Good Food: Healthy Chocolate-Beetroot Loaf

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Who doesn’t love chocolate cake. I love it. Bo loves it. My friends love it. But adding veggies to chocolate cake? If you’d told me five years ago that I would be doing things like this I would have laughed at you. On Bo’s birthday this year I made her Kate Berry’s gorgeous Chocolate + Zucchini cake, which was a total dream… Have you tried it? And it got me thinking… what other veggies could I add to my sweets? I started experimenting with different veggies and chocolate based flavours (sweet potato works pretty well…) and one day a surplus of beets landed me here. A little research later had me discover that beets and chocolate is actually an old classic combination… little did I know!

I love dense, not-too-sweet, earthy flavours and this cake is just that. I’ve used spelt flour in this recipe but have made this exact same cake with wholemeal wheat flour and it’s just as good so pick your grain and spoil yourself with chocolate cake full of wholesome, earthy ingredients that impress even the littlest of chocolate lovers.

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CHOCOLATE BEETROOT LOAF

Ingredients:

300g white spelt flour
2 Tsp baking powder
1/2 cup of honey or maple syrup
100g coconut oil
3 good sized beetroot
5 large dates
3 freerange eggs
5 Tsp Cacao powder
Pinch of salt

 

Method:

Preheat your oven to 180C and line a large loaf tin with baking paper – you can make this recipe in a cake tin or cupcake tins but be aware the cooking times will vary.

Peel your lovely beets. I use gloves and a potato peeler to avoid having pink hands for the rest of the day. Chop the beets into quarters and throw them in your food processor (if you don’t have a high powered food processor the beets can be grated by hand) along with the dates and pulse until they are finely chopped.

Heat your coconut oil in a pan on the stove on low. Add the honey/maple syrup and warm until nicely melted and combined. Do not boil. Take off the heat and add the lightly whisked eggs to the wet mixture.

Add the wet mixture to the beet mixture in a big bowl.

Sift the flour, baking powder and cacao together with a pinch of salt.

Add the dry mixture to the wet beet mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until just combined. Don’t over mix.

Pour into your prepared pan and pop in the oven for about 45 minutes or until an inserted skewer/fork comes out clean. Let the cake cook for 15 minutes before lifting out of the pan, then cool thoroughly on a wire rack before serving.

Simple. Quick and super delicious.

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NOTE: This cake is dense, moist and super earthy. It has lots of natural sweetness but it isn’t a very sweet dessert. If you prefer a sweeter flavour add a third of a cup of brown sugar to the mix and melt a bit of dark chocolate in with the oil for extra decadence.

I serve this cake with my honeyed nectarines (recipe to follow) and a little bit of coconut kefir… It’s so delicious and an excellent “healthy” alternative to the traditional chocolate cake.

This one is 100% little kid approved and freezes really well for lunchboxes, snacks and food on the go.

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