowl and add:

1/2 cup honey
1 cup melted butter
2 tsps vanilla or 1 vanilla bean scraping or both :)
1/2 cup cream (or milk)

Mix all ingredients together well.

I used my preheated, seasoned Lodge mini cake pans filled half full with batter and baked them in a 375F degree oven for 12-15 minutes.  I have also made them in my smaller Lodge mini muffin pan and baked them at 375 degrees for 9-11 minutes.

I stick a pointy knife tip into the cakes to see if they are done, but because I cook in cast and the muffins have to sit for at least 10 minutes before attempting to remove them from the pan they will still cook for a few minutes after coming out of the oven.  Therefore I usually take them out of the oven a touch earlier than I would if I were using stainless steel pans.