Recipe : Red velvet beetroot cake

This red velvet cake is a perfect Valentine's Day treat!

Although the red colour in this cake of American origin usually comes from food colourings, we will be using beetroot and cacao in our version for a natural red hue. And because we love indulging in good food, we will decorate our cake with a delicious lemon cream cheese icing, topped with a few fresh blueberries...

Ingredients

  • 200 g red beetroot
  • 2 eggs
  • 10 cl olive oil
  • 15 cl fermented milk (kefir or buttermilk)
  • 100 g partially refined yellow cane sugar
  • 80 g unrefined cane sugar
  • 250 g traditional white T65 flour + a little to dust the tin with
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon cacao powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla powder
  • 2 teaspoons white wine vinegar

Number of persons:8

Préparation : 20 min.

Cuisson : 45 min.

Temps total : 65 min.

To decorate

  • 100g cream cheese
  • 50 g icing sugar
  • juice of one lemon
  • a little milk
  • a few blueberries
  • icing sugar
  • blueberry purée (optional)

Couteaux utilisés pour cette recette

Etapes

1Preparing the pastry

Preheat the oven to 180°. Peel and slice each beetroot into 4 pieces. Then finely grate them. In a mixing bowl, whisk the eggs with the oil, fermented milk and sugar. Add the flour, baking powder, cacao and vanilla, and whisk again. Add the grated beetroot and stir the mixture until it has a uniform red colour. Finally, splash in the white wine vinegar and mix for a few seconds.

2Baking

Grease the baking ring and dust it with flour. Spoon the mixture into the tin and bake for 40 minutes. Check that the cake is done by gently inserting the blade of a knife into it: the blade should come out clean and dry. If necessary, continue baking the cake for a few more minutes. Leave to cool before removing from the tin.

3Preparing the icing

Make the icing. Whisk the cream cheese with the sugar. Then add the lemon juice and whisk the mixture again. If the mixture is too thick, add one or 2 teaspoons of milk.

4Serving

When the cake is ready to serve, spread over the icing, arrange blueberries on top and dust with icing sugar.

If you do not have a baking ring tin, you can bake the red velvet cake in a savarin mould of 22 cm diameter, a cake tin of 28 cm diameter, or a spring form tin of 20 cm diameter.
The 15 cl of fermented milk can be replaced with 1 small pot of plain yoghurt mixed with 5 cl milk.
Just to be more indulgent, add a touch of blueberry purée!
You can also substitute the same quantity of carrot for the beetroot. Although the cake will not have its typical deep red colour, it will be just as delicious. You can also use apricot instead of blueberry purée.