BEETNIK RECIPES: vegetarian cooking

I decided to finally make and share this recipe for beetnik cake: a chocolate and beet cake with subtle flavor and beautiful color. It goes well with raspberries (the batter even smells like raspberries) and chocolate ganache.

While the name of this blog has nothing to do with the cake with the same name, the two undeniably share a name. Plus, beetnik cakes are made with real beets, so this should be of interest to most veg cooks.

Thanks to Vegalicious for providing the inspiration and recipe!

Ingredients:

•3 large beets (to make 1 & 1/2 cups pureed beets)
•3 eggs *egg substitute to make vegan
•3/4 and 2 Tbs cup vegetable oil
•1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
•1 tsp vanilla extract
•2 cups all purpose flour
•1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
•1 1/2 tsp baking powder
•pinch of salt

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425º F.
2. Wash the beets, trim the ends off and cut in half. Place in a large baking dish and add a little water to steam them.
3. Cover in foil and bake for 30-45 minutes, or until the beets are easily pierced with a knife.
4. After letting the beets cool some, slip off the skins under running water.
5. Puree the beets in a medium bowl.
6. Add eggs, oil, sugar and vanilla and mix well.
7. In a large bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt.
8. Add the beet mixture to the flour mixture and stir until thoroughly combined – thickness should be similar to a brownie batter. You can add up to 1/4 cup water if too thick.
9. Pour the batter into a prepared (oiled and dusted with flour) 8 x 9 baking dish and place in the preheated oven to bake for 30-40 minutes. The cake is done when the center of the cake springs back.
10. Let the cake cool for 10 minutes before removing and transferring to a cooling rack. Let the cake fully cool before preparing (cutting, forming, frosting, etc.).

Serving Suggestion:

This cake has been layered with a raspberry filling in the middle and slathered with a bittersweet chocolate ganache. Of course, the decorative aspects are completely up to you! But, whatever you decide, get creative and ambitious! I NEVER bake and I managed to do this, which, in my humble opinion, looks AND tastes pretty great!

Tips:

•The beet puree can be made in advance. So if you want to spread out the cake prep, that’s a great project to do ahead of time.
•This cake works great if you cut into thin layers and layer with a rich and sweet filling (such as raspberry filling or ganache). It also goes well with walnuts which you could just add to the batter before baking.
•Use cake scraps to mold 3-D design, using ganache as both glue and primer. Then mix butter cream or another white frosting with food coloring to serve as paint.