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A few days ago a friend of mine posted this gorgeous video on Facebook…
beet cake from tiger in a jar on Vimeo.
…so of course I had to make it. The video is beautiful and haunting, almost ghostly. I started feeling nostalgic watching it, and I’m not sure if it was for the chocolate cake or for the card catalog. The recipe feels quaint, like a recipe that could have been passed down by Ukranian grandmothers. Lovely and simple, an extremely moist chocolate cake with a little something you can’t put your finger on…(beets!). I love recipes like these, familiar and yet unexpected.
It was so comforting to tie on my apron, bake and eat a cake on a day with a terrible thunderstorm and hail; gloomy outside, cozy inside. Zoeya is a chocolate fiend like her mommy and very much enjoyed her Friday treat.
She saw this picture just now as I was writing about it and told me “That’s for AFTER dinner.” That’s true for her maybe, but I informed her I am a grown-up and can eat my cake whenever I want.
1 1/2 c dark brown sugar
1 c butter
4 oz semi sweet chocolate, melted
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 c beets, pureed
2 c flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
Cream together brown sugar and butter with a hand or stand mixer. Add melted chocolate and blend together, then beat in eggs one by one. Add vanilla and beets and combine well. Sift flour, baking soda, and salt together, then stir into beet mixture. Pour into a greased 10″ spring form pan and bake at 375 for 30-35 minutes.
Let cool, then transfer to a plate. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and decorate with a sliced beet.
Quick baker’s note: as much as I love brown sugar, I usually only buy it when I’m baking something specific, which discourages impromptu baking. However, I’ve found you can quite easily substitute the same amount of granulated sugar plus 1-2 tbsp molasses per cup of sugar.
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