Chocolate Beetroot Cake

Greetings from the rainy city (Sydney, apparently)! Isn't it a great relief to be able to enjoy the pouring rain from the comfort of your own bed ;) Today I'm sharing with you a tried and treasured recipe adapted from Neil Perry's The Food I Love - his dark chocolate beetroot cake. I found it in Gourmet Traveller a while back. This one is completely perfect as beetroot is coming into season. If you haven't noticed already I kind of have a thing for vegetables incorporated in desserts... See here and here. This recipe leads the pack though for sure!

Completely irresistible, why stop at just one? I love the pinky purple tinge to this cake too :)

Without further ado...

Ingredientsss
400g dark chocolate (at least 60% cocoa solids), coarsely chopped
6 eggs, separated
150g (3/4 cup) caster sugar
200g beetroot (1 large), very finely grated Note: I love beetroot so I usually put in double the quantity in the recipe. It doesn't overpower the cake at all, in case you were wondering :D
100ml pouring cream, whisked to soft peaks
75g almond meal
Butter for greasing
Dutch process cocoa powder, double cream or ice cream to serve

Method
1. Butter and line a 20cm square watertight cake tin. Preheat oven to 175 degrees celcius. Melt chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan or simmering water until smooth (3-5 minutes). Set aside
2. Whisk yolks and 2/3 of sugar in an electric mixer until pale and creamy (3-5 minutes). Add melted chocolate and grated beetroot, stir to combine and set aside
3. Whisk eggwhite in an electric mixer to soft peaks, add remaining sugar and whisk until smooth and glossy. 
4. Fold cream and eggwhite through chocolate mixture, then fold through almond meal, spoon into tin. 
5. Place in a roasting pan, pour in enough boiling water to come halfway up the sides of tin and bake for 45 minutes. Then, reduce oven to 150 degrees and bake until cake springs back when lightly pressed (30 minutes). 
6. Turn off oven but leave cake in oven for further 20 minutes, then run a knife around sides and cool in pan for another 15 minutes before turning out. Dust with cocoa powder and serve with cream or ice cream.
7. HellOOO!

Sheer indulgence with a side of veggies. Bueno!

Thanks for reading and happy baking!
xGourmand