Chocolate Beetroot Cake

As it so happens, this recipe materialised by accident. I’d made a vegetable juice* down at the Bach over Christmas and I ended up with a cup of leftover vegetable pulp. Rather than simply throwing it out, I tucked it safely away in a container and popped it the fridge until I worked out what I was going to do with it!

As we had no luck catching fish on our first night at the Bach (much to our disappointment!) dinner was of course avocado on toast, followed by cake. Because, I had no fish to cook for dinner, I had to cook something and this was it! My family had no idea the cake had beetroot in it; they simply thought it was a delicious moist chocolate cake! Little did they know it was in fact healthy, yes very nutritious indeed.

*I made my vegetable juice by placing one chopped beetroot, one chopped carrot, two handfuls of kale leaves and 1 cup of coconut water (I used Nuju Organic Coconut water) into my Nutribullet which I then strained over a sieve to collect the juice and leave the pulp for future cake use…a master plan I think. However, you could use whatever combination of vegetables you like but beetroot is ALWAYS a good idea!

While my image is totally terrible the cake itself is absolutely delicious. So delicious it kept a 4-year very happy over one particular lunch date. You’ll also see in the image that the Bach was devoid of a cake tin so I actually used a pan that had lost its handle – a totally terrific idea until I realised we had no baking paper either and I had to slice the cake straight from the tin. All in the spirit of good holiday Bach living I say!

Chocolate Beetroot Cake - makes 10-12 slices

4 free-range eggs
4 Tbspn raw cacao powder or good quality cocoa powder
1 cup ground almonds
4 Tbspn runny honey or pure maple syrup
4 Tbspn, coconut oil or butter, melted
1 cup leftover vegetable pulp (see instructions above*)
2 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp baking soda

Topping - optional

1 cup walnuts
1 Tbspn pure maple syrup

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C and line a cake tin with baking paper.
Place all of the ingredients into a food processor and process until smooth. Pour the mixture into your prepared tin and bake in the oven for approximately 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
Leave the cake to cool in the tin before turning it out onto a plate or board.
To make the topping, heat a small pan over medium heat. Add the walnuts and pure maple syrup to the pan and cook until golden. Stir the mixture frequently throughout cooking. Leave the nuts to cool in the pan. Once cool and crunchy, blitz the mixture in a blender or Nutribullet until it resembles crumbs.
Spoon the cumble topping over the cooled cake. Slice the cake into small pieces and enjoy!