Beetroot Chocolate Fudge Cake From Cook Yourself Thin Food

CHOCOLATE CAKE FROM 'COOK YOURSELF THIN'

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 6-inch round cake pan (2 inches deep) with baking spray.
• Combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat on low speed until well combined, about 1 minute. With mixer running on medium speed, add warm water and beat until well blended. Add buttermilk, egg, oil and vanilla, and beat on medium for 5 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl occasionally.
• Pour batter into the prepared pan, and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then unmold and cool completely on the rack.
• When ready to serve, place the bittersweet chocolate in a small bowl. Heat the cream in a small saucepan set over medium heat until bubbles form around the edge. Immediately pour over chocolate. Let sit for 1 minute, then stir until smooth and well blended. Pour over cooled cake and spread to evenly coat top. (Chocolate sauce will drip down the sides.) Let set, about 10 minutes, and serve.

BEETROOT CHOCOLATE FUDGE CAKE FROM 'COOK YOURSELF THIN'

Steps:

• Preheat a conventional oven to 160ºC, or a fan-assisted one to 140ºC. With the help of a brush and a tiny bit of sunflower oil, grease the surface of a round 20cm diameter by 8cm high loose-bottomed tin and set aside.
• Melt the chocolate gently in a bowl over a pan of simmering water until all dissolved, then set aside to cool.
• In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs with the sugar, the scraped-out vanilla seeds, the maple syrup and the honey for three minutes with an electric hand whisk until pale and quite fluffy.
• Gently fold in the flours, bicarbonate of soda, salt, cocoa and ground almonds until fully incorporated.
• Using some kitchen paper, dab the grated beetroot thoroughly to remove some of the excess moisture. Fold in the beetroot, cooled chocolate, coffee and oil with the help of a spatula until thoroughly mixed together.
• Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and cook in the middle of the oven for 1 hour 30 minutes. After this time, cover the cake with foil and bake for another 30 minutes.
• Test the cake by inserting a skewer into the centre to see if it comes out clean (although this cake is so moist that even when the cake is fully cooked, the skewer comes out looking slightly messy). Leave to cool on a wire rack.
• To make the fudge topping, melt the chocolate gently in a bowl over a pan of simmering water, then remove from the heat and add the coffee and the vanilla essence.
• At this stage the chocolate will seize up slightly, but it will relax back once you add the honey and gently mix inches.
• Set aside to cool for 15 minutes before icing the cake. Cut the cake through the middle and ice it in the centre and on all sides.
• Decorate the top with whatever you fancy, but I like using pink flowers, such as tulips or roses, which I plant into the cake with a bit of stem left on.