Chocolate and Beetroot Cake

effort: 😫😫    reward: 😋😋😋

source: Personal recipe (see below)

comments:

I first discovered chocolate and beetroot as a cake combination in a cafe in Stockholm, and my god is it good! You might think it sounds strange, but beetroot is sweet and juicy and that's the main thing it adds to this cake. It's also nice when you get the little chewy bits of beetroot in the cake. This cake is soft, with a luscious, deep flavour. A little more sophisticated than your average chocolate cake! Beware though the cake it makes is absolutely massive. I use my Nordicware bundt tin which fits this batter really well. If you're worried about not being able to finish it you can always freeze half for later, it freezes really well. This tastes best fresh out of the oven, or after microwaving the slices for 20 seconds.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 150g soft butter
• 180g dark muscavado sugar
• 180g white sugar
• 6 eggs
• 200g good quality dark (70% cocoa) chocolate
• 250g cooked beetroot
• 300ml (=300g) crème fraiche
• 210g plain flour (sifted)
• 100g almond flour
• 1.5 tsp baking soda
• cocoa for dusting the cake tin

Method

1. Well before you want to start making the cake, boil the beetroot (no need to peel first; you can do that afterwards) for 40 minutes or so until soft (it will depend on the size of your beets how long you need)
2. When tender, remove the beets from the water and let them cool. Then peel them with your hands, and put them in a food processor. Blitz until you have small, coarse chunks of beetroot to go in the cake.
3. Grease the bundt tin with butter then generously dust it with cocoa. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
4. Cream the butter and sugars until pale and fluffy.
5. While the butter and sugar are creaming, melt the chocolate over a bain marie.
6. Beat in the eggs one at a time, don't worry if the mixture looks curdled.
7. Combine the crème fraiche with the melted chocolate then add this along with the beetroot to the butter and sugar mixture. Continue mixing on a slow speed until everything is well combined.
8. Mix the flours and baking soda together in a bowl then add to the batter and beat slowly until just combined.
9. Pour into the cake tin and bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until a skewer comes out with just a few damp crumbs. Let it cool for 15 minutes in the tin before turning out on a wire rack to cool completely.