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The weekend is always a good opportunity to post a cake on the blog, because I think people often have more time or desire to bake in the weekend. I usually bake when I come up with an idea, or when I get a sudden craving for something. Then I often know that I will succeed no matter what!
I am not a real baker like many of my foodie friends like Sara, Trish, Maral, Fleur, Rishma, Mehwish and Ann with her amazing and beautiful buttercream flowers. They can really do things I can only dream of! So many other foodies are great with baking. And me? I like simple and tasty things. I sometimes decorate a cake or pie, but that’s when it’s someone’s birthday, or when I really like that person, haha.
The cake I present to you today is a cake that came from a craving, but I also made it to prevent food waste. The beets were a bit past their sell-by date, and I was really craving chocolate cake. Thus, this creamy baby was born! And once it cooled down I couldn’t wait to taste it. Before I knew it, half the cake was gone in one day.
And then I thought, let’s see if I can find fresh beets to bake and then use to make this cake again. So thought, so done! The taste was now even better, and I could keep my hands off the cake so we could take this beautiful picture!
And why did I want to find fresh beets? So I could also use this post for the Farm Veggies Collab I host with Roos on Instagram, to raise awareness about healthy fresh food, and to ask people to support their local food producers! I doubted whether I should share this recipe but I did because you really should try this one! This cake is also just so easy to make! Everyone who has tasted it likes it. My in-laws loved it, so it’s a perfect cake for when you have family over!
And if you’re really a big fan of beets, join me in the kitchen!
Ingredients
I used my largest baking pan. The cake will break open at the top, but that creates a nice ‘crater’ effect that you can easily use to present.
- 250 gr dark chocolate
- 80 gr white caster sugar
- 300 gr beets (from a package or baked in the oven according to the recipe)
- 3 eggs
- 140 gr flour
- 70 gr butter
- 110 ml kefir/Greek yogurt
- 100 ml milk
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoon instant coffee (optional)
Preparation
If you can find fresh beets, the flavor will be a lot more intense. Wash them, wrap them in enough aluminum foil and place in an oven preheated to 200 degrees. Bake them for an hour and a half and pierce the beets to see if they are cooked inside. Are they still undercooked after an hour and a half? Then bake them for another half hour. Larger beets really need 2 hours. Let the beets cool when they are cooked. You can then easily remove the skin. Don’t forget to cut the bottoms off the beets as well and put them in the fridge. It is best to do this a day in advance so that the beets can get a little more flavor during their night in the fridge.
Melt the chocolate together with bother au bain marie in a heatproof bowl. Keep it warm over a gentle heat until you need it. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Grease your baking pan with butter and sprinkle some flour in it. Turn the baking pan around so there is flour all over. Beat off the excess flour and set the mold aside.
Beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla extract in a stand mixer to a light yellow cream. This can take 5 to 9 minutes, but if you use a hand mixer it will take you at least 13 minutes or more. Meanwhile, in a food processor, grind the beets with the milk, and yogurt/kefir, until they form a creamy bright pink cream. There may be a few small pieces of beet left in the mix, but make sure there are no large pieces of beet left in it.
Fold the melted chocolate into the egg batter. Be careful not to take out all the air. It may seem difficult at first, but if you stir and fold gently with the spatula, the batter will begin to mix. Then add the beetroot mix and make sure it becomes a homogeneous batter. The batter will turn a very nice pink-brown.
Sift the flour with the baking soda, salt and baking powder over the batter and gently fold again until the flour is incorporated. Do not stir too much, otherwise the cake will become hard and less airy. Pour everything together into the baking pan and place in the oven for 35 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. A few dry crumbs on the toothpick is okay, but there should be no wet batter on it. Be careful not to let the cake get too dark on top. If you see that the top is getting dark too quickly, you can cover it with some aluminum foil so it doesn’t burn!
Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool for at least 2 hours before removing it from the pan. The longer you let it cool down, the easier it will be. You can decorate your cake with powdered sugar or serve it with a delicious fresh spoonful of mascarpone on top!
Voilà, a chocolate mousse and beet cake that will conquer your heart!
P.S: Not because it’s my own cake that I’m going to say this now, but after this cake I’ll never have to get chocolate cake from the bakery around the corner again!
The result
This is a cake that has not disappointed me and will really give you a new taste experience! As I said I’m not a real baker, but if I really feel like it, super fun creations come out and that makes me really happy!
What I like best about this cake is how moist it is, and that it’s not too sweet. I try to put very little sugar in my pastries. That’s why I advise you if you have a sweet tooth to add at least 50 grams more sugar to my recipes!
The beets also make this cake a bit sweeter, because they are sweet by nature! Did you know that beets are used to make sugar? They are good for our body in every way and are known for their many healthy nutrients. This cake also seems pretty healthy to me, doesn’t it?
Have you ever cooked with beets in any of your baking?
