Beets
Many years ago I took a train from Moscow to Beijing in late fall.
While sightseeing in Moscow before the trip, I ate at a restaurant with a buffet of traditional salads. Storage vegetabl...
I love desserts that take just a few ingredients from the pantry and farmers market to make an easy, sophisticated treat. This dense, moist cake plays well with the earthiness of raw beets. Serve this cake as an after-dinner dessert or with afternoon coffee or tea.
Ingredients
- 1 stick unsalted butter (8 tablespoons), plus more for buttering the pan
- Cocoa powder for dusting the pan
- 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
- 2/3 cup white sugar
- 6 eggs, room temperature, separated
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- 1/2 cups peeled, finely grated raw golden beets
- Powdered sugar
Instructions
Serves 8–10
Generously butter the sides and bottom of a 9-inch springform pan. Dust with cocoa powder and set aside. Preheat oven to 300°.
Melt the butter and chocolate in a double boiler or in a stainless-steel bowl over a simmering pot of water. Whisk until smooth. In a separate bowl beat the sugar and egg yolks for 2–3 minutes. Add the vanilla, salt, nutmeg and grated beet and beat together. Add the butter and chocolate mixture and beat until combined.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form (when beater is removed, egg whites should fall over slightly). Add ¼ of the egg whites to the chocolate mixture and mix in with a rubber spatula. This will lighten the chocolate mixture. Take the remaining egg whites and fold them into the chocolate mixture until fairly uniform and fluffy. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
Place in the preheated oven and bake for 45 minutes, until a toothpick comes out almost clean. Pull out of the oven and allow to cool about 5 minutes. Remove from the springform pan and place on a cooling rack. Dust with powdered sugar.
Serve slightly warm or room temperature. Serve with slightly sweetened crème fraîche, whipped cream or ice cream. This will keep covered on the counter for a day or two. Freeze extra slices in the freezer for 2 to 3 months.
Crème Fraîche
To make crème fraîche at home, add 1 tablespoon cultured buttermilk to 1 cup fresh heavy cream. Stir and cover. Leave at room temperature until thickened, about 8 hours. Once desired thickness is achieved, store in the refrigerator.
Related Stories & Recipes
Spiced Cupcakes with Milkweed Blossoms
The flowers of a common “weed” make for gorgeous edible toppers on these ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon cupcakes.
Cricket Flour Brownies
Insects are eaten in many countries around the world but not so much in the United States. However, the trend of eating insects is growing, in part as a solution to the food needs of a growing global ...
Decadent Chocolate Truffles
Once you’ve tried the cocoa powder and fleur de sel toppings below, feel free to experiment with whatever you like. Cayenne, ginger, lavender, nuts and cinnamon have all gotten rave reviews at our hou...
Teff Brownies
These decadent, chewy brownies are perfect way to get teff flour into your dessert regimen. No one will know these are gluten-free.
Adapted from a recipe by Claire Smith of Tenera Grains.
