Dwight's Beet Bundt

I'm always plotting new bundt flavours. It's always on my mind. Yesterday, my husband joked that I should make a Beet Bundt after watching several hours of the American version of The Office back to back. Our favourite character is a chap called Dwight Schrute; a beet farmer from Scranton.

Dwight Schrute (photo NBC)

Now then. Beetroots are my mortal enemy number two, therefore this would always be a bit of a challenge. I would need to touch them and maybe even taste them in the cake. I know most people like them, but personally I think they taste and smell like soil. I had my independent taste tester do a quick appraisal after I didn't manage more than a mouthful, to which he concluded this is a beautifully moist cake with a soft texture, which isn't overly sweet.

The addition of cocoa powder, melted chocolate and chocolate chips gives this cake the look and feel of a chocolate fudge cake, just with a bit of a twist. The beetroot also gives the cake an amazing dark colour. Perhaps a sneaky way of getting children to eat vegetables... as long as you don't mind a shed-load of chocolate being in there too!

Ingredients

• 110g unsalted butter
• 50g of good quality cocoa powder
• 100g golden caster sugar
• 60ml maple syrup
• 4 medium eggs
• 300g of cooked and pureed beetroot (I bought it ready cooked in a vacuum pack)
• 100g milk chocolate broken into chunks
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 150g plain flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 100g milk chocolate chips

Method

1. I used a standard sized bundt tin (10 inches, 10 cups or 2.4 litres) - prepare by greasing and dusting with cocoa powder. It's best to use a fairly plain tin, as the chocolate chips can disguise detail. 
2. Mix the butter and sugar until it is well combined then add the maple syrup. It's easier to start by hand as it's a bit sloppy!
3. Whisk the eggs together in a jug. Start to add to the mix gradually. It's a real bugger for curdling! Don't worry too much if it does though, the flour will help.
4. Melt the solid chocolate using either a Bain Marie or by popping it in the microwave and put to one side.
5. Measure out the flour, cocoa, salt, bicarb and cinnamon into a bowl.
6. So in front of you, you now have your main mixture, the melted chocolate, the pureed beets and the flour mixture.
7. Pour half of the beet mix and the all the vanilla extract into the main bowl and give it a quick mix until combined. 
8. Now add the all of the melted chocolate and mix again.
9. Sift in half of the flour. Fold it in.
10. Add the rest of the beets and mix lightly.
11. Sift in the rest of the flour. Fold it in.
12. Now fold in the chocolate chips.
13. Pour the whole thing into your bundt tin and bake for 1 hour on 180 C/Gas 4.
14. When the cake is shrinking from the sides of the tin and a skewer comes out clean, the cake is done.
15. Leave to cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes and then turn out.
16. Once cool, dredge with icing sugar.

Bloggers: Please respect the fact I am sharing my own ideas and recipe. Blood, sweat and many tears have gone into getting this right, so you may enjoy a perfect bundt. If you wish to re-blog a recipe from these variations, please credit my blog and link to this original post rather than pasting the recipe on your own page. 

Please see my Creative Commons Copyright information for more details. Thank you.

Please leave your comments below... x

Join my blog friends: Join Dolly
Join me on Facebook
Tweet me @dollybakes
Have a nosy at my pics on Pinterest