Beetroot, chocolate and orange cake

This light, almost spongelike cake is one that is great as a morning or afternoon teatype cake by itself (as its not overly sweet or rich), or you can make it more decadent and special with the chocolate ganache and fresh berries. This recipe makes a smaller cake, enough to serve 810 nicely.

Serves 810 Prep time 20

minutes Cook time 60 minutes

GF | DF*

350400g beetroot, peeled and chopped

cup coconut oil or melted butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla essence or extract

1 cup (100g) ground almonds

11⁄4 cup (100g) desiccated coconut finely grated zest of 1 orange

31⁄2 Tbsp dark cocoa (I use Dutch cocoa)

or cacao powder

1 tsp baking powder

5 medium freerange eggs

Chocolate ganache

85g dark chocolate, chopped

cup cream or coconut cream 1 punnet fresh berries, to garnish Method

1. Preheat oven to 170degC. Lightly grease and line the base and sides of a 2021cm cake tin with baking paper.

2. Boil beetroot for 1015 minutes until tender.

3. Drain beetroot well and place in a food processor or blender along with coconut oil/butter, brown sugar and vanilla. Blend until smooth.

4. If using the food processor, add ground almonds, coconut, orange zest, cocoa, baking powder and eggs, and continue blending until mixture is smooth and well combined. Otherwise, pour mixture into a large bowl, add other ingredients and whisk until smooth and well combined.

5. Pour into prepared cake tin and bake for 1 hour or until cake is just set. Leave to cool for at least 10 minutes before removing from tin and transferring to a cake rack, then allow to cool completely before icing.

6. To make ganache, place chocolate and cream/coconut cream in a heatproof bowl and melt together in the microwave in 30second bursts, then stir until smooth and glossy. Alternatively, place bowl above a small pot of barely simmering water and stir gently every now and again until melted. Allow ganache to cool slightly before using.

7. Spread ganache over the top of the cake and a little down the sides and top with fresh berries.

* To make dairyfree, use coconut oil and cream and dairyfree dark chocolate