Chocolate and Beetroot Fudge Cake Recipe

Yield: 12 slices
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour, plus chilling and setting time

Ingredients

For the cake:

• 200g dark chocolate
• 3 eggs
• 250g light muscovado sugar
• 1 tsp LittlePod vanilla paste or 1 vanilla pod
• 7 tablespoons of clear honey
• 2 tsp LittlePod chocolate extract
• 40g self-raising flour
• 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 50g ground almonds
• 300g/10oz. raw beetroot, peeled and finely grated
• 30ml/2 tbsp sunflower oil

For the ganache:

• 200ml fresh double cream
• 200g dark chocolate, finely chopped
• 1 tsp LittlePod coffee extract (optional)
• 1 tsp LittlePod vanilla extract

Method

For the cake:

1. Preheat the oven to Gas mark 3 or 160°C / 325°F or (140°C / 280°F) in a fan-assisted oven.
2. Cut a wide strip of baking paper and tie it around the outside of the cake pan, to make a collar that rises 10cm/4 inches above the top.
3. Place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water and heat gently until melted. Set aside to cool briefly.
4. In a large mixing bowl, whisk the eggs with the sugar, vanilla paste (or seeds from the vanilla pod), 4 tbsps of honey and chocolate extract for 3 minutes, until pale and fluffy.
5. Next, fold in the flours, bicarbonate of soda, salt and almonds.
6. Drain any excess liquid from the grated beetroot, then fold it into the cake mixture with a spatula, followed by the cooled chocolate and sunflower oil, until completely combined.
7. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and bake on the middle shelf for 90 minutes or until a knife or skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
8. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack.

For the ganache:

1. Place the chopped chocolate into a mixing bowl then heat the cream in a saucepan until it starts to simmer.
2. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and leave to melt for 5 minutes.
3. Add the coffee extract (if using) and the vanilla extract.
4. Whisk to form a smooth ganache.
5. Place in the fridge to cool for 10 to 15 minutes until thickened and spreadable.

Recipe notes

Apart from being beautifully moist and fudgy, this chocolate and beetroot fudge cake is intensely chocolatey – thanks to the use of both melted dark chocolate and chocolate extract. As expected, it is a dense, single-layer chocolate cake served similar to a brownie, although moister with more chocolate. In fact, you’d be forgiven for thinking you’re making a brownie when you start making this chocolate and beetroot fudge cake. Because that is where the roots of this cake recipe lie.