British Seasonal Recipes: Vegan Beetroot & Ginger Chocolate Cake
This week is Chocolate Week and with the weather having turned considerably colder, what better way to celebrate it than with a lovely warming cake with beautiful Autumnal flavours. This Vegan Beetroot & Ginger Chocolate Cake uses lovely seasonal beetroots which are great this time of year combined with a warming hint of ground ginger! Beetroot and chocolate are such a fab combination and the gentle warm kick from the ginger ties it all together! The best filling for this is a rich chocolate buttercream and a dark sweet cherry jam – yep cherries, ginger & beetroot – YUM!
We are all suffering with the first snuffles of the season, so its a quiet weekend for us because as every asthmatic knows, wheezy lungs and Autumn snuffles do not mix! In these situations its hard for my poor lungs as they object violently to both aerosol steroid inhalers and the dry powder ones. For the rest of the year the anti-histamines are enough to keep them happy but colds are a bit more of a struggle! So the scarf is out to warm the air up slightly before it gets to my lungs and there is lots of hot honey & lemon being drunk to soothe my throat.
Thanks to the beetroot, this cake is moist and gooey and everything you want on a cold Autumn day with a nice hot cup of tea! Although there is a *slight* discussion going on here whether or not the soft cake or crunchy brownie-like top is the best bit… obviously as I made it I am right and its the gooey cake!
Before you panic and or turn your nose up at the thought of beetroot in a cake don’t! The beetroot is only there to provide moisture and sweetness; obviously if you used roasted beetroot the flavour would be slightly different, but as I am feeling rubbish this was made with ready cooked beetroot – you know the ones – the squishy, ready peeled ones that you get vac packed and don’t quite know what to do with!
This is definitely one for chocolate lovers, its dark and dense but the cherry jam just balances it out nicely! I have topped it with some plain Koko yoghurt but a sweetened coconut cream would be lovely too! The grated dark chocolate is an optional extra which handily kept blowing away in the breeze as I took the photos (we are not mentioning the buttercream that melted in the HOT OCTOBER sunshine) talk about first world blogger problems !!
Recipe Vegan Beetroot & Ginger Chocolate Cake:-
Vegan Beetroot & Ginger Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
- 200 g Self Raising Flour
- 50 g Cocoa powder
- 1 tbsp Ground Ginger
- 1 Tbsp Ground Chia Seeds
- 150 g Granulated sugar
- 150 g Dairyfree Margarine (Pure, Vitalite etc)
- 50 g Dark Chocolate
- 100 g Cooked Beetroot (grated)
- 100 ml Dairyfree milk (we use Koko)
- Cherry Jam & Chocolate buttercream for filling!
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 150C and grease a 6 inch round cake tin.
- First melt the chocolate and dairyfree margarine together in a saucepan over a very low heat, stirring occasionally so it doesn't burn. Leave this mixture in the saucepan and you can add the other wet ingredients to it - it saves on washing up!!
- Next sift together the self raising flour, cocoa powder, ground ginger, ground chia seeds into a large mixing bowl. Add the sugar and mix together.
- Into the cooled & melted choc/margarine mix add the grated beetroot and dairyfree milk. Stir until all combined.
- Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and gently stir in the chocolate mixture.
- Pour into the cake tin and bake for 50-60mins - you need to start checking it at about 40mins and if the top is starting to look too dark in colour just cover loosely with some greaseproof paper!
- Cool completely, slice and fill with your favourite chocolate buttercream and cherry jam before topping with some Koko plain yoghurt (or coconut cream), dark cherries & grated chocolate!
Notes
Pin for Vegan Beetroot & Ginger Chocolate Cake Later:-
Linky Love:-
Who doesn’t love a linky?! I have linked this rather yummy cake to a few – hop over and have a lookie!
Hi!, I liked so much this chocolate cake recipe. I usually cook with my 9 y/o daughter so I think this recipe would like her so much. Thank you!
