beetroot and chocolate cake with orange zest cream cheese frosting.

so this was my first attempt at a baking with beetroot for my first clandestine cake club meet! :) the theme was "mind, body and cake" at the loughborough based ccc so i decided to go with something healthy (ish).

so what will you need?

shopping list

for the cake

♥ 175g plain flour

♥ 85g cocoa powder

♥ 230g caster sugar

♥ 3 eggs

♥ 10g baking powder

♥ 200ml corn oil

♥ 230g beetroot, chopped

for the icing

♥ 50g unsalted butter

♥ 100g icing sugar

♥ 130g soft cream cheese

♥ zest of a medium orange, with some for decoration

preheat the oven to 200 degrees c and begin by mixing together the dry ingredients; flour, cocoa powder and baking powder.

set aside and prepare the other ingredients to blend together; the 3 eggs, chopped beetroot and corn oil. 

i used vacuum packed, cooked beetroot. do not, i repeat, do not get pickled... i almost made this mistake!

so blend for a few minutes until it resembles a pink smoothie! 

finally, fold the dry ingredients with the beetroot mix. 

add to a greased cake tin and baked for 45 minutes. allow to cool - it will continue to cook a little too.

whilst it bakes, make the cream cheese frosting by beating all the ingredients together - then adding a little more orange zest on top :)

ta daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! 

has anyone else ever baked with beetroot? or any other vegetables? any tips welcome :)