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So apparently there was an election ’round these parts. Snort. I can’t truthfully say that since I’m not a US citizen, I wasn’t paying attention, but I can say it was nice to not live in one of the so-called battleground states. And it’s brilliant that we don’t have cable.
So instead of voting, I made a cake. The idea was to make a cake with no processed sugar. The intention was there. Unfortunately, the maple syrup was not. Once I got over the heresy of running out of maple syrup, I got a little creative and came up with something beautiful. And ever so slightly pink.
The recipe was adapted from Aimée over at Simple Bites, where she was running an unprocessed food series for the month of October. So naturally I found the one of the few things (probably) that was the least healthy. But it was yummy.
Dark Chocolate Beet Bundt Cake
2 large beets, cooked and cooled (or 3 medium)
1/2 cup s=unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1/2 cup olive oil
1 cup honey
1/4 cup brown sugar (I was all out of maple syrup!)
3 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup unbleached, preferably organic, white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour, preferably organic
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp. sea salt
NB: My fave method of cooking beets for something like this is to wrap them in foil and roast for about 1 hour, maybe longer if your beets are really big, at 350F. Take them out when soft-ish (you can squeeze the foil to check) and let them cool. When you need to peel and grate them later in this recipe, you can do all that over the foil and clean-up is muy easy.
Pre-heat oven to 350F. Butter bundt pan and dust with cocoa. Grate beets with box grater and measure out two cups (I was a little over and didn’t sweat it). Transfer to a colander and let drain bit. Mix together butter, olive oil, honey and sugar until well blended. Add eggs, one at time, beating after each addition. Sift together dry ingredients and gently fold into wet ingredients. Do not over mix! Fold in beets until well-distributed and scrape into bundt pan. Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until wooden skewer comes out clean.
Pretty, no?
The Verdict: Rich, earthy and comforting. Yes, you can taste the beets but I didn’t find it overpowering. For for my taste, I’d rather have maple syrup instead of so much honey, so at some point I’ll follow the original a bit more closely (we’re dry and high here in Desert Town, USA, so I usually have to alter things because my dry ingredients are, well, drier).
You can find the original recipe here.
life composing 