Discovered this recipe a few years back, as I’m not a huge fan of beetroot and was looking for palatable ways of using it up when we got it our veg box. The muffins are surprisingly light and using the beetroot makes such sense as, like carrots, they’re a high-sugar root vegetable. It’s from Jill Dupleix originally, but I’ve made a few minor adjustments. In fact, with this batch I used buttermilk as we had some hanging around in the fridge, and it worked well…. but I’ll give the more standard recipe here.

Preheat the over 180C (or 160C fan). Put 12 paper cases in a muffin tin.

Sift together:
75g cocoa powder
180g plain flour
2 t baking powder
Stir in:
200g caster sugar

With a food processor, blend 250g cooked beetroot until as smooth as possible.
Add:
3 eggs, one at a time
1 t vanilla essence
200ml corn oil

Pour the wet beetroot mix into the dry mix. Mix until smooth and combined.

Divide between the muffin cases and bake for 30 mins.

Cool on a rack, then dust with icing sugar for serving. Or not.

I have wanted to try making something sweet with beetroot for a while, I never used to like the stuff at all until Lawrence introduced me to beetroot and cheese sandwiches. This recipe is from the Riverford cookbook you can use carrots instead or a mix of both I guess. The beetroot looks so beautiful when it’s grated and added to the mix, I wish it kept that bright red/purple look once it was cooked. It’s very simple to make and bakes very evenly with a lovely colour, the texture very moist and you really can taste the beetroot, which I like – nothing worse than making a cake with ingredients for the sake of it and all you taste is sugar. I added a bit of cinnamon by the way, I think it needed something extra, perhaps nutmeg would work too?

So I also decided to have a go at making muffins, English ones that is. The intention was to make them early and have them for brunch but we decided to go to the Tate in the morning so it turned into afternoon tea. I’d never realised that they were cooked on the top in a heavy saucepan – I was convinced it wouldn’t work and the insides would be gooey dough once I cut them open – but they weren’t, they were perfect! I don’t think I’ll ever buy a pack of muffins again, very simple and just half a bag of flour, some salt, yeast and bit of sunflower oil. Oh, and dusting with semolina to create that lovely crisp texture on the outside is essential. I followed the recipe in River Cottage Bread book:

500g white bread flour
325g warm water
10g salt
5g dried yeast
drizzle of sunflower oil
semolina for dusting

Mix the dry ingredients, add the water and combine until it reaches a sticky dough then add the oil and turn out on to a surface to knead – the key is in the kneading (Daniel Stevens’ book explains all the methods very well) and leave until doubled in size, took about an hour for me. Then deflate the dough and divide into 9 pieces, shape each into a round (again, research this), flatten to about 1-2cm, cover in semolina and leave on a board covered in a plastic bag until doubled in height. Heat a heavy bottomed saucepan (even better if you have a Rayburn or Aga) over a medium heat and carefully place about 3 muffins at a time in the pan. Cook on one side for a minute or two then turn, cook for a further 10 minutes turning occasionally. Leave to cool on a wire rack.

Cut open, toast and pile up some poached eggs on top (with a sneaky bit of cheese in between) or keep it simple with loads of butter and some Marmite. So rewarding!

I love brownies. They’re the quintessential tray-baked chocolate hit. Although I’ve got another recipe I’m very happy with, it’s always nice to try something new.

These are from Red Velvet & Chocolate Heartache, a recipe book I’ve got very mixed feelings about. Indeed, I don’t think I’ve ever reacted quite so strongly to a recipe book. Look, I’m going to have a rant ok? I know I should probably do it on my blog, but well, I’m doing it here, so tough.

This book was a Christmas present from my mum, and although in many ways I’m very much in a suitable demographic – like the author, Harry Eastwood, I love cakes (obviously), and I’m fascinated by using vegetables in cakes – in others I’m just so far off, I’m clashing. Notably, possibly, because I’m a male who’s not interested in “cooking myself thin” – to me, food is about balance, with indulgence in the form of decent home-made cakes and puddings balanced by good wholesome nutritious meals.

