Tuesday 1 May 2012

Fudgy chocolate beetroot cake

Ever made red velvet cake?  All the recipes I have seen vary from 1-2 tsp of red food colouring to 1-2 TABLESPOONS!!!!  Deary me.  Well to me this is screaming out to be 'renovated' and yes I couldn't resist the obvious opportunity to add some nutrition in there too ( ;
So here is my renovated red velvet cake - made with beetroot!!!!  Actually, as the story goes, these cakes were originally made with beetroot, before food colouring made their appearance!  The magic about this recipe is that you don't specifically taste the beetroot flavour, but what it adds is a depth of flavour (the earthiness of the beetroot pairs beautifully with the earthiness of chocolate) and a beautiful moist cake that will keep for days (if of course it can be resisted that long!).



The other benefits of this cake recipe over others is that, well, I can eat it (!!  It is GLUTEN FREE!) and also the absence of butter or oil.  Yes it does have chocolate in it but use a good quality 70% dark chocolate - and obviously I am not spruiking this as a 'health food' to eat every day for lunch!  At the end of the day it is a decadent cake, but with a few ingredients with health benefits, ie the almonds and beetroot, and without the artificial colourings.

Oh, and the other great thing about this choc beetroot cake recipe is that raw beetroot is used.  A lot of recipes out there ask you to cook the beetroot first and then it cooks again in the cake.  Apart from being too many steps for my liking (the simpler the better is my mantra) it also cooks the *!@$?! out of it, and would totally kill off all the water soluble nutrients in the vegetable!!

So, that's enough of the intro.... lets get cooking!!!

I, of course, made this in the Thermomix (the recipe was loosely based on the Swiss Carrot Cake recipe in the Gluten Free Thermomix cookbook) which made things very easy but I have also added the conventional method so everyone can whip this up for their next dinner party!

Fudgy Chocolate Beetroot Cake

Ingredients

300g raw almonds* (or almond meal for conventional method)
200g beetroot (peeled and quartered for Thermomix, otherwise peeled and finely grated)
200g dark chocolate (70% cocoa)
200g sugar
4 eggs (lightly whisked for conventional method)
80g gluten free cornflour
1 tsp baking powder

Thermomix method

  1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius.  Grease and line base of 20cm springform cake tin.
  2. Place almonds into TM bowl and mill for 15 seconds on speed 10.  Set aside.  No need to clean bowl.
  3. Put beetroot quarters in TM bowl and chop for 8-10 seconds on speed 5 (I just ran it until I could hear the blades were no longer chopping the beetroot).  Set aside.  Rinse out bowl and dry.
  4. Break up chocolate into small pieces and place in TM bowl.  Chop for 5-6 seconds on speed 8.  Heat for 2 minutes/50 degrees/speed 3.
  5. Add all ingredients in with the chocolate and mix for 10 seconds on speed 7.  Scrape down sides of bowl and remix for a couple more seconds if necessary.
  6. Pour into prepared cake tin and bake for 40-50 minutes.  Cake should lightly spring back in middle when cooked or use a skewer (will be slightly fudgy on the skewer).
  7. Allow to cool in cake tin.  Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or natural yogurt. 

Conventional method

  1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius.  Grease and line base of 20cm springform cake tin.
  2. Place chocolate in a dry bowl sitting over a saucepan of simmering water.  Ensure no moisture can get into the bowl.  Stir until melted.
  3. In a large bowl place almond meal, grated beetroot, and remaining ingredients, including melted chocolate.  Stir with a wooden spoon until thoroughly mixed.
  4. Pour into prepared cake tin and bake for 40-50 minutes.  Cake should lightly spring back in the middle when cooked or use a skewer (will be slightly fudgy on the skewer).
  5. Allow to cool in cake tin.  Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or natural yogurt.

 Notes:
  • This mix can also be made into cupcakes.  Use the mini cupcake papers for portion control for kids (big kids too!!)   

*UPDATE:  I tested this recipe using sunflower seeds in place of the nuts and it worked beautifully, making this a great alternative for people needing to avoid nuts!

16 comments:

  1. This is the most amazing, smooth, delicious ....but healthy fudge cake I've ever tasted. The yonger ones eating my dessert didn't have any idea that it had 'good stuff' in it!!!

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    Replies
    1. Thankyou! The flavour is surprising isn't it? Good to hear the littlies are enjoying beetroot!!! ( ;

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  2. Looking forward to try out this recipe. How long do you bake it for, if made into cupcakes?

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    Replies
    1. Hi!
      For normal size cupcakes they take about 20 mins at 180 degrees. Obviously this may vary with each oven but as a guide allow 20 mins. They will still be moist at this time as it is a moist cake however should hold their shape when lightly pressed and not 'batter' texture when tested with a skewer, if that makes sense?!
      Would love to hear how you get on!

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  3. Thanks. They are very yummy! I should freeze some to stop the temptation :) I added less sugar than above.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh thankyou for the feedback! I will reduce the sugar next time I make it and make a note on the post. Always happy to reduce sugar in recipes!!!

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  4. I made this last night to use up some beetroot that was languishing in the bottom of the fridge. It was delicious and I'll definitely be making again. Have been looking for a good gluten free chocolate beetroot cake recipes for a while. I made it in some mini loaf tins which my husband bought me for Christmas and I've been looking for an excuse to use them.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for your feedback! I'm so glad you enjoyed them and a great idea to make in mini loaf tins. I use mine all the time for everything from cakes to mini bread loaves. Actually my gluten free cheese and herb loaf could be made as mini loaves and would be a great lunch idea! http://mellymaks.blogspot.com.au/2012/06/gluten-free-cheese-and-herb-loaf.html

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  8. Hi Mel

    If gluten is not an issue, can the cornflour be substituted for white spelt flour? Or would true arrowroot also work? A lot of cornflour is actually made from wheat (Nurses for example) so I imagine one has to look for cornflour made from corn? Cheers

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi!
      Thanks for your question. Good point - not all cornflours are gluten free so it is definitely something to check if on a gluten free diet. I'll amend the recipe to clearly state that. ( :
      Yes, white spelt or arrowroot would also work. The spelt may make it a slightly heavier cake although having said that, 80g isnt a huge amount of flour and the cake is quite dense anyway so it may not be as noticeable.
      Cheers!

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  9. Hi, I'm wanting to cook some beetroot chocolate cupcakes with my primary school cooking class - but of course, I can't use almonds (or other nuts). Do you think if I substituted shredded coconut or flour for the almond meal it would work?

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    Replies
    1. Hi Melissa. I tried this recipe using sunflower seeds in place of the almonds and it worked beautifully. Given I haven't tried shredded coconut or flour I couldn't say for sure how they would turn out but I would probably suggest flour out of those two options and just be mindful of possibly needing to add a little milk or water to the mix.
      ( :

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  10. Thank you for this recipe! I've made a few times and my family LOVE it!!

    ReplyDelete