I made you a cake! Well, technically, I made it for my mother’s birthday dinner a few years back, but I always have your interests at heart, too, dear reader. Since the serving of said cake, it remains the most requested treat in my baking repertoire. I hope you don’t mind that it has a vegetable in it. With the obvious exceptions like carrot cake and pumpkin or zucchini bread, I am admittedly uninterested when I see unusual ingredients, such as beets, in a dessert recipe. But, when Nigel Slater does it, I gladly reconsider.
Ingredients
- 250 grams beets, rinsed and scrubbed to remove dirt
- 200 grams semisweet or dark chocolate (60-70% cacao solids), chopped if not chocolate chips
- 4 tablespoons hot coffee (or water, if you don’t feel like making coffee)
- 200 grams room-temperature butter, cut into small pieces (the smaller the better)
- 135 grams flour (I used an all-purpose gluten-free flour mix)
- 1 heaping teaspoon baking powder
- 3 tablespoons cacao powder/unsweetened cocoa powder
- 5 eggs, separated at room temperature
- 190 grams sugar (roughly one cup)
- Crème fraîche and poppy seeds to serve
Preparation
Start by cooking the beets, whole and unpeeled, in boiling water until they’re very tender. You want them to be “knifepoint tender” which will take 30-45 minutes. Younger beets might take less time. While the beets are cooking, gather and measure the other ingredients.
When the beets are done, drain them, then let them cool under cold running water. Cut off the stem and root, peel them, then, as Nigel instructs, “blitz to a rough purée” in a food processor.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Lightly butter an 8 or 8 1/2 inch springform pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.
Melt the chocolate, which should be chopped into small pieces if you’re not using chocolate chips, in a small bowl that’s resting over a pot of simmering water. Stir as little as possible.
When the chocolate is nearly melted, pour the hot coffee or water over it and give it a quick stir. Only one or two stirs will do. Turn the heat to low, then add the cubed butter to the melted chocolate, pressing the butter into the chocolate with a spoon to soften. Don’t stir.
Sift together the flour, cacao powder, and baking powder in a separate bowl. Separate the eggs, and be sure to put the egg whites in a larger mixing bowl. Stir the yolks together.
Remove the bowl of chocolate from heat, and stir until the butter has completely melted into the chocolate. Let this beautiful mixture sit for a few minutes to cool, then stir in the egg yolks. Work quickly, mixing firmly and evenly so the eggs blend into the mixture. Next, just fold in the beets.
Using a hand-mixer, whip the egg whites until stiff. Fold the sugar into the whipped egg whites with a spatula. Then, using a large metal spoon, fold the egg whites/sugar into the melted chocolate mixture — careful not to overtax. Finally, fold in the flour and cacao powder. (Cue David and Moira Rose dialogue from Schitt’s Creek.)
Scrape the batter into the prepared cake tin and put it in the oven, turning the heat down to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake the cake for 40 minutes, or until the rim of the cake is set/ spongy and the center still a little wobbly when shaken.
Let the cake cool completely — loosening it around the edges with a dinner knife after 30 minutes or so. Don’t remove the cake from its pan until it’s completely cool. Serve in thick slices, with a smear of crème fraîche and a sprinkle of poppy seeds.
I stored the leftover cake in the refrigerator for a whole week, but the cake tasted best on the second and third days.
From Tender, Volume I: A cook and his vegetable patch
