This is from the cook yourself thin recipe book, I have just tested it on my team and a big thumbs up, the only thing I did different was to make it in a square tin and cut up into squares like brownies..it is very sticky and beware of slight pink tinge to fingers. oh give yourself a lot of time to make it.
For the cake
• 250g good-quality dark chocolate
• 3 medium free-range eggs
• 250g light muscovado sugar
• 1 vanilla pod, cut in half lengthways and seeds scraped out
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 2 tablespoons clear honey
• 40g self-raising flour
• 40g plain flour
• 1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 25g cocoa powder
• 50g ground almonds
• 250g raw beetroot, peeled and finely grated
• 100ml strong black coffee
• 30ml sunflower oil
For the topping
• 150g good-quality dark chocolate
• 3 tablespoons strong black coffee
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 3 tablespoons clear honey
METHOD
How to cook beetroot chocolate fudge cake
1. Preheat a conventional oven to 160ºC, or a fan-assisted one to 140ºC. With the help of a brush and a tiny bit of sunflower oil, grease the surface of a round 20cm diameter by 8cm high loose-bottomed tin and set aside.
2. Melt the chocolate gently in a bowl over a pan of simmering water until all dissolved, then set aside to cool.
3. In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs with the sugar, the scraped-out vanilla seeds, the maple syrup and the honey for three minutes with an electric hand whisk until pale and quite fluffy.
4. Gently fold in the flours, bicarbonate of soda, salt, cocoa and ground almonds until fully incorporated.
5. Using some kitchen paper, dab the grated beetroot thoroughly to remove some of the excess moisture. Fold in the beetroot, cooled chocolate, coffee and oil with the help of a spatula until thoroughly mixed together.
6. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and cook in the middle of the oven for 1 hour 30 minutes. After this time, cover the cake with foil and bake for another 30 minutes.
7. Test the cake by inserting a skewer into the centre to see if it comes out clean (although this cake is so moist that even when the cake is fully cooked, the skewer comes out looking slightly messy). Leave to cool on a wire rack.
8. To make the fudge topping, melt the chocolate gently in a bowl over a pan of simmering water, then remove from the heat and add the coffee and the vanilla essence.
9. At this stage the chocolate will seize up slightly, but it will relax back once you add the honey and gently mix in.
Tip: Leave yourself plenty of time to make this cake because it is quite a lengthy recipe.
And don't panic when you go to the loo as my OH did. That was just plain beetroot ;D ;D ;D.
Have you seen her Red Velvet Chocolate Heartache book. LOads of recipes using squash, turnips, beetroot etc & most recipes are gluten free for those that need it.
Gadget
I'm in the process of making your delicious-sounding chocolate beetroot fudge cake, as we have lots of beetroot. We have been asked to a birthday picnic tomorrow with French friends from our village, so I am taking this as the birthday cake (by request), also a big mincemeat and apricot bread and butter pud for one of the desserts.
I've amassed all the ingredients, but was surprised at the small amount of flour - hope it is correct! It's clearly going to be a very rich and scrummy cake!
Thanks for posting the recipe.
Peanuts
Peanuts
Can you please post your recipe for mincemeat and apricot bread and butter pud. Thanks
YL
Anne
Anne, we've just got in late from one birthday meal with French friends, before we're off to the next one tomorrow, after church, so I won't be able to get round to giving you the B&B pud recipe till tomorrow evening! It's a mix of two very good recipes I do, or is it three, and is eaten cold. By tomorrow I'll be able to tell you just how nice it was. Tomorrow is also the 103rd birthday of my still fairly active and completely with-it mum, in UK. We won't be there to celebrate with her, but all the rest of the family will be.
When you get the time will be fine. WOW!! 103 that's wonderful - hope she has a wonderful birthday.
YL Anne
Hi Gadget,
This is my fav cake for making and i am making it at the end of the month however i need to swap the almonds for something else as one of the guests has a bad nut allergy.
Have you tried it without the almonds or swapped in for anything??
Someone suggested polenta??
Cam
Does it actually make you thin - after eating as much as poss of course.
Gadget, your chocolate beetroot cake was a great success today, as the birthday cake - as I hope you can see, as at last I think I've managed to put up a photo beside my messages! The lady in question was 28 but I only had 4 candles, so they represented 4 x 7 years! I also took the dessert, my own version of a bread and butter pudding, which, although I say it, was SUPERB and much appreciated. I'm posting the recipe separately.
The recipe does use quite a lot of chocolate! Luckily, we have a major Lindt factory our the nearest town so I can get the 100gm bars of plain dark choc (70%, 85% or even 99%) for €1!
You might not be able to see it very well, but I decorated it with beautiful mixed white, milk and dark choc balls I bought locally. They are very nice and stay beautifully crispy.
Cam, I would suggest you try with polenta, or semolina, or ground rice, perhaps adding just a little more liquid, and see how it works out.
Finally, I have absolutely no idea how this cake would make anyone thin!! But it was delicious.
Peanuts
Its not going to make you thin but if you must have cake then this one has 1/3 less calories then a simular one so its not going to make you as fat :)
Thanks ladies i will give it a go ordered a proper birthday cake just in case a 3d car with licence plate "PAUL 40" HEHE :)
Peanuts, your cake looks wonderful ;D, very glad you enjoyed it, and cam I would suggest semolina or ground rice they are great alternatives to ground almonds.. and i suspect this cake wouldn't make you thinm, but as it is so rich you don't need very much so maybe that's the way forward :)