When I received Nigel Slater’s vegetable cookbook Tender for Christmas, I wasn’t expecting to discover dessert recipes within its pages. True, the carrot cake recipe didn’t strike me as unusual, but chocolate beet cake? That sounded a little odd—but also intriguing.
For those wary of introducing beets to the dessert hour, breathe easy. The beet flavor is barely discernible, and you could probably fool an unsuspecting eater into thinking there are no veggies here. The beets are an understated yet powerful ingredient, lending both moisture and a subtle depth of flavor to the cake. Make no mistake: though this cake contains vegetables, it does not purport to be healthy. After all, it’s got all the ingredients any decadent cake would have: two bars of dark chocolate, cocoa powder, espresso, eggs, sugar, a bit of flour.
I should also add that besides being an indulgence, this cake is also rather large. When I scooped the batter into the pan, I was a bit stunned by how it reached towards the brim, nearly filling the entire 9″ spring form pan. And when I took it out of the oven and it was still as big, though a tad sunken in center, I knew we had several days of cake eating ahead of us. I didn’t make this cake for any special occasion; I made it just to see how beets and chocolate fared together. I am pleased to report that beets are chocolate get along remarkably well. When you think about it, the earthiness of the beets complements the earthiness of the chocolate and espresso quite well. The cake has a slight red hue, and the deep chocolate flavor and fudge-like texture remind me of flourless chocolate cake and chocolate truffles but without being as sweet or dense.
Nigel Slater recommends serving the cake with crème fraîche, but since I had whipping cream on hand, that’s what we used. I followed his advice, though, for garnishing the cake with poppy seeds, and I’m so glad I did because the poppy seeds create a festive finish. The poppy seeds, whipped cream and honest flavors of the cake strike me as so European. In fact, I find myself wanting to take a four o’clock Kaffee und Kuchen break every day, like Caroline and I did when we visited Germany. Maybe that wouldn’t be such a bad thing; after all, there are vegetables in this cake.
You can find the recipe for the cake here, where Nigel Slater first wrote about it for the UK newspaper The Telegraph. I decided not to repost the recipe because I want to abide by copyright laws, and to reprint a recipe I either have to adapt it or get permission. I couldn’t imagine altering this cake at all, so I trust you won’t mind clicking over to the recipe source if it has piqued your interest.
Hello! My name is Andrea, and I’m a freelance writer living in the lovely, hilly city of San Francisco with my husband Sam.
Eat Your Colors: Kale, Carrot and Cabbage Salad
Salads are one of my favorite things to make in the kitchen. First, there’s the obvious gratification of feeling healthy after eating a salad (which for some odd reason doesn’t happen after I eat cream puffs or chocolate mousse). The second reason I love making salads is that it’s an easy, low-risk way to be creative in the kitchen. When you’re baking, you can’t exactly say, Hmm, how about I throw in a few more eggs or some extra whole wheat flour? With salads, throwing in a little bit of this and that is the name of the game.
Another plus with making salads is that you get to play the part of artist, where color, shape and texture come from ordinary foods. Just check out the colors in this salad—the vibrant hues of purple and orange juxtaposed against a backdrop of green are positively fun and playful. And that’s only considering the salad’s visual appeal. Take a bite and your taste buds will confirm what your eyes suspected: There’s a whole lot of delicious going on between the crunchy cabbage, tart lime, piquant pepper, creamy avocado, sweet orange, and salty pepitas. (I do love me some adjectives!)
And let’s not forget the kale, the very foundation upon which this salad rests. Kale is my go-to antidote for any Quick! Get me some leafy greens! moments. I don’t mind eating raw kale, as in this other salad, but I know some people find kale’s texture a little tough to handle in a raw salad. Enter mixed baby kales, the newest member of the organic, boxed, pre-washed salad greens family. Baby kale is tender and kind of cute, a mini-me version of hearty Dino Kale and Curly Kale, and I’m convinced it will appease—nay, win over—the raw kale opposition party. With that I say, welcome to the salad bowl, baby kale!
This recipe was inspired by the Rainbow Kale Slaw and Kale, Carrot and Avocado Salad from the Whole Foods Recipes app.
Serves 2 (or one very hungry salad eater)
Ingredients
3 cups mixed baby kale
2 cups shredded red cabbage
1 carrot, shredded
1 green onion, thinly sliced
1 handful cilantro, chopped
1 orange, sectioned and cut into chunks
1 lime, juiced
1”-piece of serrano pepper, finely chopped
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 avocado
a handful of pepitas (roasted, hulled pumpkin seeds), to garnish
Make the Kale, Carrot and Cabbage Salad
Combine the kale, cabbage, carrot, green onion, cilantro, and orange chunks in a very large salad bowl. If you use a bowl that is bigger than you need, it’s easier to toss the salad and incorporate the dressing.
In a small bowl, whisk together the lime juice, olive oil, serrano pepper and salt and pepper to taste. Cut the avocado in half, remove the seed, and slice the flesh into cubes. (This video demonstrates how to cut an avocado.) Add the cubed avocado to the bowl and thoroughly coat with the dressing, which will prevent the avocado from browning. Pour the dressing and avocado over the salad greens. Using salad tongs, toss the salad to fully coat the leaves with dressing. Garnish with pepitas and serve immediately.