Cherries chocolate cake

This is a particular chocolate cake, with a special ingredient: the beets. This recipe turned in my head for a long time, I was so curious about the texture the beets could give to the cake. I start from a recipe by Nigel Slater (here you can find the link) and I played around with it, adding some cherries and a wonderful topping cream made with mascarpone. It’s a sumptuous cake, perfect to surprise your partner for San Valentin!

Cherries chocolate cake

18cm tart tin

For the cake

    • 125gr unsalted butter

    • 200gr dark chocolate (mix with 52% and 70%)

    • Three medium eggs

    • 100gr caster sugar

    • 150gr cooked beetroot 

    • 60gr plain flour (00 type – T405)

    • 20gr almond flour

    • 25gr cocoa powder

    • half teaspoon baking powder

    • 250gr cherries (also frozen) + two spoons of sugar and bit of lemon juice

Heat the oven to 180°C. Butter the sides and the bottom of the tin cake, then cover the bottom with a small disk of parchment paper. Put the cherries in a small saucepan, cook it with the sugar for few minutes, until are melted and their juice has thickened. Set aside and allow to cool down. Blend the beetroot in a food processor to a smooth purée. Melt the chocolate with the butter in a small sauce pan, on a low heat. Set aside and allow to cool slightly. Sift the flour, the cocoa powder and the baking powder in a bowl and set aside. In a medium bowl whisk the eggs with the sugar until white and frothy, add carefully the chocolate mixture and then the beetroot purée. Add the flour mixture and the almond mixture. Pour two thirds of the chocolate mixture the tin cake, put in the middle half of the cherries compote (keep the second half for the decoration), cover with the rest of the mixture. Bake in the oven for about 30-35 minutes. Set aside until completely cool.

For the topping

    • 120gr mascarpone

    • 220gr crème fraîche

    • 40gr icing sugar

Start to whisk the mascarpone with the icing sugar, then add the crème fraîche little by little, until the desired consistency. The amount of sugar is approximate, I prefer to keep the taste delicate and not too sweet, but feel free to adjust it.

To assemble. Place the cake on a nice serving dish. Spread generously the mascarpone cream on the top and put in the middle the rest of the cherries. Set in the fridge for a couple of hours, take it out 15 minutes before serving.