You CAN Beet Chocolate Cake (just don't underestimate Flour Power!)

Chocolate Cake - You just can't BEET it.

Or can you?

A recent issue of MORE Magazine featured a gorgeous chocolate cake - made with beets! Can you believe it? A healthier alternative to regular, decadent, moist, chocolate cake. Something that I could love that might be good for me? I was in!

There was no recipe provided (what??) so I was forced to seek one out on my own. That cake looked far too luscious and I was in the middle of a massive chocolate craving, so I dug everywhere, hoping someone would have a recipe for a chocolate cake made with beets.

What surprised me was discovering how many recipes there are out there. Seriously. I thought I would have trouble finding a recipe. Nope. There are dozens. Maybe hundreds of variations.

I culled the choices down to four that sounded particularly good and that got rave reviews on their various cooking sites. From these four, I pulled together my own recipe, figuring that a cake is kind of a standard size, so mixing and matching ingredients shouldn't be a problem.

Mostly, it wasn't. But I did make one tactical error.

More on that in a moment.

Here's the question you're all eager to ask right now... How did it taste?

In a word: Good.

I liked it. Everyone who tried it, liked it (or they lied very convincingly)

The cake was nicely moist and not too dense. The chocolate flavor was strong, but not overly sweet. I think the beets beat back the sweetness a bit - which in my book is a good thing. I'll take chocolate over sweet any day.

I didn't intend to frost it - I planned to dust it with powdered sugar, but I ran into a little problem and was forced to come up with a frosting. For that I followed the instructions on the back of my Hershey's cocoa container. Wonderful, very chocolatey, gooey frosting. For my purposes (which will become apparent in a moment) I needed it to be more liquidy - like a glaze - so I simply increased the amount of milk.

Ready for the recipe?

CHOCOLATE CAKE WITH BEETS

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter

1-3/4 cups flour

1-1/2 cups packed brown sugar (I used light brown, would have preferred dark, but I was out)

1-1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1 can beets, drained - but reserve the liquid (I got about 1/3 cup)

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

4 squares of unsweetened chocolate, melted

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour a cake pan.

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl: flour, salt, baking soda, nutmeg.

Puree beets in a food processor or blender.

Melt chocolate in microwave or over stove. Let cool.

In a mixing bowl - cream butter and sugar together. Add vanilla. Add eggs one at a time. Add pureed beets. Add cooled, melted chocolate.

When these are all nicely combined, add the dry mixture a tablespoonful at a time. Mix well. Once it's all put together, look at it. Does it seem a little too dry/sticky for a cake? Mine did. If so, add the reserved beet liquid and mix well.

Pour into prepared pan. Place in oven and bake for approximately 45 minutes. Use the toothpick method to test for doneness. This cake doesn't spring back as bounciliy as some.

Allow to cool, remove from pan, dust with powdered sugar and serve.

Voila!

Well.... unless you run into problems. Like I did.

I used a Bundt pan and halfway through the cake's baking time I realized that even though I'd greased it well, I'd forgotten to flour it. Oops!! When the cake came out and cooled a bit, I tried turning it over onto a plate. That baby didn't budge. Nope. It wanted to stay.

Yikes! I planned to take it to a Sertoma fundraising event - Trivia Night - that evening. It was supposed to be part of my contribution to the team table of snacks. What to do?

I let it cool a little longer (should have waited much longer, but I was impatient) and finally kinda shook it until it dropped.

Great! Except that really pretty Bundt shape - the very top of the cake - stayed inside the pan. The good part was that it allowed me to steal a piece and taste it ahead of time. If it was terrible, I might have run out and purchased something else to supplement my snack contribution. But it tasted pretty good, so I moved forward. I gently pulled the cake top out of the pan and put it back together like a puzzle. It still looked funny, so -- frosting time. As I mentioned earlier, I just whipped together a quick glaze, drizzled it on top (liberally!) and it didn't look too shabby if I do say so myself!

Just do yourself a favor and don't forget the power of flour! What a difference a greased *and* floured pan would have made!

Here we are at Trivia Night, enjoying the cake (among lots of other delicious appetizers and treats). Do these folks look like they're enjoying the cake? Hope so!

By the way, our team came in third overall! Woo-hoo!

Have fun today! Read a book and play in the kitchen!

Julie

PS - Take a look! I've changed the book cover opposite my name -->

Buffalo West Wing comes out in January and I'm already getting excited. Berkley does such a magnificent job with covers. I love this new one!

