There are those who start the new year with herbs, deprivation and caffeine withdrawal migraines …. and then there’s me. With the rain pelting down, the guests all gone and the kitchen cocoon-warm with the under floor heating on, the first joyous task of 2012 could only be baking in my pyjamas.
I climbed the cook book mountain for inspiration, and while self-denial was not on the agenda, neither was sugar craft or a chocolate overdose. Maybe there was a tilt at being virtuous in settling on my friend Amelia’s Beetroot and Hazelnut Cake, or maybe it was the most appropriate first outing for a tomato-red KitchenAid (thanks Santa!). Whatever, it turned out mighty fine.
This cake is a bit like a carrot cake in that it’s moist and substantial, and because kids can’t identify the good-for-them bits, they don’t turn up their noses. The best part about making this cake is the raspberry coloured batter that pales away to a golden crumb studded with purple jewels when baking is finished.
I used two tins here instead of the suggested three, simply because I don’t possess that many tins of the same size (nor the room to accommodate them). Sometimes that crucial cake-versus-icing ratio goes a bit wrong for me with a three-layer cake, but I don’t think that would be a problem here as the cake itself is not overly sweet.
It is enrobed in a buttery cream cheese icing, baby grow-pink with the inclusion of beetroot juice. I’m sure Lorraine Pascale would recommend refrigeration between coats of icing to achieve a flawless angular finish, but life’s a bit short, really. Having said that, I do admit to sprinkling some spare beetroot shards with icing sugar and crystallizing them in a low oven, before using them to decorate the top. It just seemed a bit naked without it ….Click here for the recipe.
