Monday 31 January 2011

chocolate, beetroot and raspberry cake...

the last of the January posts, in true spirit of the studio, is to ditch the diet and eat vegetable cake.

so - as promised for an age - here is the ecospot chocolate, beetroot and raspberry cake recipe...

Ingredients:
350g beetroots (weighed before grating!)
2 large (organic and free range) eggs
150g golden caster sugar
125ml vegetable oil
200g self raising flour
35g cocoa
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

filling:
homemade or a good quality raspberry jam

icing:
125g butter
125g icing sugar
1 tbsp raspberry jam (or natural raspberry extract)
natural pink food colouring (usually made from concentrated beetroot as well!)

make it:
preheat the oven to 180 degrees C or gas mark 4.
peel and grate the beetroots and place in a colander to drain.
place the oil, eggs and sugar into a large bowl and mix thoroughly until light and fluffy.
add the flour, cocoa, bicarb and baking powder and mix again until combined.
the mixture will look rather scant and thick at this point - do not worry - now add the grated (and drained) beetroot and mix to create a lovely, gloopy and combined cake batter.
(variation - you can add some spices as well if you like - chilli goes quite nice... add 1tsp cayenne or similar, or to taste)

bake it:
place into two non-stick loose bottomed 8 - 9 inch round cake tins and bake in the preheated oven for 30 mins. (or place into muffin cases and bake for around 24 mins)

assemble it:
when done, remove from oven and let the cakes cool on a wire rack.
when completely cooled, sandwich the two rounds together with a nice layer of raspberry jam and sit to one side.
make the icing by combining the sifted and lump free icing sugar with the softened butter until smooth.
stir in the raspberry jam (or if using, 1tsp natural raspberry extract) and add drops of natural pink food colouring to the icing - mixing until your desired shade of pink is achieved.
cover the top of the cake with the icing and sprinkle on any other decorations (we usually add little chocolate stars or dried raspberry pieces)

EAT! safe in the knowledge you are not eating cake, you are eating vegetables...

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