(Comparatively) Healthy Cakes! - and a Chocolate cake recipe ...

Today at work a (very kind!) colleague brought in a Beetroot and Chocolate Cake for us to share and it was absolutely yummy! and apparently beetroot is incredibly good for us, see: http://len7288.hubpages.com/hub/Health_Benefits_of_Red_Beets  and http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=49.
So am now going to try and track down the recipe to share here .....


Well to start with here is Nigel Slater's offering and I always love his recipes (however this one has coffee in, which I can't take, so will keep looking):


Chocolate Beetroot Cake with Creme Fraiche and Poppy Seeds


200g fine dark chocolate (70 per cent cocoa solids)

4 tbsp hot espresso

200g butter

135g plain flour

a heaped tsp baking powder

3 tbsp good-quality cocoa powder

5 eggs

190g golden caster sugar

crème fraîche and poppy seeds, to serve

Lightly butter a 20cm loose-bottomed cake tin and line the base with a disc of baking parchment. Set the oven to 180C/gas mark 4.

Cook the beetroot, whole and unpeeled, in boiling unsalted water. Depending on their size, they will be knifepoint tender within 30 to 40 minutes. Young ones may take slightly less. Drain them, let them cool under running water, then peel them, slice out their stem and root, and blitz to a rough purée.

Melt the chocolate, snapped into small pieces, in a small bowl resting over a pot of simmering water. Don’t stir. When the chocolate looks almost melted, pour the hot coffee over it and stir once. Cut the butter into small pieces – the smaller the better –and add to the melted chocolate. Dip the butter down under the surface of the chocolate with a spoon (as best you can) and leave to soften.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and cocoa. Separate the eggs; put the whites in a mixing bowl. Stir the yolks together.

Now, working quickly but gently, remove the bowl of chocolate from the heat and stir until the butter has melted into the chocolate. Leave for a few minutes, then stir in the egg yolks. Do this quickly, mixing firmly so the eggs blend into the mixture. Fold in the beetroot. Whisk the egg whites until stiff, then fold in the sugar. Firmly but tenderly fold the beaten egg whites and sugar into the chocolate mixture. A large metal spoon is what you want; work in a deep, figure-of-eight movement but take care not to over-mix. Fold in the flour and cocoa.

Transfer quickly to the prepared cake tin and put in the oven, turning the heat down immediately to 160C/gas mark 3. Bake for 40 minutes. The rim of the cake will feel spongy, the inner part should still wobble a little when gently shaken.

Leave to cool (it will sink a tad in the centre), loosening it around the edges with a palette knife after half an hour or so. It is not a good idea to remove the cake from its tin until it is completely cold. Serve in thick slices, with crème fraîche and poppy seeds.

Here's Tesco's equivalent: http://www.tescorealfood.com/recipes/beetroot-and-chocolate-cake.html






An idea of what to do with all those carrots you've grown

Carrot Cake

• 75g grated carrot
• 75g sugar
• 50g chopped nuts and seeds
• 75g self raising flour
• 1 tsp tsp cinnamon
• 75 oz oil
• 1 egg

Mix together and then cook at No 4 for 50 mins.

Now we have a surplus of courgettes - they're rather like buses, none for ages and then there's a glut, so a friend recommended

Courgette Cake  
(recipe taken from Reconnect magazine)

18.9.11 - I cooked this cake today and all agreed it was wonderful! There was no way anyone would realise they were eating courgettes!

8 oz courgettes 
(grated - peel if you don't want a green cake (peelings can be put in the soup))
5 oz butter
9 oz sugar
4 eggs
11oz self-raising flour
2 tsp ground cinnamon or mixed spice
4 oz seedless raisins
3 oz chopped nuts
2 tsp vanilla essence

• Preheat oven - No 4 / about 180C 
• Grease 2 x 1 lb tins (or trays). They may be lined with greaseproof paper.
• Cream butter and sugar 
• Beat the eggs.
• Add flour alternately with eggs, mixing well.
• Add cinnamon, courgettes, raisins, nuts and vanilla essence.
• Put into oven and cook for about an hour.
• Cool cake when you remove from the oven.
• Gently ease cake out of tin.

