Beets! I received a few dozen Purple Beets this season and I have taken considerable effort in finding the best ways to use them. If you have been reading my blog, you will know I trade food with others and challenge myself to use up ingredients in the most effective manner to save money, as well as to ensure I use them with little to no waste. When you are living on a budget, or feeding a large family, it's wise to know ways to use what you have at hand to create cost effective meals. In this case, a few sweet treats will be created with the Purple Beets I received.
I personally enjoy beets. I will use them in Smoothies, as a sauce for pizza, roasted or mashed. My Husband is not a fan of beets and when I asked a few other people about recipes they may have for utilizing the root vegetable, the only suggestions that were given to me where, Pickled Beets or Borscht. To me, it seemed such a waste to have so few uses for the sweet root part of the vegetable.
Beet Greens are edible, you can sauté them with Onion and Oil or mix the Baby Greens in with a salad. Purple Beet Roots tend to colour any food you add it too, so I can see how people may shy away from it as an ingredient. I have made a Christmas Beef Pickle with Purple Beets recently and I will have a few other posts on its use in future, but today's post is Cinnamon Beet Cake.
I have a few recipes using Beets in a cake and just like Carrot, the Beet adds sweetness, and you needn't worry about the purple discolouration after it bakes either. This version is a play on a basic Carrot Cake recipe, with a few modifications. I will have other recipes to post in future, for now, I will start with the basics as I am very behind with my posting this year.
Cinnamon Beet Cake.
Ingredients:1 Cup Grated Purple Beets
1/2 Cup Chopped or Grated Pineapple
1 TSP Vanilla Extract
2/3 Cup Vegetable Oil (or Canola as a Substitute)
1/2 Cup Margarine
2/3 Cup Demerara Sugar (or Golden Sugar)**
2 Large Eggs (3 small)
1 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour
1 TSP Baking Soda
1 TSP Baking Powder
1 1/2 TSPS Cinnamon
1/2 TSP Salt
Additional Oil to coat the Pans you use.
You can turn this recipe into one large cake, two smaller loaves or cupcakes if you prefer. I've broken out the cooking times below.
**Demerara Sugar adds a darker colour to the cake. Golden Sugar can be substituted but the colour will be a little lighter.
Instructions:
Make sure the Eggs and Margarine are room temperature. Either leave them out overnight or at least a couple of hours prior to working with.
Skin and Grate approximately 3 small beets, or enough to give you one cup of grated beet to work with.
Pre-heat your oven to 350 F
In a medium size Bowl add Margarine and Demerara Sugar. Use a hand Mixer and Blend until smooth. If needed, use a spatula to scrape off of the mixing blades and back into the bowl. you want an even consistency of margarine to sugar.
To the same bowl add Eggs, Pineapple, Vanilla Extract and Oil. Blend again until the ingredients are evenly distributed.Note: You can add the Eggs in with the Sugar and Margarine and blend the three together first. Just ensure you have an even distribution of ingredients. Don't over crowd the initial mixing of margarine.
In a second Bowl, add your dry ingredients. Flour first, Baking Soda, Powder, Salt and Cinnamon and mix well. Once the Cinnamon is evenly distributed through out the flour, pour the blended wet ingredients over top of the dry to continue the process.
With a hand mixer, mix everything together. Approximately 2 minutes on a low setting and 3 minutes on a medium setting.
Do take the time to scrape the sides of the bowl back down into the batter after the first blending, to ensure you have all of the proportions correctly distributed within the mix.
Oil your pans, scrape the batter into your trays and bake on the centre rack of your oven.
2 Loaves, 8" x 4" pans, 35 - 40 Minutes
1 Loaf 9" x 5" pan, 55 - 60 Minutes
12 Cup Cakes 20 - 25 Minutes
Test your Cake with a tooth pick, pierce the centre of the cake quickly with an end and remove. If the tooth pick comes away clean, your cakes are ready. Remove from oven and allow to cool fully on a wire rack.
Once cooled, remove from trays and rest them on a paper towel for 20 minutes to allow some of the excess oil to drain away. The Cakes themselves will be moist, delicious and ready to slice at this time.
I enjoy baking, but don't have much of a sweet tooth, so I won't have thousands of cake recipes to post. This is a basic recipe for a Cinnamon Beet Cake and it's a great way to utilize either Carrot or Beet into a cake for those times you do want a sweet treat. This recipe is also not cloyingly sweet, as others I have tried.
I have other variations on Beet Cake Recipes and currently writing them out. Links are coming soon.
Raspberry Lemon Beet Cake
Chocolate Beet Cake
Both are absolutely delicious. There are again a few modifications to these recipes and their texture's are a little different to the recipe written above. The Cakes themselves are a delight and a great way to utilize Purple Beets in your baking.
Please enjoy!
0 Response to "Cinnamon Beet Cake"
Post a Comment