Wonderful Chocolate Beet Cake
Chef Hana made this wholesome recipe using some lovely warming spices and orange that works really well with beetroot and chocolate. It’s a nut-free recipe where she used some ground sunflower seeds in her gluten-free mix which adds more lightness, moisture and extra flavour.
Beets are roasted to make the puree, and you could also boil or steam them which is usually faster if you first cut them into quarters.
Hana embellished the cake with some gorgeous rosemary sprigs and borage flowers which together with few blackberries made a lovely topping. Very simple yet so feminine and pretty. And then Hana realized that her cake needed something burgundy since it’s a beetroot cake so she added a pansy too :) Just that one flower has created a very different more Autumnal mood she thinks. Enjoy the recipe.
Serves: 6" layer cake
Ingredients:
Layer cake:
95g brown rice flour (3/4 cup)
35g buckwheat flour (1/4 cup)
70g sunflower seeds, ground into flour consistency (1/2 cup)
30g tapioca flour (1/4 cup)
30g cacao powder (1/4 cup)
1tsp baking powder
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
2tsp cinnamon
1tsp ground ginger
½tsp ground cardamom
¼tsp ground cloves
pinch sea salt
100g rapadura sugar (3/4 cup)
1 orange, zest
2tbsp ground flaxseed + 6tbsp water
240ml beet puree (1 cup)
80ml olive oil (1/3 cup)
80ml orange juice (1/3 cup) +more as needed
2tsp apple cider vinegar
1tsp vanilla
Chocolate ganache: (make the night before)
200g dark vegan chocolate (7oz) I've used Amore di Mona
240ml oat cream (1 cup)
1tbsp maple syrup (optional)
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 180°C (350F)
Grease and line the base and dust the sides of two 6" round cake baking tins.
Mix 2tbsp ground flaxseed with 6tbsp water and set aside to thicken.
In a large bowl whisk together brown rice flour, buckwheat flour, ground sunflower seeds, tapioca flour, cacao powder, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, cloves, salt and sugar. Add zest of 1 orange and set aside.
In a small bowl whisk together flax eggs, beet puree, olive oil, orange juice, apple cider vinegar and vanilla.
Add the wet mix to the dry mix and mix until well combined. You should have thicker muffin consistency. Add more orange juice if needed.
Spoon the mixture evenly into your prepared tins and level out the surface.
Bake for about 35 to 40 minutes or until a cocktail stick comes out clean, it might still be little sticky.
Remove from the oven once ready and leave to cool down for 20 min before removing from the tins.
Roughly chop the chocolate for the chocolate ganache and place into a medium bowl.
Place the oat cream and maple syrup into a small pot and gently heat until boiling point.
Pour over the chopped chocolate and stir until completely melted and smooth.
Leave to cool down before placing into a fridge to set overnight into a spreadable consistency.
Once the cakes are completely cool, you can assemble the cake.
Place the bottom layer onto a cake stand and using spatula spread with some chocolate ganache.
Top with the second cake layer and frost the sides and top of the cake.
Decorate your cake to your liking with fresh seasonal fruit and flowers.
Enjoy!