Beetroot’s earthy sweetness goes incredibly well with bittersweet chocolate. The beetroot lends a complex and wholesome flavour to the cake that helps relieve the guilt of eating such a scrumptious sweet.
Waste not: Beetroot is a delicious, sweet and earthy vegetable. That earthiness and full flavour carries up the stalks and into the leaves. Keep the leaves and stalks to accompany or replace kale and chard. Boil the beets whole. When the beet is soft the thin layer of skin will rub off easily, this way the beet will retain all its colour, and we will only waste a minimal amount.
Ingredients
180g dark chocolate 70% + 125g butter 3 whole eggs 180g caster sugar 150g beetroot, boiled
Method
1) Pre-heat the oven to 150°c. Line a 6-inch baking tray or round tin with unbleached baking parchment. find a larger tin that the lined tin can sit in, to make a bain-marie.
2) Melt the chocolate and butter gently in a bain-marie. Whilst the chocolate is melting beat the eggs and sugar together for 5 minutes until they have at least doubled in volume.
3) Puree the beetroot in a blender with the melted chocolate. Be careful not to blend the mixture too much or you might split the chocolate. Fold the chocolate and beetroot into the eggs.
4) Pour the mix into the cake tin. Then set it into the larger tin, and put into the oven. Boil the kettle and pour water into the outer tin ¾ up the side. This will protect the cake from the intense heat of the oven.
5) Cook in the oven for about 30 minutes until it is just set. Remove, allow to cool, and then refrigerate. Slice when cold and serve with crème fraîche.