Beetroot & Chocolate Cake

I borrowed this book in the library called “Have your cake and eat it too” by Sally Bee. I fell in love with this cake because it’s such an unusual combination. The earthy taste of beetroot combined goes really well with dark chocolate, have a go and see for yourself!

Cooking time: 15 mins preparation + 45 mins baking time

What's in it: Olive oil instead of butter; beetroot and dark chocolate are a good source of antioxidants and potassium. So it’s not all that bad!

Ingredients: 50 g cocoa powder 175 g plain flower 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder 200 g golden caster sugar 250 g cooked beetroot (keep juice) 3 eggs 200 ml olive oil 100g plain dark chocolate, finely chopped 170 g icing sugar Juice of ½ lemon Half-fat crème fraȋche to serve

Preparation: Preheat oven to 180ºC . Grease a 23cm cake tin slightly and line the base with baking paper. Sift the cocoa, flour and baking powder into a large bowl. Add sugar and mix with a wooden spoon. Drain the beetroot, reserving the juice, then put the beetroot in a food processor along with the eggs and olive oil and blitz until smooth. Add beetroot mixture to the large bowl and mix in with a wooden spoon until it forms a smooth batter. Add chopped chocolate and combine well. Then pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin. Bake for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Cool in the tin for about 5 minutes, then transfer onto a rack to cool. To make the purple icing, mix the icing sugar with a little beetroot juice and lemon juice. Drizzle the icing over the cake and serve with a spoon of crème fraȋche. ----- About this blog This blog is about family cooking. It's important to get together for family meals however finding healthy recipes for kids and adults can be difficult. Here are some ideas for quick and easy family meals that toddlers and grown-ups will love. They are well balanced, healthy family recipes, however they can be tweaked for fussy eaters or spiced up for a more sophisticated adult palate. In addition to the healthy family recipes, I'm publishing some of my knitting and crochet patterns for toddler toys and accessories.