Beet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
I chose this recipe as a bit of a social experiment. My in-laws don’t like beets. Loathe them, really. My father-in-law is the exception. He loves them. This probably has somethig to do with the fact that his mom used to make pickled beets in the summer and that lovely smell just sticks with the kids.
Anyway, the result was that the cake was well received. When the “great reveal” was made, my mother-in-law stated that, while it was good, she’d never eat it again.
Inspired by: The Best of Cooking Light: Over 500 of Our All-Time Greatest Recipes
Posted by Steve on 02/11 at 10:00 AM
Peel and grate the beets. Use the large grating holes and for heaven’s sake, wear an apron. Beet juice never comes off. Grate enough for two cups.
Coat two 9-inch round cake pans with cooking spray or, if your feeling slightly bad ass in this healthy day and age, butter. Line the bottoms with wax paper and coat the wax paper with cooking spray (or bad ass butter).
Get out a large bowl and combine the sugar, brown sugar, oil and eggs. Beat until things are well blended. Add the beets and…beat well.
Preheat the oven to 350°.
Get out another large bowl. Combine the flour, baking powder, ground ginger, ground cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Stir it all together with a whisk.
Start adding the flour mixture and milk to the sugar mixture. Don’t add them both all at once! Alternate between the flour mixture and the milk. The recipe specifically calls for starting and ending with the flour mixture. No idea why.
Pour the batter into the pans. and tap them once on the counter to remove air bubbles. My wife helpfully points out that “tapping on the counter” does not mean “dropping on the counter from a great height” (however much fun that is).
Bake for 30 minutes or thereabouts. A toothpick inserted in the middle should come out clean. Cool the cake in the pans for 10 minutes. Take the cake out of the pans, remove the wax paper, and cool completely on wire racks.
While baking, make the frosting. In a medium bowl, use a mixer to beat the rind, vanilla and cream cheese at high speed. Mix until fluffy. Gradually add the powdered sugar and beat at low speed. Only beat until things are just mixed. Beating the crap out of the frosting is not recommended.
The cake probably rose at least a little. The first time I did this, I didn’t bother slicing the base layer down and filled in the gaps between top and bottom as best I could with icing. You may prefer something a little cleaner. If so, I hear you can use (unflavoured) dental floss to cleanly cut the top off the cake on the bottom layer.
Whichever you choose, coat the bottom layer with frosting, slap on the top layer and coat the while thing with frosting. Sprinkle on the walnuts.
