Beetroot and Chocolate Cake
Beetroot and Chocolate Cake
Beetroot and Chocolate Cake
Serves 8
Preparation: 15 mins
Cooking Time: One and a half hours
This is the most delicious moist cake and you would never know there was a vegetable in this. The recipe is flour free and you can substitute sugar with either maple syrup, Coconut Sugar, Rapadura Sugar, Honey or Agave Syrup for a healthier result. I took the idea from Jamie Oliver and then made alterations to suit us, which seemed to work brilliantly.
Ingredients
olive oil
plain flour , for dusting (or you can use either buckwheat or chickpea flour for this)
150 g good-quality dark chocolate (70 - 90% cocoa solids)
250 g raw beetroot, washed and peeled (I used two large purple beetroot, grated using a magimix)
4 large free-range eggs (separated)
150 g golden caster sugar (or you can use an alternative sweetening as listed above)
120 g ground almonds
1 teaspoon baking powder
5 tablespoons good-quality cocoa powder
Garnish
Handful of Walnut halves (or you could use Hazlenuts)
Melted chocolate - about 100g (over a bain marie)
AND THIS IS WHAT YOU DO....
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4.
- Lightly grease the bottom and sides of a 20cm springform cake tin with olive oil. Use scissors to cut out a circle of greaseproof paper, roughly the same size as the bottom of the tin, and use it to line the base. Dust the sides of the tin lightly with flour, then tap the tin to get rid of any excess.
- Break 150g of the chocolate into small pieces and add to a heatproof bowl.
- Place the bowl on top of a small pan of simmering water over a medium heat, making sure the bottom of the bowl isn’t touching the water, and allow to melt, stirring occasionally. (this is called a bain marie)
- Once melted, use oven gloves to carefully remove from the heat and put to one side – beware of the steam when you lift up the bowl.
- Use a Y-shaped peeler to peel the beetroot (you might want to wear gloves to do this), then quarter them on a chopping board.
- Push the beetroot through the coarse grater attachment on the food processor, then tip into a large mixing bowl.
- Separate the eggs, placing the whites into a large clean mixing bowl and adding the yolks to the beetroot, then wash your hands.
- Stir the sugar, almonds, baking powder, cocoa powder and melted chocolate into the beetroot and mix together well.
- Use an electric hand whisk to whisk the egg whites until you have stiff peaks.
- Use a large metal spoon to fold a quarter of the egg whites into the beetroot mixture to loosen, then once combined, fold in the rest but try not to over-mix.
- Add the mixture to the prepared cake tin and spread out evenly using a spatula.
- Bake in the hot oven for around 50 minutes, or until risen and cooked through.
- To check if it’s done, stick a clean, dry, sharp knife into the middle of the sponge, remove it after 5 seconds and if it comes out clean the cake’s cooked; if it’s slightly sticky it needs a bit longer.
- Allow the cake to cool slightly, then carefully turn it out on to a wire rack to cool completely.
- When you’re ready to serve, melt the remaining chocolate and drizzle on to the top of the cake and position the nuts in the chocolate.