The goodness of beets and the bitter sweet taste of cocoa powder combine for a tasty delight.
By Priya Sreeram
Can anyone guess that this cake has red beet in it? Yup it does and when the goodness of the root veggie and the bitter sweet taste of the cocoa powder combine with the other ingredients the result is a tasty delight. 
What makes Beets the zing thing in this cake is that they contain trytophan- the feel good chemical found in chocolates and hence it’s addictive and deserves repeated serve; also beets has the highest sugar content than any vegetable (as much as 10 %) and unlike chocolates where the sugar rush is immediate, the sugar released from the beets to the body is gradual. (Source : lovebeets)
Verdict
The cake’s a winner; the surprise element of beetroot in it is a definite plus. Yup, I will be making it again and again with a few other modifications.
Beety Chocolate Cake
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: 3 1x
Description
Sweet Beets, Cocoa and Chocolates = Tasty Delight
Ingredients
- 1 Medium sized beetroot – approx 80 -100 grams
- Plain Flour – 100 grams
- Cocoa Powder – 25 grams
- Drinking Chocolate – 25 grams
- Egg – 1
- Baking Powder – 3/4 to 1 tbsp
- Salt – a pinch
- Vanila Essence – 1 tsp
- Castor Sugar – 125 grams
- Sunflower Oil – 100 ml
- Dark Chocolate – 50 grams – approx- roughly chopped
- Nuts – roughly chopped – a fistful (blend of pistachios and almonds)
Instructions
- Heat oven to 170 C. Keep the cake tin greased & lined.
- Wash the beetroot well and cook it in a pressure cooker up to 2 whistles or till it becomes soft. Do not peel the skin Gently scrape off the skin and give it a quick blitz in the blender for the roughly chopped texture.
- Tip the beetroot into a mixing bowl, add a pinch of salt and the rest of the ingredients, except the oil,chocolate & the nuts . I used an electric hand-mixer to blend everything till it came together. When completely mixed, add the oil in a steady stream and give it a quick whip or two.
- Finally stir in the chocolate and the nuts, then tip the mix into the lined cake tin.
- Cook for 45-50 minutes or till an inserted skewer comes out practically clean.
- Leave the loaf to cool on a rack. Serve in slices with cream or savour it as such.
Notes
Instead of cooking the beet you can grate the raw beets and add it to the mix
If you are cooking the beet, make sure to cook it whole without removing the skin, otherwise there will be too much bleeding of the red colour
You can make the cake eggless by substituting flax-seeds in place of egg.
If the mix is too thick use a spoon or two of milk to bring it to a nice consistency
If you do not have store-bought castor sugar, make your own by pulsing granulated sugar for a few minutes in a food processor
The cake stays fresh and moist if refrigerated ; make sure to keep the dish/box closed while putting it off in the fridge. My guess is there would be no left-overs !!!!
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 50 mins
looks amazing priya! love the recipe :)
Thanks suchi ; the recipe is courtesy BBC Good Food, which I forgot to mention in my post; cheers