Grated beetroot and chocolate bake into a rich purple-spotted dark brown cake.

Sweet, moist, wicked cake

I came across this cool recipe last week, when I was looking at a general recipe site. As carrot cake is my great favorite, I had to try this! Most recipes I saw use oil; this one had butter and buttermilk. The batter has a wonderful purple color, and the baked cake has little dark red spots; beautiful.

Preparing the cake

Start by putting everything ready on the worktop. Grease the two spring forms and dust them with cocoa powder. Grate the cooked and peeled beetroot in a food processor until very small, but not yet a puree. Melt the chocolate and keep melted until used. Sift flour into a bowl, add the salt.

Combine butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla in a large bowl and beat on high speed into a light mass. At medium speed now, add the molten chocolate. Then add flour, alternating with buttermilk. Lastly add the grated beetroot, and continue beating for about a minute.
Pour into the two waiting cake tins.

Baking

Bake the cakes at 180°C for about 60 to 65 minutes. After 40 minutes, put a piece of alu foil or baking paper on the tops to prevent burning. The cakes will not rise much and the tops will crack. When ready (test with a skewer) leave to cool 5 minutes in an opened oven, then remove spring forms, as the sides will be sticky. Turn the cakes onto a cake rack and leave to cool completely before assembling. The cooled cakes will have flat tops.

While baking, make candied beetroot

Slice a cooked and peeled beetroot into 3 mm thick slices. Put these into a saucepan with the water and sugar. Cook these on low heat for about 45 minutes, when the sugar-water will form a hissing, boiling syrup. Remove pan from the heat; leave to cool for a few minutes, then remove the sliced beets onto a piece of baking paper to cool and dry completely. When dry, cut into fine strips: "julienne".

Assembling the cake

Cream the margarine with the yoghurt; then add the sugar and beat at high speed to combine. Put one cake on a stand that is easy to turn around. Spread a layer of frosting on top of this cake. Gently put the second cake on top. Spread the frosting on top of this, then add dollops of frosting to the side. Keep adding until you can fill the gaps with the swipe of a knife, turning the cake as you go.

Scatter the beetroot julienne on top. Put the cake in a cool place or the fridge to firm up the frosting. Serve at room temperature.

This is a heavy, moist and sweet chocolate cake. I had no idea that beetroot could go so well with chocolate.