Ok, I know I posted my recipe for roasted beetroot a while ago, but following on the interesting post by Bea in Homegrown foods, I thought I would post a couple of sweet beetroot recipes. I promise you, you cannot taste the beetroot!
The first sounds odd but it has really great reviews, and let’s face it, ANY excuse to eat chocolate cake and tell ourselves it’s good for us has to be applauded!
Chocolate Beetroot Cake
- 50 g cocoa powder
- 180 g plain flour
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- 225 g caster sugar
- 300 g cooked fresh beetroot
- 3 eggs
- 200ml sunflower oil
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
Heat the oven to 180 c. Butter and flour a 7 inch cake tin.
Sieve the cocoa powder, flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl and then mix in the sugar.
Purée the beetroot in a food processor (at a pinch you could finely grate the beetroot). Add the eggs, one by one, and then add the oil and vanilla extract and beat together until smooth.
Make a hole in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour the beetroot mixture into it. Lightly fold in until just mixed and then pour into the prepared cake tin.
Bake for around 40 minutes, or until an inserted knife comes out clean. This cake won’t rise much but don’t panic, it isn’t supposed to and the top will probably crack a little.
Allow to cool a little before removing from the tin, then leave to cool on a wire rack.
Beetroot cake (swap carrots for beetroot and it works as a carrot cake too!)
- 1¼lb self-raising flour
- 5 tsp baking powder
- 10 oz soft brown sugar
- 8oz sultanas
- 1 lb beetroot, peeled and grated
- 375 ml vegetable or sunflower oil
- 5 medium-sized eggs
- 1 tsp cinnamon
Heat the oven to 180 c. Grease and line a loose based cake tin with greaseproof paper.
Mix together the flour, baking powder and soft brown sugar in a large bowl and then add the sultanas and grated beetroot.
In a seperate bowl beat the oil and eggs together and then add to the beetroot mixture. Mix together with a wooden spoon (unless you are lucky enough to have a swizzy electric gadget to do it, in which case – go for it!)
Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and bake on the middle shelf of the oven and bake for 60 mins. Try the knife trick at about 50 mins and if it pulls out clean then it is done.
