Think Pink: Beetroot Cake

They say necessity is the mother of invention. I can personally attest to this saying on a daily basis. Motherhood makes you create and find innovative solutions to persistent problems. My 15 month olds have a sweet tooth. I think its genetically designed to be this way because if you have ever tasted either breast milk (yeww) or formula (even more yeww) it runs on a slightly sweet tone. So its not surprising that little babies and toddlers especially mine love their fruits more than their veggies. So I am constantly trying to find ways to give them nutritious, healthy snacks packed with vitamins, minerals and of course vegetables. I had a bunch of beets laying in the fridge for a few days and I knew I could make them eat it if it was dressed up a bit. They have eaten steamed beets before but after a couple of bites they lost interest. I know carrot cake is very popular and its a root vegetable and why not beet cake? I did some research. I found popular recipes for Chocolate Beet Cake over and over but I was not interested in serving chocolate and sugar along with the beets. So I kept researching some more. I found an interesting recipe for beetroot bread but I haven't baked breads yet so I didn't go down that path. Finally, I decided to go with my own recipe and here are the results.

Grated Cooked Beets, ready for the cake.
Recipe

• 1 Cup Grated & Cooked Beets (I used about 4 small/medium beets to get this amount)
  
• 2 Heaping Teaspoons Dry Flaked Coconut Powder
  
• 2 Heaping Teaspoons Flax Seed Powder
• 1/2 Cup Mixed Raisins
  
• 2 eggs at room temperature
  
• 1/2 Cup Coconut Milk (i used canned variety shook up well)
  
• 1/4 cup Unsalted Butter (room temperature)
  
• 1/4 Cup Vegetable Oil
  
• 1/2 Cup Apricot-Applesauce (you can use plain applesauce if you wish)
  
• 2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
  
• 3 Teaspoons Brown Sugar
  
• 1/2 Teaspoon of baking powder, baking soda and cardamom powder

Method:
Pre-heat Oven to 375 Degree F.

Combine sugar and butter together in a mixing bowl and beat till incorporated. Add eggs to this mixture and whip into a fluffy consistency and set aside. Combine all other dry ingredients into a large bowl. Add grated/cooked beets into the flour/dry ingredients and mix. Add applesauce, coconut milk and vegetable oil to beet/flour and combine well. Slowly add in the sugar/egg mixture to the batter and stir well to create this beautifully pepto bismal pink batter. At the very end, mix in the raisins into batter and stir. Pour batter into a greased/floured cake pan and bake in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes or till a toothpick comes out clean.
Remove cake from the pan after baking and let it cool on a wire rack.
Slice and serve cake with your favorite frozen yogurt or icecream or perhaps a sugary cream cheese frosting. I served mine with a fresh vanilla-banana frozen yogurt to my parents and plain for my tots.

Results? The cake was pink and crumbly on top and just the right amount of sweetness for the kids to devour it. It was extremely moist and I think for next time, I will skip the oil in the recipe. The applesauce, coconut milk and butter was plenty of moisture.

After storing it in the fridge (because of the beets), the next day the cake continued to be moist, firm and almost fruitcake like consistency. Even my husband who does not like beetroot too much thought it turned out pretty well. The kids loved it especially with the raisins there to add some natural sweetness. If you have a sweet tooth you will have to increase the sugar in the recipe as I really reduced it and unless you are biting down on the dried fruit, its pleasantly, subtly sweet.

I have abandoned all thoughts of low calorie for this cake because it was intended for my young kids who have been recommended to eat butter slathered foods by their pediatrician (lower weights). If you are calorie conscious then going without the oil, doubling the applesauce quantity and decreasing coconut milk might do the trick. I haven't tried a lowfat version only low sugar!

Edited to add:
Updated the images and hopefully everyone can see them now!
Asha's Beetroot Coconut Cake Recipe
Nandita's Valentine Beetroot Cake