We don't grow apricots or bananas but here are a couple of nice recipes:

No-Sugar Apricot Cake

• 150g dried apricots (I prefer the dark ones)
• 1/2 pint orange juice
• 150g flour
• 1 tsp bicarb
• 6 tbsp oil
• 3 eggs

1. Oil 8" diameter cake tin.
2. Put apricots and orange juice into a saucepan and bring to the boil, leave to soak 4 hours.
3. Drain apricots and liquidise with 6 tbsp liquid.
4. Put flour into bowl, make a well in the middle and add the fruit, eggs and oil.
5. Beat the batter until thick.
6. Put mixture into tin and cook for about 20 mins at No 4.
7. Turn onto wire rack.

We don't grow any bananas on our allotment, but here's a wonderful recipe for Banana Cake, passed on by a friend:

Banana Cake
3 oz butter
2 oz sugar
8 oz SR flour
1 lb mashed bananas (after removal of skins.  Tip: scatter chopped banana skins under roses to give the roses much-needed potassium)
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence

• Cream butter and sugar
• Add beaten eggs
• Add flour and bananas
• Cook at No 4 in a lined 2 lb tin
• ** Variation - could add some ginger.
• Cook at 190/170C/gas 3/4 for about 25 mins for buns, more for a loaf.

Baked Pudding Antonio 
(no idea why Antonio!)

4 oz margarine
3 oz brown sugar
1 egg
1 tbsp black treacle
5 oz SR flour
1 tsp mixed spice
2 oz breadcrumbs
2 oz sultanas
2 oz mixed peel
1 oz chopped apple

1. Cream margarine and sugar
2. Add egg and 1 tbsp water and treacle.
3. Fold in rest of ingredients
4. Bake at No 5/375 for 30 mins.

Serve hot as a pudding with custard or cream - or eat cold as a cake

Chocolate Cake

• 250g butter
• 300g light muscovado sugar
• 100g plain flour
• 100g self-raising flour
• 5 eggs
• 300g dark chocolate

Icing

• 200g dark chocolate
• 200ml double cream (or natural yoghurt)

1. Heat the oven to 160C/fan 140C/gas 3. 
2. Butter and line a 20cm cake tin. 
3. Using an electric whisk, beat together butter and light muscovado sugar in a large bowl until fluffy. 
4. Measure out plain flour and self-raising flour. 
5. Beat in 5 eggs one at a time, adding 1 or 2 tbsp flour if the mixture starts to split. 
6. Pour 300g melted and slightly cooled dark chocolate into the mixture, beating as you do so. 
7. Fold in the rest of the flour. 
8. Spoon into the tin and bake for 1 hour 30 minutes; the cake should be risen with a crust on top. 
9. Cool and then take out of the tin. Split the cake horizontally.
10. To make the icing, gently melt together dark chocolate with double cream. 
11. Cool until thickened slightly. 
12. Fill the cake with icing, then spread the rest over the outside.

However, I read today that putting in cocoa powder instead of actual chocolate makes chocolate cakes lighter - will investigate this!

Almond and Orange Cake (from BBC Good Food, always a good site)

• 250g butter
• 200g golden caster sugar
• 2 oranges , zest and juice
• 4 eggs
• 50g plain flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 250g semolina
• 200g ground almonds
• 120g Greek yogurt
• crème fraîche to serve (optional)

• 2 oranges , zested and juiced
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 275g sugar 

1. To make the syrup put all the syrup ingredients in a pan with 500ml water and bring slowly to a simmer, stirring until all the sugar has dissolved. Reduce the heat and simmer until syrupy, about 10 minutes.
2. Heat the oven to 160C/fan 140C/gas 3. Butter and base line a 20cm springform cake tin. Cream the butter, sugar and orange zest until pale and fluffy. Beat the eggs then whisk in one at a time.
3. Sift in the flour and baking powder and fold through along with the orange zest, semolina and almonds. Add the orange juice and yogurt and stir gently. Pour into the prepared tin and cook for about 1 hour or until firm to the touch and a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the centre.
4. Remove the cake from the oven and pierce all over with a skewer. Pour half the hot syrup over the warm cake. Leave to cool.
5. Drizzle the cake with the remaining syrup and serve with a large spoonful of crème fraîche if you like

Finally, I don't know whether a G&T Cake comes into this category (healthy?) but it does sound fun:  (http://www.puddinglaneblog.co.uk/2014/06/gin-and-tonic-cake.html?m=1)

THE INGREDIENTS

4 eggs, weighed in their shells

equal weight of:

butter

caster sugar

self-raising flour

2 lemons

8-10 shots of your favourite gin

dash tonic water (optional)

150g granulated sugar

Hemp Ginger Cake (not tried it yet) http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/feb/12/hemp-ginger-cake-recipe-lepard