Purple Coffee Cake
The world’s favourite non-alcoholic drink extends fantastically to cooking recipes. The acidity in coffee is also fantastic for tenderising meat in marinades or sauces and if you haven’t tried a shot of espresso in baking and cakes we fully recommend it.
Coffee and beetroot cake might sound like a strange concoction but the flavours balance each other perfectly for a rich, full bodied flavour with a hint of bitter sweet.
It also has a fantastically dark, black forest gateau appearance, add a dollop of vanilla ice cream for sweetness and to really bring out the hidden colour.
Recipe
- 200g butter
- 250g peeled and cooked beetroot, cooled
- 200g dark chocolate
- 4 tbsp hot espresso
- 135g plain flour
- 1 heaped tbsp baking powder
- 3 tbsp cocoa powder
- 5 free range eggs
- 190g caster sugar
- Ice cream to serve
Pre heat the oven to 180 C/ gas mark 4.
Grease a 20cm/ 8 inch cake tin with a little butter and line the bottom of the tin with baking parchment.
For the beetroot, blend in a processor to a fine puree or alternatively mash it with a potato masher until smooth.
Melt the chocolate and butter in a bowl over a pan of hot water until all the lumps have melted away.
Add in the hot coffee to the chocolate.
Meanwhile, sift the flour, cocoa and the sugar into a bowl and set aside.
Separate the eggs and whisk the whites until light and fluffy, or they start to ‘peak’ then fold them into the chocolate mixture.
Now combine the remaining flour, cocoa and sugar to the chocolate mixture and stir well.
Pour the purple cake batter into the tin and it goes into the oven for 40 minutes, or until a knife goes in and comes out clean. Allow to cool before cutting.
The beetroot ensures that the cake is moist and delicious in the centre with a bite of bitter sweet chocolate. Enjoy!