Sometimes, recipes come from the most unexpected places.
For instance: I am at a yoga class. I'm doing yoga. Whatever. Then after class...
the teacher slips me a tupperware package. Inside of it is a piece of CHOCOLATE CAKE. YES! I love exercise!
This was indeed a fascinating specimen: a chocolate cake sweetened with beets and maple syrup. Sound virtuous? Don't worry. It's not. The beets add a wonderful earthiness and natural sweetness to the dark richness of the chocolate, and the maple adds an interesting sweetness that works very nicely with the beets and chocolate.
Now, I will confess, it was given to me sans topping. But I found that while the moist and tasty chocolate cake was great sans frosting...it was even better with a healthy dollop of creme fraiche or whipped cream. Yum!
Here's the recipe, with thanks to Blue Moon Hot Yoga for being the ones to introduce me to it. Doing yoga beforehand not necessary.
Chocolate Beet Cake
- 1 1/2 cup cooked and pureed beets
- 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 stick butter
- 3/4 cup or 1 cup grade B Maple syrup (depending on how sweet you want it)
- 1 3/4 cup flour (can be whole wheat, spelt and rice flour, etc)
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- Grease and flour a 9x13-inch pan.
- Scrub the beets well and slice into 1/4 inch rounds. Steam until tender; puree the cooked beets in a processor.
- Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. Melt the butter over low heat in a sauce pan.
- In a large bowl, cream together the butter and maple syrup. Add the eggs and combine thoroughly, then stir in the chocolate, beet puree, buttermilk, and vanilla.
- In another bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon. Add this to the liquid ingredients and mix into a smooth batter.
- Pour into your prepared pan and bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes or a little longer until a cake tester comes out clean.