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NUTS AND SEEDS
Rice and Beans
A vegan food blog, a continuation of fairestfeed.blogspot.com.

http://ohphilippa.tumblr.com/
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Chocolate beetroot cake. Re-using a recipe from a long long while ago. Don’t let the vegetable fool you - this cake is extremely rich and almost too sweet for my taste, but it’s so damn pretty I can’t help but make it.
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Did you get given a box bursting with rocky road slice for your birthday? Hmm? Didn’t think so.
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Ridiculouslly rich chocolate, cinnamon and cayanne pepper brownies. These are a rich, dense brownie made from melted chocolate rather than cocoa. I spiced them up for a dinner party recently by adding cinnamon and cayanne but you can leave them out if you prefer. Also known as saucepan brownies, because you can mix up the batter in the pan you melt the chocolate in. 150g margarine (Nuttelex)360g dark chocolate, chopped, plus an extra 1/2 cup1 cup firmly packed brown sugar1/2 cup caster sugar3 tbs ground flaxseed, mixed with 9 tbs water2 teaspoons vanilla extract1 cup plain flour, sifted2 tsp ground cinnamon (optional)2 tsp ground cayanne pepper (optional)1/2 cup rice/soy milkCocoa powder, for dusting Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease a 20cm x 30cm shallow pan and line with baking paper, leaving a 2cm overlap of paper around the edges. Over a low flame, melt the marg and the 360g of chocolate in a saucepan until smooth, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in the sugars. Allow to cool for 5 minutes. Stir in the vanilla, flax mixture, flour and spices, milk, and 1/2 cup reserved chopped chocolate. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes of until the top is firm to touch. Allow to cool in the pan, sliced into bars and dust with cocoa powder.
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Chocolate beetroot cake I don’t remember if I mentioned before, but I work as a cake cook at the Wholefoods restaurant at Monash Uni. I’m not exaggerating when I say it’s the best job I’ve ever had, but baking for a living means I don’t tend to bake at home any more. It’s a shame because I find it a great way to unwind, and I have an amazing commercial oven in my home kitchen, sitting there needing some attention.Right now, we have a heap of organic beetroot in the fridge from our veggie box. I wanted to incorporate some into a baked treat, so came up with this recipe for chocolate beetroot cake. Luckily chocolate and beetroot work really well together. The beetroot makes the cake really moist, without being dense like a mud cake. I based this recipe on a carrot cake recipe - it would be interesting to see what the cake would look like without the cocoa masking the lovely beetroot colour.The gorgeous pink you see in the frosting is just a teaspoon of beetroot juice mixed in to a vanilla butter cream. I’ll never use artificial food dye again!1 1/4 cup plus 2 tbs plain flour1 1/2 cup sugar3/4 cup cocoa2 tsp baking powder1/2 tsp salt1 1/2 cup rice milk or water3/4 cup oil2 tsp vanilla extract3/4 cup shredded beetrootPreheat the oven to 180C. Grease a round cake tin.If using beetroot frosting, give the shredded beetroot a squeeze over a clean bowl to collect at least 1 tsp of juice.In a large bowl mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, cocoa and salt. Add the oil, vanilla and milk/water. Mix until just combined. Add the beetroot and mix well. Pour into the tin and bake for about 35 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. Let it rest in the tin for 10 minutes before removing and cooling on a wire rack. When the cake is completely cool, frost it.Frosting:1 cup icing sugar1 tbs non-dairy marg1 tsp vanilla1 tsp beetroot juiceWhip all the ingredients together until light and fluffy. This will give you enough frosting to spread on top of OR in the middle of your cake. If you want to do both, just double the recipe. (From 22nd March 2010)