chocolate, apple and beetroot bundt cake

... another completely bonkers week goes by and I thought i'd reward myself a little by tailing it off with the last and I think the favourite, of my beetroot recipes...

... plus, I think I'm going to need the energy that this glorious cake will give me as tomorrow morning i'm off to Market Rasen to spend the day demo-cooking for the mobbing crowds at the Big Market which is themed Food Glorious Food.  I'm a little nervous... very excited and am feeling rather proud too... I get to spend the day cooking some lovely food, provided for me by some of the best local producers... and i've been planning it for ages... i'm starting off with my version of a low-knead loaf - just to prove to the crowds that making your own bread can be an easy and rewarding experience... then i'm going to make a roasted and curried pumpkin and parsnip soup, served in a carved out pumpkin bowl, ready for serving at Halloween... next it will be some fun, party-sized, mini toad-in-the-holes and then i'm finishing off with, what some people may think of as a crazy choice, a chocolate and chestnut cream roulade... again to prove how easy it is to create a stunning show-stopper for the Christmas table...

... i'm actually in the kitchen now, prepping and making the stages ready for the day so that in true Blue Peter style I can say 'and here's one I made earlier'... and the kitchen is currently filled with the luscious aromas of baking sausages... wish me luck and do come and join me if you can make it!

chocolate, apple and beetroot bundt cake

as you can tell i'm a little obsessed about how brilliantly beetroot and apple work together, there's just something so wonderful about the tartness of a crunchy cox's orange pippin that influences the earthy depths of the beetroot... and when my neighbours delivered the massive bag of beetroots a couple of weeks ago I knew i'd be making a beetroot cake but hadn't thought about adding the apple until I'd used the combination when I baked my chicken thighs last week... it is a brilliant combination and I urge you all to give it a go...

for the cake
250g plain chocolate broken up

3 large free range eggs

200g light muscovado sugar

100ml sunflower oil

1tsp vanilla extract

100g self raising flour

1/2 tsp bicarb

1/2 tsp baking powder

50g ground almonds

200g raw beetroot - finely grated

50g cox's apples - finely grated

for the icing
100g icing sugar
100g cream cheese
beetroot juice (left over from above)
50g dark chocolate - melted

- melt the chocolate (i did it in a microwave but a double boiler is the traditional way)

- whisk together the egg, sugar and oil until smooth and creamy, stir in the vanilla extract then fold in the flour, bicarb, baking powder and ground almonds

- grate the raw beetroot and apple, squeeze out most of the liquid (set aside for the icing) and fold it into the cake mix along with the cooled melted chocolate

- pour the mixture into you cake tin (I used my brand new 25cm round bundt tin) and bake on 170 for 40 mins - 1hr.

- once out of the oven and cooled you can ice to your fancy... i've simply used the beetroot juice beaten with some icing sugar and cream cheese to create this simple yet eye-popping icing... the melted dark chocolate adds a depth of colour to the final decoration... very little more...

eat and of course, enjoy!