Thank u! Enjoy x
This looks lovely. Never tried beetroot in a cake but I am sure it works well
Thank you! Definitely try it with chocolate its really lovely! x#
Sorry to hear you are unwell. And what a nightmare not being able to take inhalers. I hope you are feeling a little better now. This cake looks flipping epic! I need to make it (I can’t eat it though because I don’t get on with sugar…). I am going to try it with my wholegrain gluten free flour blend. My self raising is launching next week on Amazon!
Thanks hun! My lungs are just a law unto themselves! LOL! The cake was yummy and I know this recipe works without the sugar (although the texture changes slightly) as I have forgotten to put it in a few times! THe beetroot is quite sweet anyway. I have made this gluten free before by using the same amount of flour – but I don’t often because anything rice flour in makes everyone’s eczema flare up! So pleased you sorted your flour nightmare out & definitely going to pick up a bag or two from the show in a couple of weeks! xxx
This cake looks really scrumptious! I’ll eat beetroot in anything, desserts included. I love super healthy desserts such as this one, it’s even got chia seeds!
Thank you! This one is really yummy and you can leave out the sugar to make it slightly healthier! x
Hope you feel better soon Midgie. Not being able to breathe easily must be so miserable.
The cake looks amazing though…… Every time I see a new recipe from you without eggs, I am amazed at how clever you are!
Thank you! I guess you get used to not being able to breathe, although to be honest they are nowhere near as bad as they can be so I’m just having a grumpy old strop with being poorly! LOL! Egg free is actually fairly easy – gluten free kind of escapes me to fair, I just can’t get the texture right! x
We’ve got SO many beetroots in our veggie patch at the mo!! We bottled loads last year but CAKE??!! Wooo — that’s not something I’d though of!! Thanks so much for sharing!! 🙂 Have bookmarked for later! 🙂 Caro x #FreeFromFridays
We love growing beetroot, its so easy and tastes so great! Definitely have a go, what’s better than cake!! x
Looks delicious! I love the idea of sneaking in the beetroot. 😉
Thank you! We love beetroot in this house, its really easy to grow too! x
Oh my gosh, I love beetroot and I’ve wanted to bake with it forever but not had the guts, this sounds so good, I think you’ve finally motivated me to give it a go! I saw your related posts with beetroot and chocolate and now I’m spoilt for choice! #foodiefriday
Definitely give one of them a go – its really lovely with chocolate and adds sweetness and moisture! x
Ooh it sounds like a vegan black forest gateaux – delicious x
Ooh it really did taste like that! Just needed some decorations… guess whats going on the table at Christmas now!! x
This looks fabulous – I love chocolate and cherries, but would never have thought of adding ginger too. And it’s perfect for our allergy profiles too.
Thank you! I love ginger, we add it to loads of things, in this it is very subtle and just adds a nice warmth! x
I could totally eat this right now! I love cakes made with vegetables and beetroot and chocolate are one of my very favourite combinations x #foodiefriday
Thank you! IF you love beetroot & chocolate definitely try it with dark cherry jam… Its really good!!
Oh wow, what a showstopper! I love the idea of beetroot in a chocolate cake. I’ve never tried but I’ve seen a few ‘free from’ recipes around containing beet. I’ve never attempted making one because I was worried the children might be put off in case the taste of beetroot was overpowering, but the addition of cherry jam probably helps the flavours blend together. I hope your lungs get better soon. Thanks for joining in with #FreeFromFridays
Oooh definitely try it! The Peachicks LOVE this cake, probably because of the chocolate & cherry! LOL!
I made a beetroot cake once and didn’t like it but am wondering if with the addition of ginger it would taste better so I may have to try this!!
thanks for linking to #foodiefriday
I did too, with raw beetroot and it just tasted really earthy BUT this one is made with that ready boiled vac pac beetroot which is much sweeter and works really well with the ginger & cherry!