Beetloaf!

It’s been rainy lately so I haven’t taken photos of the new place (I want to get the courtyard bathed in sunshine), but I do want to post about the cake I made tonight.

I’ve been eating beets a lot lately – they’re cheap and fresh here, so why not?  And a couple weeks ago, the owner of the hostel where I was staying made an awesome chocolate carrot and beet cake.  I had hoped to get the recipe from him, but never got around to figuring out how to ask for that in Spanish.  So today, when I found myself with extra beets and extra time, I looked online for carrot/beet cake recipes and found this one (happily a flour-free recipe).

(Image is taken from link above at justbraise.com)

The big Chile/Venezuela game was tonight, and the kitchen at my sister’s apartment was in use (cooking pasta for everyone) until half time.  Then I snuck in and started to boil some beets.  Well after the game, while everyone else was lamenting the tie, I got to work on the cake with the help of a couple friends (thanks Jano and Carissa!).

While waiting for the boiled beets to cool, we admittedly had some fun with the beet water, which happens to look a lot like red wine.  Several people fell for it – although I don’t know why you would accept steaming wine from a pot off the stove – and left with semi-sour faces.  (Personally, I like the taste of beet water, but apparently others don’t.) Interestingly though, most of them wandered back in to ask what exactly I was doing with the beets.

Word got around about a chocolate cake and by the time the cake was done baking, there was a crowd of around 10 people in the (tiny) kitchen.

The recipe calls for the cake to be cooled in-pan for 5 min, then chilled for 30, but we only got as far as the first 5.  The cake was a little undercooked and (due to the pan) looked more like a loaf of bread, but what a wonderful taste!  I divided it among the people present (just barely) and appologised to those who wandered in shortly after and gave them, as a consolation, the remains in the pan.

Though I may make some adjustments to the cooking time (due to the altitude and the use of a different type of pan) I’ll definitely be making (and sharing) this again.  It’s delicious!

9/6/09 – Update

Tried the cake again tonight and actually got to chill it this time.  Also topped it with powered sugar and it came out even better than the last: