Chocolate and Beetroot Cake - Abel and Cole recipe

This is a really nice one...

Serves 8, but I cut it into 12 because I'm -mean-.  You will need:-

• 200g beetroot, cooked, peeled and pureed (I roasted it for an hour, the skin just peels off)
• 200g butter at room temperature
• 125g plain flour (I used wholemeal and sifted out the bran)
• 150g dark plain chocolate roughly chopped
• 3 eggs
• 150 caster sugar
• 1.5 tsp baking powder
• pinch of sea salt - crushed finely
• hulled and finely ground cardamom (optional)
• 1 tbsp freshly grated ginger

Preheat the oven to 180C - while this is happening put the chocolate and beetroot in an oven-proof bowl in the oven to melt the chocolate.  It doesn't take long so be careful as it's easy to burn chocolate.


 Fold the chocolate and beetroot together, add the ginger (and cardamom if you're using it).

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl.

Separate the eggs and whisk the egg yolk, butter and sugar in a bowl until pale and creamy.

Whisk the whites until stiff and meringue-like.

Gently fold the yolk mix into the flour.

Then fold in the egg white mix, 1/3 at a time.

Gently fold in the beet-choc mix.

Grease an 18.5cm / 7" cake tin and lightly dust with flour to coat.

Add the cake mix.

Dust with the bran left over from the sifted flour if you used wholemeal flour.

Then bake in the oven until a skewer comes out cleanly - should be between 50-70 minutes depending on your oven.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10-15 minutes before turning out onto a rack to finish cooling.

 
The cake will be fudgey on the inside...

 

Abel and Cole give an optional frosting of:-

• 100g mascarpone
• 200g full fat cream cheese
• 75g icing sugar
• 1tsp finely grated ginger

Mix it all up and then spread over the cake.  I decided not to as it should be moist enough without and I'm not keen on -that- much sugar and there's plenty in the cake already.