* * *

And don't forget Krista's Christmas Cookie Contest!

Krista's Christmas
Cookie Contest!

Krista Davis is celebrating the upcoming release
of her new holiday mystery, The Diva Cooks a Goose.

She's holding a delicious contest! Send Krista your favorite cookie recipe
at Krista at KristaDavis dot com and you might win!
Find out more by clicking here

Open-faced sandwich appetizer

I don't know about you, but I always like to try something new when I'm entertaining. Changing things up - just a little - makes it fun for me.

Easter Sunday meant dinner for 17 and although I prepared the usual ham, sausage, kraut, potatoes, and vegetables, I decided to have a little fun and try out a few new recipes. My guests have learned that they risk encountering a "Julie's Surprise" when they visit. I've had plenty of disasters - which is how the term "Julie's Surprise" originally came to be. But over the years I like to think I've improved a bit and maybe even gotten a little bit smarter.

This year, for example, I dispensed with the tried-and-true broccoli casserole, and included a tasty Brussels Sprouts dish, and another featuring fresh green beans. I'll share those recipes in the coming weeks.

But today I'll start with an appetizer.

This month's MORE Magazine (April, 2010) has a whole section on sandwiches. Some of them sounded wonderful and I'm eager to try them out. When I was trying to come up with my Easter menu, I knew I needed something new on my appetizer table, and I remembered the MORE article. I pulled it up and realized, belatedly, that although the PLT Sandwich was photographed open-faced, the recipe called for it to be a traditional - 2 bread - sandwich. No problem, I decided. I'd just have to adapt.

I did. And the results were terrific!

I made two versions. One all vegetarian, one with pancetta (the "P" in MORE's PLT). The tomatoes are wonderful when roasted, so do take the time to prepare these. I roasted tomatoes and my mixed vegetables the day before Easter and spread them cold over the toasted bread.

Open Faced Sandwich Appetizers

1 double-pack of fresh mini-loaves, sliced. (Buying fresh-baked bread from the grocery store makes things super-easy. I buy the two-loaf pack and ask the bakers to slice it for me. As you can tell, I got these two loaves at the fabulous price of 99 cents. You can't beat that.)

12 (give or take) plum tomatoes, cut into 1/4 inch slices

1 yellow pepper, sliced and cut into bite-size pieces

1 green pepper, same

1 red pepper, same

6 large white mushrooms, sliced into bite-sized pieces

3 cloves garlic, sliced

1/2 purple onion, sliced

2 healthy handfuls of arugula

mayo

I roasted my tomatoes separately - drizzling a little olive oil on them, sprinkling them with salt and then baking in a 350 degree oven for about an hour and a half until the tomatoes shriveled and turned a little brown. I used parchment paper to keep them from sticking and this was a really good move (MORE suggested it).

I placed the other, sliced veggies in a shallow roasting pan and drizzled these with olive oil and sprinkled them with salt, as well. I actually use this maneuver fairly often. We love roasted veggies in this house and use them on everything. This time for an appetizer, but sometimes we use them as an easy and delicious side dish. Roast these in the same oven for about an hour and a half as well. They may take a bit longer. When the peppers are soft and the onions begin to brown, they're done.

Toast your bread by placing it in a single layer and baking it in the oven. Here's where I would change my method in the future. I baked these until slightly brown - about 12 minutes. Going forward, I think I would toast them for only about 4 - 6 minutes. Mine were *crispy* - and although that wasn't a bad thing, I think I'd like them a bit better with a little less crunch.

When the bread is toasted, coat with mayo, rip up some arugula, pat into place. Follow up with the roasted tomatoes and vegetables. Return the open-faced sandwiches to the oven and bake for about 6 - 8 minutes (see why I shouldn't have toasted so vigorously earlier?) and when hot, remove from oven and serve immediately.

I made a meat version with pancetta as well. I baked the pancetta separately for about 10 minutes in a 400 degree oven, and also chilled it before using. On the pancetta sandwiches, I didn't use the mixed veggies. I just topped the arugula/tomato sandwich with that tiny piece of "Italian bacon."

These were absolutely great. My guests enjoyed them and my kids told me to definitely make them again!

More next time!

Julie

Author of the White House Chef Mysteries and, coming soon, the Manor of Murder Mysteries. First book - GRACE UNDER PRESSURE. Pre-order now for a June 1st release!

www.juliehyzy.com

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