Blog 3: Chocolate Beet Whoopie Pies

I LOVE Valentine's Day.

I don't care what anyone says. I think it's awesome that there is a holiday dedicated to celebrating love in which everyone is encouraged to send love notes, wear pink, smell flowers, and eat chocolate. (A literal list of all of my favorite things). Whether you're in a relationship or not, I think Valentine's day can serve as an important reminder to indulge in romance and spread love. Honestly, what's not to love about that?

So today I am sharing a recipe for the delightful little treats I made on Valentine's Day this year.

Chocolate Beet Whoopie Pies with Rosehip and Orange Cashew Cream Frosting. 

The inspiration for this recipe dates back to February 2016. When I was a senior in college my friend Amory and I baked an incredibly decadent vegan chocolate beet cake for our friend Courtney's 22nd birthday. This cake has lived on in my memory as one of the more special cakes I've had the pleasure of indulging in. Just like carrots in a carrot cake, the grated beets used in this chocolate beet cake made the cake so moist and spongy. Setting aside some beet juice and adding it to the frosting created a beautiful soft pink colored frosting resulting in a very festive cake for February. Yet, until last week, I hadn't attempted to bake another chocolate beet cake. 

This Valentine's Day I was inspired to reprise and adapt the Chocolate Beet Cake idea to accomodate my sugar free lifestyle. I also wanted to experiment with using Cocoa de Myco, (our proprietary Big Brain Blend cocoa mix) in a baked good. For the past couple of years Omar and I have been using this powdered blend to make both hot cocoa and authentic iced horchata at various festivals and events. Over the years we have been asked by countless customers if we sell the powdered mix. This month we decided to give the people what they want and package Cocoa de Myco for sale. (Stay tuned for an official product release soon).

Our Cocoa de Myco contains unsweetened cocoa powder, wild foraged lion's mane mushroom powder, cordyceps extract powder, maca root powder, cinnamon, and tumeric. In anticipation of the release of Cocoa de Myco for sale I wanted to try it out in a baked good to test it for versatility.

Instead of making one big cake, I decided to make mini whoopie-pie style cakes to share with friends. Based on the fact that all of my friends asked for seconds and thirds, I'd say this recipe was a hit! I'm excited to discover other ways to incorporate Cocoa de Myco in more culinary creations.

I adapted my recipes from Bridget Oland's recipe for Speedy Chocolate Beet Cake and the Minimalist Baker's recipe for Cashew Buttercream Frosting.

I've been maintaining a strict sugar free diet since 2021. Being sugar free has been one of the most positive lifestyle changes I have made to support my health and wellbeing. I am a highly sensitive person with particular sensitivity to anything that causes inflammation. Sugar is a main culprit in causing inflammation making me feel bloated and irritable. Cutting it out of my diet has been a real game changer. For me this includes abstaining from "natural sugars" like maple syrup, coconut sugar, and dates. I even limit my fruit intake to the equivalent of one apple a day or a handful of berries if they are in season. I will occasionally consume small amounts of honey if the honey is acting as a carrier for other medicinals (more on this in a later post). 

I say all of that to let you know...

1.) if you are struggling with inflammatory issues it might be worth trying a sugar detox and 2.) that it has been challenging to learn how to bake without sugar as many of the natural alternatives (stevia and monk fruit) can leave weird after tastes and chemically react differently than the real deal. 

As I mentioned earlier, I shared these mini cakes with several sugar eater friends and they all asked for more. Needless to say, I think I got the balance of sweetness right with this one ;) 

Now without further ado...

Chocolate Beet Whoopie Pies with Cardamom Rose Cashew Buttercream Frosting

For the Frosting: 

I wanted to create a romantic cardamom rose flavored frosting and thought orange would pair nicely with this flavor profile. So I replaced the lemon juice and zest found in the original recipe with orange juice and zest from a local orange tree (it's citrus season here in So. Cal!) I also doubled the amount of vanilla because we can always use more vanilla. 

