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As much as we love to cook savory dishes and bake desserts, we can’t ignore the fact that we need to stay healthy while we are at it. So, what’s the best choice to have it both ways? Hide vegetables in plain sight! I have been looking at the Chocolate Beet Cake recipe for quite a while now… I always wondered if the beet (that is sweet but has a bitterish after flavor to it) would be good for baking. Then I found a recipe by Straight From The Farm. Later on I would see Beet Chocolate Cakes pop on my feeds and decided it was the universe telling me I should bake it. I decided to try the recipe by Pastry Affair, since it calls for cocoa powder instead of chocolate since it’s what I had handy.

This cake will not disappoint, I am telling you, my dad is a chocolate lover. He likes the Chocolate Cake recipe that I learned to make in 5th grade  and there is no recipe that can compare to that one… Until this one came along! The only thing I would leave out is the cinnamon. It was what gave it away! We had dinner that night, then time for dessert and after he went through his slice, turned to me and the conversation went something like this:

– “The cake is good, but there’s something different in it”
– “Yes, keep going”
– “Chocolate, did you use the same?”
– “Yes”
– “Fruit, something fruity… and Cinnamon. Why Cinnamon?”

And that’s where he broke me. Told him that he was right, the cinnamon was one of the ingredients but I could’ve done without it and that the fruity something that he was mentioning was beets. He instantly smiled in surprise, said that it was good and walked away. For me, that’s mission accomplished.

Kitty

Chocolate Beet Cake

Recipe by Pastry Affair
Yield: 1 10-inch cake

Ingredients:
4 medium beets, or enough for 2 cups pureed beets
1 cup butter, softened
1 ½ cups dark brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup cocoa powder
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of salt
ganache and sprinkles for decoration

Directions:

1. Trim stems and roots from beets. Scrub the beets well but do not peel.
2. Arrange the beets inside the pressure cooker and add water until reaches about a third of the height of the beets.
3. Bring the water to a boil, lock the lid in place and bring to pressure over high heat. Lower the heat just enough to maintain high pressure. Cook the beets 12 to 15 minutes–the larger the beets, the more cooking time. Remove from the heat and allow the pressure to come down naturally. Check the owner’s manual for more precise directions.
4. Drain liquid and remove skin. Place beets in a food processor and process until beets are pureed. Reserve 2 cups puree.
5. Preheat oven to 350ºF, grease and flour your baking pan.
6. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
7. Add the eggs one at a time, beating to incorporate them perfectly after each addition.
8. Beat in vanilla and beet puree.
9. In a separate bowl, sift the cocoa powder, flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
10. Stir into the beet batter until well combined.
11. Pour batter into prepared baking pan, and bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
12. Cool in pan for 15 minutes, then remove from pan to cool completely on a cooling rack.
13. Add ganache after the cake has cooled completely and add colored sprinkles.

Have you made this recipe?

Please let me know how it turned out for you! Leave a comment below and share a picture with the hashtag #thefoodieskitchen!

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This post is also available in / Esta entrada también está disponible en ESPAÑOL (SPANISH)