I do like a good experiment. I’ve read about loads of baking recipes containing weird and wonderful ingredients the past few months; sweet potato cakes, courgette muffins, cauliflower pizzas, even avocado cakes, often with the aim the to make them gluten-free, palaeo, or whatever the latest healthy-eating craze is over in the States. But this beetroot cake looked divine, moist, delicately purple, and laced with rich dark chocolate. So I had to give a go, back home in my nice kitchen with some eager taste-testers!
Ingredients
- 260g self-raising flour
- 300g packet of cooked and peeled beetroot
- 300ml vegetable oil
- 5 eggs
- 1 heaped tsp baking powder
- 80g cocoa powder
- 100g melted dark chocolate
- 350g light brown soft sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
Methods
1. Preheat the oven to 175°C and grease/line a an 18-inch springform tin.
2. In a bowl mix flour with cocoa powder, sugar and salt.
3. In a small bowl (that you might not mind being stained) mash the beetroot with a fork or potato masher until quite smooth. Combine with the melted chocolate then mix with the oil and vanilla extract in a large bowl.
4. Add the eggs one by one and mixing continuously.
5. Add the flour mixture gradually to prevent the eggs curdling until everything is well combined BUT do not overmix as you will knock out any lovely bubbles!
6. Pour into the greased tin place in the middle of the pre-heated oven for 70-75 minutes (you may want to cover with foil after an hour to prevent the top burning). The cake should still be a bit moist in the middle. Take out of the oven and let cool down in the pan before transferring to a wire rack. I grated some more dark chocolate on top for decoration.
Based on: Bake to the Roots
To Bake or Study? 