16th Mar, 2008

Chocolate Beetroot Cake in a Recycled Tin

Chocolate Beetroot Cake 1

No cake tin, no problem!

Believe it or not some of the Christmas cakes we made for Harrods when I worked at Fudges Bakery were made in small baked bean tins!

Improvising with what’s to hand can be really fulfilling. I’m following in the footsteps of both my mother and her mother by saving butter-wrappers for lining tins (it’s quicker than faffing with baking parchment, at least for the sides!). The tins I used weren’t from baked beans but sponge puddings…4″/10cm. (They were in the cupboard…)

I hadn’t tried adding beetroot to cake before but after seeing it on the ‘Breaking into Tesco’ TV series I thought I would. I just wanted to make the most of the depth of colour and softness, rather than replace sugar which was why Simon Rimmer was using it. And beetroot just happened to arrive in the latest veg box from Riverford so I roasted it and saved some for this experiment. 

The recipe turned out well – very moist and dark; the beetroot flavour only detectable if you’re looking for it. With less cocoa it would make a good version of red velvet cake without adding red food colour.  Click the more button if you’d like to see the recipe.

Chocolate Beetroot Cake 2

Ingredients (this mix made 2 x 4″ cakes and 14 muffins):

200g  Cooked Beetroot (boiled or roasted – 200g is cooked weight of 2 x medium)

330g  Unrefined Caster Sugar

120g  Low Fat Natural Yoghurt

240g  Sunflower Oil

3       Eggs

1tsp   Vanilla Extract

260g  Plain Flour

100g  Cocoa

1/2 tsp Salt

2tsp  Baking Powder

1/2tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

Method:

Preheat oven 170C/325F/Gas 3.

Put the Beetroot (peeled) in a food processor with the Caster Sugar and process until smooth(ish).

Add the Yoghurt, process until blended. Scrape down the mixture from the sides.

Add the Oil, Eggs and Vanilla, process until blended. Scrape down the mixture from the sides.

In a separate bowl, sift the dry ingredients and mix together by hand before adding to the processor. Process until blended.

The mixture is quite thick, so it’s easy to deposit into cupcake cases or muffin tins with a ‘thumb-release’ ice cream scoop.

Bake for approximately 20 minutes for muffins, 35 minutes for 4″ cakes.

Cool on a wire rack when the cakes are cool enough to handle.

Responses

Wonderful ,I made it for a breakup party for 14 mature aged ladies .We have just completed tertiary study. A wonderful fitting ,celebration recipe and excellant for ease of serving.Oh the taste is heavenly !!

Fantastic cake! Thank you. This cake is amazing from day 1 (some other choc/beet cakes are too dry on the day of baking, and taste best on day 4,5,6…. I’m not that patient, or organised!!). Used it as a base for my son’s birthday cake, sliced in half with a layer of strawberry jam and covered in marzipan. My friend’s husband said it was the best cake he’d ever tasted!!!!
I used Orgran ‘No Egg’ as one of our guests cannot eat egg. You’d never know – it was perfect. Thank you

Thanks Rebecca…glad you liked it & useful to know it worked well with an egg-replacer too.

My daughter-in-law’s mother grows her own vegetables and gave me some beetroot. Someone had told me you could make cakes with it and I found this site. I made it and served it this morning at our Mah Jong group, it went down a storm, I didn’t try it as I don’t have a sweet tooth. There were a couple of ‘skeptics’ who shuddered at the thought of beetroot in a cake. They are now converted and I will be making this again….and again…and again! Thank you.

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