Pink speckled beetroot cake recipe

This dainty beetroot cake is perfect for any pink fanatics you know. Vegetable bakes are increasingly popular and if you like carrot or courgette cake we are sure you’ll love our beetroot cake. We’ve mixed in roasted chopped hazelnuts for some added texture and decorated the beetroot cake using a cream cheese frosting and freeze-dried raspberries.

Ingredients

For the cake:

• 150g raw beetroot, grated
• 100g hazelnuts, roasted and chopped
• 200ml groundnut oil
• 275g caster sugar
• 3 eggs, separated
• 3tbsp milk
• 200g plain flour
• 2tsp baking powder
• ½tsp each ground ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg

For the frosting:

• 175g unsalted butter, softened
• 150g icing sugar, sieved
• 450g pack full-fat cream or curd cheese
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• 2tbsp freeze-dried raspberry pieces

You will need:

• 2 x 20cm round cake tins, greased and lined with baking parchment

Method

1. Heat oven to 190°C. Put 1tbsp of the grated beetroot in a small bowl, cover it with 2tbsp boiling water and set aside (this is to colour the frosting).
2. Blitz the hazelnuts in a food processor for 10 secs to finely grind.
3. Whisk the oil and sugar in a large bowl, then whisk in the egg yolks and milk. Fold in the remaining beetroot and nuts. Sift the flour and baking powder together and fold this into the mixture with the spices.
4. Whisk the egg whites in another bowl until they’re stiff, then gradually fold them into the cake mixture.
5. Divide this between the tins, smoothing the surface and bake for 30-35 mins, or until shrinking from the tin sides and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Run a knife around the edge of the cakes and leave them to cool.
6. To make the frosting, cream the butter and icing sugar together with a handheld mixer. Stir in the cream or curd cheese, until smooth, and work in the vanilla and a couple of tsp of beetroot water, to tint it pink.
7. Put 1 cake on a serving plate. Spread about a quarter of the frosting over the top of the cake and use some to sandwich it together with the other cake. Use the remaining frosting to coat the top and sides, spreading over evenly with a palette knife. Sprinkle over the freeze-dried raspberries and chill for 1 hour before serving.