A cake made with beetroot?

My challenge to use up every single item of the Church Farm Fruit and Veg Box continues.  I'm not alone (surely) in rooting round the box for some onions, only to find a couple of wizened bits of veg, caked in mud and not very appetising.  I confess they often end up in the compost...

Well, that's not going to happen to the lovely beetroot in my box (two weeks ago). And what better reward for such careful use of resources (a quality I now want to name 'parsnipmony') than a tea-time treat.

So you've heard of carrot cake, but a cake made with beetroot?  All credit to West Midlands National Trust.  They have been using archive material to develop traditional menus, which are historically linked to the property, but which 'still appeal to the modern palate'.  Their cake recipes make use of the winter sweetness of parsnip, pumpkin and beetroot, as well as more obvious harvest fruit, such as pears, and apples.


Part of their period charm is the imperial measurements, which I have supplemented with metric equivalents.  Since this is an amateur cooking blog, I proudly include a photo of the cake, with a slightly 'carmelised' top: it does make a nice crust to bite into. The beetroot gives a lovely, rosy tinge to the cake and contributes to its moistness, while at the same time, making the fudginess of the chocolate not too cloying.

One more semantic tip.  You can call this a cake and cover it with a icing, made of equal parts butter and chocolate. You can call it a loaf (my preferred version) and if it gets a little dry after two days, smear it with some butter. Or you can use 5 separated eggs, serve it with creme fraiche and call it a pudding, which is Nigel Slater's version - see the link below if you want to try it! (The National Trust recipe doesn't pre-cook the beetroot, and is easier!)

Beetroot Chocolate Loaf

Ingredients
TIP: The addition of raw grated beetroot gives this cake a lovely moist texture as well as a fresher flavour than cooked beetroot. Use a really good dark chocolate with a cocoa fat % of 70%.

8oz (230g)SR flour
1oz (30g) cocoa powder,
1 tsp baking powder
4oz (115g)caster sugar,
Pinch of salt
3oz (85g) dark chocolate melted,
3oz (85g) butter melted
4oz (115g) raw grated beetroot peeled weight
2 eggs beaten

Method

1. Heat the oven to GM4/180’C/350’F. Grease and line a 2lb-loaf tin.
2. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking powder.
3. Stir in the sugar, beetroot, melted chocolate and butter and the eggs.
4. Turn into the tin and bake for 50-60 minutes until firm on top and an inserted skewer comes out clean.

You can find more National Trust 'rooty cake recipes' here.

You can find the Nigel Slater's version here.