Chocolate is beautiful. I'm not much of a chocolate fan, I feel icky after eating it, but I do love looking at it.
I made this Chocolate mud cake for Ken, because each time I have a cake in the oven there's a hint of disappointment on his face when he finds out it's banana, carrot or blueberry.
And yes, that is beetroot. You can't taste it but it makes the cake beautifully moist and dense.
400g dark chocolate (70% cocoa)
1 large beetroot (raw and cooked for 45 minutes in simmering water), finely grated
1/4 cup skinny natural yoghurt
Butter or oil to grease the tin
Fresh raspberries (or strawberries) to serve
Optional - thickened/dollop cream, ice cream or vanilla yoghurt to serve
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celcius.
Whisk the egg yolks and stir in the beetroot.
Melt the chocolate in a heat-proof bowl over simmering water, this should take approximately 5 minutes.
While the chocolate is melting whisk the egg whites in a separate bowl until they form soft peaks.
Mix the almond meal through beetroot and egg yolks.
Once the chocolate is melted through quickly mix it through the beetroot, egg and almond meal. You'll need to do this quickly, as the chocolate cools it will harden again.
Stir through the yoghurt, then carefully fold through the egg whites, patiently doing it in batches to ensure as much air stays in the mixture as possible. The batter should look similar to a chocolate mousse.
Line the bottom of a square 20cm cake tin and grease the sides. This tin will need to fit in to a separate baking dish.
Spoon the batter into the cake tin. Place the tin in the baking dish and pour boiling water halfway up the height of the cake tin.
Place the baking dish with cake tin in the oven for 45 minutes.
After the 45 minutes turn the temperature down to 150 degrees celcius and bake for a further 20 minutes.
Allow the cake to cool in the oven for 10 minutes before removing it and placing it on a cooling rack. Once cool trim the edges off the cake, cut into squares, and serve dusted with the cocoa powder and accompanied with raspberries. The raspberries cut through the richness of the cake beautifully.
I also highly recommend serving this warmed up (I do 1 minute in a medium microwave per piece). It stays so moist and pudding like. Great with ice cream or cream!