Friday, August 15, 2014

Chocolate Beet Cake

I was in at the local farmers' market recently with a friend. One of the vegetable stands was selling beets, had samples of beet hummus available, and was giving out copies of the hummus recipe. It was...okay. But we spoke to the gal working the stand; she mentioned a chocolate-beet cake recipe.
I found a couple, played with them, combining and tweaking here and there (using some real chocolate, not just cocoa powder) and came up with this. Delicious! You can hardly taste the beets, but they do add texture and a lot of moisture to the cake. I drizzled a simple ganache over it and dusted it with kosher salt, but it's moist enough it's fine on its own...or simply dusted with a little powdered sugar just to 'finish' it.

Ingredients:
5 oz  chocolate (I used dark)
2 C cooked beets, pureed
1 tsp vanilla
1 C butter, softened
1½ C brown sugar
3 eggs
1¾ flour
4 Tbls cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375˚.

Melt the chocolate with ¼ C butter; combine with pureed beets and vanilla. Set aside. In another bowl, stir together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; set aside.

In a separate bowl, cream the remaining butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and beat until well combined. Stir in chocolate beet mixture. Gradually add the dry ingredients.

Scoop or pour better into a fluted tube pan coated with non-stick cooking spray. Bake 45-50 minutes. Cool in pan about 10 minutes before turning onto wire rack or serving plate to cool completely.