The beetroot glut has been very real this year on the allotment and they have been heading thick and fast to the kitchen. They are all Beetroot Cylindra this year and some have grown SO big! So I have been looking for different ways to use it in the kitchen. The homegrown flavour just cannot be beaten and I have enjoyed every single bite...but...perhaps not more so than this delicious beetroot cake. I tend to play around with recipes depending on what I have in the cupboard at the time and various ways of swapping out dairy for a substitute such as plant based milk and the experiment went very well with this recipe.
The cake is moist, not too sweet but just sweet enough, the flavour isn't overly beetroot tasting but there's a touch there and the cashew frosting and fruit just really was the icing on the cake.
Beetroot sponge
60 ml brewed coffee
60g coconut oil
180g peeled and chopped beetroot
180ml plant based milk
150g coconut sugar (or any other)
50g cocoa powder
Pinch of salt
1 tsp of baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
175g white all purpose flour
Heat oven to 180C.
Pour the brewed coffee over the coconut oil to melt. Put the beetroot, milk and coffee/oil mix in a blender and blend until smooth.
Pour into a mixing bowl and add the sugar. Then sift in the cocoa powder, salt, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and flour. Mix well ensuring there are no lumps.
Pour into a baking tin lined with baking paper (I used a 900g loaf tin)
Bake about 45 - 50minutes or until a knife comes out clean. Cool before frosting.
Cashew frosting:
1 cup of cashews
5 pitted dates (more if you want sweeter)
2 tsp of vanilla essence
1 cup of water
Soak the cashews in hot water for at least 15 minutes or cold water overnight
Strain the cashews and put them with all of the other ingredients in a blenda (I used my Nutribullet).
You will probably have to stop every so often to scrap the mixture down the sides and you're looking for a creamy but thick enough consistency that will stay on your cake. You can also put it in the fridge for 30 minutes or so as this will firm it up a bit. I put mine straight on as I was running out of time.
You could probably add a little melted chocolate to this. If it gets too runny, add some more cashews.
Frost the cake and top with fruit or anything you want!