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Recipes
Chocolate & Beetroot Cake

Chocolate & Beetroot Cake

Serves:
12
Course:
Baking Cakes and Biscuits, Dessert
Prep:
20 mins
Cook:
40 mins
Total time:
60 mins

Rich, fudgy, and packed with a deep chocolate flavour, this sweet cake gets an unexpected twist from beetroot. The earthy sweetness enhances the cocoa while keeping the cake irresistibly moist. You’d never guess there’s a vegetable hiding in this indulgent treat!

Credited to: Coeliac UK

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Nutritional Information

  • Protein
    5.8g
  • Carbohydrates
    53.4g
  • Fibre
    5.7g
  • Fat
    31.3g
  • Sugars
    31.9g

Ingredients

  • 200g butter, plus extra for greasing 
  • 250g-300g cooked and peeled beetroot
  • 200g gluten free dark chocolate*
  • 60ml boiling water 
  • 2tbsp instant coffee 
  • 135g gluten free plain flour*
  • 1½ tsp gluten free baking powder*   
  • 3 tbsp cocoa powder  
  • 5 eggs, separated 
  • 200g caster sugar   
  • 50g cooked beetroot (reserved from the cake ingredients)  
  • 125g butter 
  • 250g icing sugar 
  • 2 tsp vanilla essence 

* Check Coeliac UK's Food and Drink Information for suitable products

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 160°C fan/180°C/Gas Mark 4. Grease a 23cm (9in) cake tin with a little butter and line the bottom of the tin with a disc of baking parchment and pieces around the side

  2. Blend the beetroot in a food processor to a purée, if you are going to make the beetroot icing reserve 50g of the beetroot puree for later

  3. Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of hot water (do not allow the bottom of the bowl to touch the water). Now add the instant coffee to boiling water and then add that to the melted chocolate

  4. Stir the butter into the chocolate and leave to melt, then remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly

  5. Meanwhile, sift the gluten free flour, baking powder and cocoa together in a bowl and set aside

  6. Separate the eggs. Whisk the yolks in a bowl until frothy. Stir the egg yolks into the chocolate and butter mixture, then fold in the beetroot puree.

  7. Whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold in the sugar to the egg whites

  8. Fold the sugar and egg whites into the chocolate mixture, then fold in the flour and cocoa mixture

  9. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake for 40 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool in the tin

  10. To make the frosting, beat together the softened butter, icing sugar and beetroot puree and vanilla until incorporated and light and fluffy

  11. When cake is completely cooled, top with frosting, finish with the optional chocolate and freeze dried raspberries

Cooks tip

The beetroot icing puree is optional to the recipe. If you are making it, be sure to reserve 50g of the cooked beetroot from the cake ingredients.

 

Including the beetroot, the puree uses 125g butter, 250g icing sugar, 2 tsp vanilla essence.