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups Raw cashew pieces soaked in cold water overnight (do NOT use salted nuts)

1/2 cup Unsweetened vanilla almond milk (minimalist baker calls for full fat coconut milk but coconut milk tends to make me gassy so I prefer almond)

1/4 cup melted coconut oil 

1 tbs Honey (I used our Honeymoon Honey this is a special honey that Omar and I made using wild foraged Amanita muscaria mushrooms... more on this in a later post)

10-20 drops Stevia liquid extract (sweeten to taste or double up on honey)

2 tsp Vanilla extract

1 pinch of Sea salt

1/4 tsp Orange zest (honestly used more, I zested a whole orange)

2 tbs Orange juice (the juice of half an orange)

1 tbs Dried rose hips or rose petals (optional)

1 tbs Bee pollen (optional)

1/2 tsp Cardamom powder (*I didn't have any cardamom powder on hand but I had cardamom pods. I scraped out the seeds from 3 pods and added them to the blender...in my opinion the cardamom flavor could have been stronger so I suggest using cardamom powder if you are going to try this recipe)

1-2 tsp Finely grated beet (for the most beautiful dusty pink color)

For the Cake:

I cut the Bridget Olend recipe in half and ended up with 12 mini cakes. 

Doubling my recipe will result in approx. 9 servings using a 9"x13" baking pan.

Ingredients:

1 cup Flour (I used Pamela's Gluten Free Pancake Mix)

1 tbs Honey (I used our Honeymoon Honey this is a special honey that Omar and I made using wild foraged Amanita muscaria mushrooms more on this in a later post)

1/2 cup Cocoa de Myco (unsweetened cocoa powder will also work here)

1 tsp Baking powder

1/2 tsp Baking soda 

1 pinch Sea salt

1/2 cup + 1 tbs Unsweetened vanilla almond milk

1/4 cup Olive oil

1 Egg

2 tbs Egg whites

30 drops Stevia liquid extract

3-4 tbs Golden monk fruit sweetener (I honestly can't remember if I ended up with 3 or 4 tablespoons of Golden monk fruit sweetener...my advice is sweeten to taste)

2 tsp Vanilla extract

1 Large beet (peeled and boiled until soft, then grated with food processor)

1 cup chocolate chips (I used Lily's Sugar Free Semi Sweet Chocolate Baking Chips)

2 tsp Lemon juice

2 tbs Orange juice (the juice from half an orange)

Directions:

I recommend starting with making the frosting as it needs plenty of time to set in the freezer before it can be used. 

1.) Soak the cashews in cool water overnight. (If you didn't prepare ahead of time soaking cashews in hot water for one hour should do it. 

2.) Rinse and drain cashews. 

3.) Add all ingredients to high speed blender (I LOVE my Vitamix) and blend until smooth 

4.) Transfer to quart container or mixing bowl and place in freezer. 

5.) After an hour in the freezer, remove the frosting and give it a stir. Continue doing this every hour until it has firmed up enough for use but not so much that it has frozen solid. 

6.) It is recommended to whip with a hand mixer after several hours in the freezer (I skipped this step and just scooped the smooth frosting onto my mini cakes as it was)

For the Cake:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit 

1.) Peel and boil beet until soft enough to cut through easily. Transfer to food processor and beat until soft. This will result in a consistency that is somewhere between grated and mashed. 

2.) In a medium bowl mix together dry ingredients. 

3.) In a large mixing bowl whip wet ingredients (including monk fruit sweetener) with a hand mixer. 

4.) Add dry ingredients to wet and mix until smooth (you may need to add a splash more milk)

5.) Fold in chocolate chips

6.) Transfer to cupcake molds and bake for 20 minutes (I used shallow silicone fluted tart molds...if using deeper cupcake mold or cake pan bake time may be longer)

Once the cakes have fully cooled and the frosting is firm you can frost your cake. 

I carefully sliced my mini cakes in half to form two thin disc shapes. Then I plopped a dollop of frosting on the bottom layer and placed the other half on top creating a little cake sandwich or whoopie pie. 

I love how these whoopie pies turned out. The beets definitely add moisture and they also contributed to making the cakes a beautiful maroon color, very appropriate for Valentine's day. And the cardamom rose frosting with the orange juice and zest was purely inspired, the perfect balance of floral and fruity. I love the way the dark chocolate chips taste in the cake, but after seeing how red the batter turned out I'm thinking it would also be cute to try this with white chocolate chips or macadamia nuts to give the impression of an Amanita muscaria mushroom.

However you choose to make them be sure to share these cakes with loved ones and enjoy! 

And as always, Be Well and Stay Curious !

With SO MUCH LOVE from,

Chrissy Dasco-Uribe 

Co-founder/CEO