Do you have a pen pal who sends you recipes? I do!! Her name is Emma. She is completely on the other side of the world, she loves to do crazy things (e.g. swim across the entire Cook Strait sans wetsuit and tramp for extended periods of time), and she is an excellent cook/baker. Plus she is just the sweetest, prettiest, kiwi.
Recently, Emma sent me some inspiration for:
Beet Root Cake, which shall henceforth be called…
Emma’s Cake
(print this recipe)
Preheat oven to 160 Celsius (aka. 320 Fahrenheit for us this side of the pond).
Grease or line a 20 cm pan (aka. 8×8 “).
Whisk 1/2 c. oil + 1/4 c. applesauce (or just 3/4 c. oil and omit sauce) with 3/4 c. brown sugar, and 2 lg. eggs.
Grate a 300 g fresh beet (I used 3x small beets of about 100 g each) and add to egg mix.
In a separate bowl, whisk 1.25 c. flour, 1 t. each baking soda and baking powder, 2 t. cinnamon, 1/3 c. cocoa powder, a pinch of salt.
Combine egg/beet mix to flour mix (don’t overmix) and stir in 3/4 c. craisins (or raisins).
Bake 45-50 minutes.
Serve with plain yogurt or ice cream.
On its own, this cake is not a majorly sweet-tooth-satisfying. But it is tasty…and dairy free! As mentioned, a side of ice cream would put it in the dessert category, while yogurt might be more appropriate for a lighter snack or tea time treat. Since I did not have any ice cream or yogurt, I went with an easy light cream cheese frosting: Beat 3 oz light cream cheese with 1 c. powdered sugar and spread over cooled cake. Plus, red wine.
Perfect.