Somewhere round the end of March I saw my friend Hazel for the first time in nearly three years. She married an Australian chap back in 05 and opted for a warm climate and good standard of living over London – crazy but true. Anyway we had lunch and talked about food and then she went back to Sydney and on seeing this recipe she very kindly emailed me and select others. It could be subtitled ‘Or How To Get People To Eat Beetroot Via The Medium Of Chocolate’.
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes
Skill level: Easy
Ingredients
- butter – 100g
- brown sugar – 100g
- vanilla essence – 1tsp
- nutmeg – 1/tsp
- plain flour – 110g
- 4 eggs
- plain chocolate – 90g
- ground almonds – 100g
- beetroot – 180g – finely grated
Firstly melt the chocolate in a bowl over hot water and set aside to cool. Cream the butter and the sugar then add vanilla, nutmeg and flour and mix well. Add the eggs one at a time ensuring that each is well blended in before the next is added. Then stir in the melted chocolate (which should now be at room temperature) and fold in the ground almonds and the beetroot.
Pour mixture into a well greased baking tray and bake for 25 minutes at 200C/gas mark 6.
Verdict: Due to what is now known as kitchenscalesgate in the yumblog household, slightly more beetroot may have gone into the brownies than was actually called for (we were scalesless at the time). But with the advent of a new set of scales and strict instructions that Blogger D should call on the help of Blogger R rather than attempting to take apart said scales in the event of accidental water damage, over-beetrooting should be a thing of the past. BD’s sister Archaeologist T will confirm that BD has a long history with the equation: inquisitive mind + cack hands = broken equipment.
But I digress, they were rather tasty and not too sweet either.Drink: coffee
Entertainment: Jon Holmes on the radio being frankly hilarious.
4 responses so far ↓
1 Teeenzzz // May 21, 2008 at 8:40 pm
As I am closely associated to someone of the Russian persuasian, I am no stranger to beetroot and am rather unprejudiced about said vegetable. But what persuaded you to add it to chocolate cake? Do you see it as a sort of poor man’s carrot? What does it add that leaving it out could not equally well achieve?
2 Teeenzzz // May 21, 2008 at 8:41 pm
Erm…I think I mean ‘associated with’ and not ‘to’…
3 Hazel // Jun 21, 2008 at 8:17 am
Hi Teeenzzz – I’ve just seen your question about beetroot, and as the contributor of this recipe thought it only polite to share my view. Beetroot appears to be the adopted national vegetable of Australia – order any sort of sandwich over here with salad, and it will have a slice or seven of beetroot on it, ditto burgers. So, in a clear indication of the fact that I must be have been here nearly long enough to be a local now, when I saw this recipe in a magazine, it didn’t strike me as strange.
4 Deborah // Jul 24, 2008 at 10:19 am
Hazel – as the guru on this dish, what kind of brown sugar would you recommend? light, dark, muscovado . . . ? I’m harvesting beetroot now so let me know!
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