Step by step

1. Make the beet puree. Place prepared beets in a pot and add enough water to cover them by an inch. Bring to a boil then reduce to medium high heat and cook for twenty minutes, or until a fork cleanly goes through. Use a slotted spoon to remove the cooked beets from the water and place them into the jar of the KitchenAid Blender. Add ¼ cup of the beet liquid from the pot into the blender jar (reserving the remaining liquid in the pot). Blend on Speed 2 until beets are a smooth puree consistency. Remove the puree from the blender and set aside.

2. Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Grease 3 cake pans and dust with cocoa powder.

3. Bring the water and one cup of the beet liquid to a boil. (Discard the remaining beet liquid.) Remove from heat. In a separate bowl whisk together the cocoa, espresso, and beet powders then pour the boiling water over the powders, whisking to fully dissolve. Then, add one cup of the beet puree and the sour cream/yogurt and whisk again until combined. Set aside.

4. Combine the eggs, vanilla extract and the olive oil into a glass measuring cup with a pour spout. Do not mix. Set aside.

5. Attach the flex edge paddle attachment to the KitchenAid Stand Mixer and add the sugar, flour, baking soda, and salt into the mixing bowl. Turn to Speed 2 and allow it to mix for 30 seconds. Reduce speed to Stir and slowly pour the wet beet mixture into the dry mixture, then slowly add the egg/olive oil mixture one egg at a time. Once all wet ingredients are added, increase to Speed 2 for 10 seconds. Remove bowl from the mixer and set aside.

6. Melt the chocolate using a double-boiler method (making sure not to have the bowl touching the water), or microwave in ten second intervals. Hand whisk the melted chocolate into the batter.

7. Pour a third of the batter into each of the prepared cake pans and bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove cakes from the oven and allow to sit on a cooling rack for 10 minutes before removing to completely cool.

8. While the cakes are cooling, make the frosting. Fit the flex edge beater back onto the stand mixer and add butter, cream cheese, vanilla extract and salt to the mixing bowl. Cream the ingredients together on Speed 6 speed until completely combined and nicely whipped, about 3-4 minutes. Reduce to Stir, add in the beet powder and ⅓ of the powdered sugar then increase to Speed 4 to incorporate; repeat two more times to mix in all of the powdered sugar, then allow to whip on Speed 4 for 60 seconds.

9. When the cakes have completely cooled, place one layer of cake on a plate or cake stand and use an offset spatula to gently spread an even layer of frosting over the top, then another cake, frosting, and last layer of cake. Top the cake with a final layer of frosting, a light dusting of beet powder and bing cherries. Chill completely to set the frosting before serving.