Beets. The hot vegetable popping up on every farm-to-table menu across the U.S. of A. is reaching the super ingredient tipping point. Pancakes, any kind of salad, a pot roast — you can throw beets in all of those things and call it gourmet. I, however, hate beets.
Nonetheless, these kind of amazing looking chioggia beets showed up in my CSA box and I was determined to do something with them that I would also enjoy. Otherwise they would just go bad and get thrown out, and what a waste. I have plenty of other vegetables that meet that fate every other week, so I wasn’t going to blow this opportunity. Look at these cuties –
I’ve heard rumors about cakes made with the beets, and this chocolate beet bundt cake was not bad. I mean, it was delicious and moist, and people were requesting the recipe. People who love beets, I’m guessing. People who hate beets probably felt like there was too much beet flavor inside. So you must decide if you want to get your beet on, or you want to have just a normal cake, sans hipster vegetable. Here’s where I give you a tip!
If you’re making a cake for the first time, and you want to taste it before you serve it up, pour a little bit of the batter into a ramekin and take it out about 5 — 10 minutes before your big cake finishes. Use a toothpick to test, by making sure it comes out clean. Then you won’t have an embarrassing moment of OMG, my cake tastes like ass and everyone is eating it! Then, add edible flowers on top so people think, wow, that’s pretty, I don’t even notice the beet/dirt taste!
But seriously, lots of people loved this, it was almost awesome. If not for the beets.
Regardless, it was a totally fun experiment. After that hard sell, here’s how you can do it. Continue reading
