DARK CHOCOLATE & BEETROOT CAKE

Tea party is something that Ian & I are very interested in. A well laid out table with pretty crockery and finger food is my fancy description of a tea party. Ian just wants a teapot filled with hot water, a cup and saucer and some 'Elly's' cookies. He loves watching a cartoon called ' Pocoyo' on YouTube and 'Elly' is an Elephant who is Pocoyo's friend. She bakes cookies and hosts tea party but refuses to share the cookies she bakes with anyone else. So one day, Ian asked me if I could help him make some 'Elly's cookies', which I did and you can make it too! It's just the Thumbrint Cookies that I've shared with you all here, one million years ago. Well,maybe not one million but during my initial days of food blogging which feels like a million years ago to me!

While I was taking pictures of this decadent cake,a cake that I've been eyeing for months together, Ian sat right next to me and Zara in her walker, eyeing all that I was doing and trying to host a tea party in between with all the crockery that I had pulled out. That was Ian. In the meantime, Zara wanted to somehow get her tiny chubby fingers on that chocolate cake!

To be honest, this is the fussiest cake I've ever baked my entire life! Fussy in the sense, the way it's directions were. Nigel is amazing but the directions kind of made me want to skip baking the cake altogether.I am not a person to follow fussy recipes usually but if the end result was anything like what it turned out to be, I really don't mind being fussy! Jokes apart, this cake turned out to be really moist and fluffy.

If you are really reading this post to know if this cake tastes anything like beetroot, yes it does. It kind of smells like it and tastes 10% like a beetroot somewhere,especially in the first bite. After that, you would be surprised to know that it only tastes of chocolate! I am not a beetroot lover. I like them in my Beetroot Pachadi, Beetroot & Dates pickle, Beet & Ginger Lemonade so far and now this wonderful,moist cake.

DARK CHOCOLATE & BEETROOT CAKE
Makes one 8 inch round cake

Ingredients:
8 oz beetroot
7 oz dark chocolate, chopped small
1/4 cup hot espresso
3/4 cup + 2 tablespoon butter, cut up very small
5 eggs, separated
1 cup + 2 tablespoon flour
3 tablespoon cocoa
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup superfine sugar

Method: Preheat the oven to 350 F and line an 8 inch springform tin.
Chop the beets, steam and puree them to a coarse paste using a mixie. In a large bowl, over a pan of simmering water,melt the chopped chocolate just until it begins to melt. Then add in the hot espresso and give it just one mix. Add the butter and push it down so that it goes underneath the chocolate. Let it melt a little bit and turn off the heat and mix to incorporate the butter with the chocolate. Let it cool just a little bit and then mix in the beaten egg yolks. Fold in the beet puree after that.Sift flour,cocoa powder and baking powder together into a small bowl. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks and then fold in the superfine sugar *.

Fold in the egg whites into the chocolate mixture using a metal spoon in a large figure eight motion. Do not over mix. Then gently fold in the flour mixture. Tip the batter into the tin, reduce the oven temperature to 325F and bake the cake until moist crumbs cling to the cake tester. Let it cool in the tin and remove from the tin once cooled completely. You can top it with a ganache or just plain melted chocolate like I did.

*I just measured out 1 cup sugar and ground it using a mixie until it was superfine,not completely powdered.

I really wanted to share a cake recipe here for the longest time because it's one of my favourite things to make and write about. It's one of your favourite things to make from my blog too,so I just went ahead,baked and took pictures of it juggling two kids in a row but the net connection...it just didn't work in my favour. Anyway. Here's the recipe and I hope you enjoy this cake as much as we did. Try it even if you are not a beetroot lover,just to know how you can incorporate such a vegetable into your diet in a tasty way!

PISTACHIO & ROSEWATER CAKE

Ilove the colour and flavour of pistachios.Growing up,Jogy Chachan and Mini Aunty,along with Appu,Tichu & Tia would come over to stay with us for every single holiday. When they came from Goa,tinned salted pistachios with shells on were one of the goodies they brought along with Bebinca,Bournvita Biscuits,Shrewbury Biscuits, Chocolates etc. I liked those Pista's mostly for it's salted shells. As a child, I would sneak into the dining room and drink salt water and add extra salt to my rice,for every meal. I just loved it. Everyone knew this habit of mine and they still talk about it. But, that habit of mine died over the last few years. I don't salt even my rice anymore!

Getting hold of unsalted,shelled Pistachio's in Kannur was impossible until a few years ago.It could be because they are always highly priced.When I wanted to make the Chocolate Pistachio Fudge (which I make every year as a part of our Christmas hamper)a few years ago, I bought some during a familt trip to Mysore. I still remember the happiness of holding that small packet of green nuts. Gone are those days of excitement because everything is in available in plenty in the US.

When I saw the recipe for a Pistachio & Rosewater Cake in NY Times, I immediately bookmarked it to try it for the coming weekend,as we had planned to celebrate a dear friend's birthday at home. We,as a family, believe in having quality friends over quantity.We make their special days a day of celebration for us! Our friend's birthday coincided with Amma's birthday,so it was extra special for me. Let me warn you, this cake is dense,like how it should be and it's an adult cake unless your kids are good eaters! It's chock full of nuts and other goodness and contains very little flour. It is flavoured with rose water and orange and iced with a simple glaze icing.

PISTACHIO ROSEWATER CAKE
Makes one 8 inch cake

Ingredients:
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon superfine sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup finely ground unsalted pistachios
1 cup finely ground blanched almonds
Juice and finely grated zest of 1 orange
1 teaspoon rosewater
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon all purpose flour

Glaze Icing:
1 cup confectioner's sugar
2 tablespoon lime juice

Grated lime zest and chopped pistachios for decoration

Method: Preheat the oven to 350 F / 180 C and line the bottom of an 8 inch cake tin with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, beat together butter and sugar till light and fluffy.Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the ground nuts and mix well. Add in the orange juice,zest and rose water and mix well. Fold in the flour,gently using a rubber spatula. Do not overmix.
Transfer the batter into a cake tin and bake until top is firm and golden brown,about 40 minutes. Cover the top loosely with a piece of foil and continue to bake till the cake is done,about 10 minutes.Allow the cake to cool in the tin for several minutes,then take it out and let it cool completely.

Icing: Mix together the ingredients in a small bowl and pour over the cooled cake. I garnished the top with grated lime zest and chopped pistachios. Let the icing set for a minimum of 1 hour ( which I didn't!) so that you can slice it beautifully.

*There are no leavening agents for this cake.

Like I said earlier, this is a very moist,fragrant,dense cake.You should really try it even if you like are into the fluffy cakes.Make sure you have the best quality ingredients. I source my rosewater and almonds from Kashmir, India. Jobin's sister sends it through his mom,when she visits us.A lot of rosewater lack flavour. Try to get the purest,if you can. It really make a big difference,just like a real vanilla extract.It adds character to your goodies.

These days, I am exploring new flavour combinations like this one and I must say, I am loving it! This cake was so good and our friends enjoyed it thoroughly. I had one too many glasses of wine that night,so cannot really remember if Ian took a bite of it! Our friend had brought in some Raspberry wine that his super talented friend makes,so you know,someone's got to taste it, right? ;-)