The most irritating thing about this book is its insistence on photos of Eastwood and her chums, and their offspring. Too many photos of them. I blame Sir Jamie. As much as I have a deep admiration for Jamie Oliver, arguably he started the trend for cookbooks with loads of photos of the smirking chef. In the 1970s and 1980s, the cookbooks I grew up maybe had a photo of Delia or Prue on the cover, then inside you might have had pics of the food. Much as I don”t want a few dozen pics of Jamie and his mates smirking in his recipe books, I don’t want them of Eastwood and her crew here. I don’t want to see the cook with her fancy necklace and sunglasses and fairy wings (and, hell, adults shouldn’t really even wear fairy wings – at least not outside the confines of a festival, and even there it’s questionable). Pics of food – great. Pics of cook and friends – not so great.

That’s not her only crime though. She anthropomorphises her cakes, frequently referring to them as “she”. And frequently, painfully mangling metaphors. In the case of these brownies, we get “This recipe is dangerous. Sinful and completely irresistible, this brownie is so wicked you could drown in it. Like a bad man, this is a girl’s deathbed. If it were poison, you would still be glad you’d tried it.” Eh? So it’s a body of water, that’s a man, who’s a bed, which is poisonous? What are you on about Harry?

Still, ranting aside, a recipe book is only as good as its recipes. So until I’ve tried a few more of the recipes in the book, I should chill out on the ranting…. except I can’t. Jeez. I’m going to have to cover the irritating pics up. And even just glancing at her descriptions of cakes as female is making me grind my teeth. “She’s everything you’re not allowed.” No she isn’t. She’s an it. It’s a cake. You are allowed cake.

Anyway, the recipe. The brownies. Well, compared to my double-choc ones, making these is arduous. My double choc ones are a five minute job, these are a half-hour job. So in my thinking they should be six times as good. Well they’re not. They’re very nice indeed, and another great way to use beetroot – which combines so well with chocolate. Plus, they do get a lovely flavour from the use of ground hazelnuts. But they’re just a bit convoluted to make.

After that rant, I’m not sure I can face typing out the recipe in full… here’s a simplified, tweaked version.

Preheat the oven to 160C, or 140C if you’ve got a fan oven.

Grind 100g of hazelnuts in a processor until they’re as fine as you can manage. Set them aside, then grind up 150g dark choc in the processor too. Leave it in the processor bowl.

Grind Peel and dice 400g of beetroot, and microwave it for 10 mins in a bowl with a little water, and clingfilm over the top. (I didn’t grow up with a microwave, so that’s a nifty lesson.)

Whisk together 3 eggs, 250g light soft brown sugar and 1/4 t salt in a roomy bowl with a handheld electric whisk. Keep going until it’s trebled in volume (about 5 mins).

Add the hazelnuts, 2 T white rice flour, 70g cocoa, 2 t baking powder and 1 t vanilla extract to the egg mix and combine.

When the beetroot is cooked, add it to the processor, and puree it. The heat of the beet will melt the ground choc. When all nicely pureed and melted, fold this mix into the egg mix.

You can sprinkle it with some more chopped hazelnuts, then bake for 35 mins.

Is beetroot the unsung hero of vegetable-based cake-making? I’m not convinced, but it’s still an interesting ingredient. Like carrot and parsnip (something I’ve not experimented with much in cakes), it’s a root vegetable that’s high in natural sugars.

This recipe came from the leaflet that comes with our veggie box and Sarah Blackmore, it says in the accompanying blurb, is the wife of a Devon beetroot farmer. So if anyone would know what to do with this slightly unpopular veg, it’d be her. I’ve changed it a little bit.

450g SR white flour
1t ground nutmeg
1t cinnamon
1t allspice
220g light soft brown sugar
125 walnuts, chopped
2 ripe bananas, mashed
300g beetroot, cooked and grated
4 medium eggs
300ml sunflower oil

Grease and line a deep 20cm, round tin.
Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan).
Clean the beetroots, but do not peel or top and tail too aggressively. Boil until tender.
Sift together the flour and spices.
Stir the nuts, sugar, banana and beetroot into the flour.
Beat in the eggs and oil. Beat until well combined.
Pour into tin and bake until a skewer comes out clean.
Leave to cool in the tin for 10 mins, then turn out and cool fully on a rack.
Present iced with cream cheese icing (225g cream cheese, 85g icing sugar, 2t lemon juice) or just a sprinkling of icing sugar.

It’s not bad. I reckon beetroot might lend itself better to chocolate cakes (I’ve got a few choco/beetroot recipes I’ll post at some stage), but this is still a delicious, wholesome cake that’s very like a good carrot cake.