Recipes: Chocolate Beet Cake

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Serves 6-8   Prep Time 30 min   Bake Time 20 min

Ingredients
3 medium beets
½ cup olive oil
2 cups flour
1 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup maple syrup
½ cup honey

Icing
3 tablespoons butter, softened
½ teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons honey
1 tablespoon Frangelico hazelnut liqueur

Topping
Hazelnuts

Tools

Weston Stainless Steel Food Mill

Steam the beets whole with about an inch of stem and root intact for 15-20 minutes. Steaming the beets allows them to be soft enough to puree while keeping in the nutrients and more of the magenta coloring. Allow to cool, then remove the stem and roots and cut into quarters. Insert the coarse milling disc into the food mill and set over a medium sized bowl. Drop the beets into the bowl of the food mill with the olive oil and puree by moving the arm in a clockwise motion.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Rinse and dry the food mill and insert the fine milling disc. Pour in the flour, cocoa powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt and sift through the mill. Change the disc back to the coarse milling disc. Set the mill over a large mixing bowl. Pour the mixture back through the mill with the maple syrup and honey and mix until all of the batter is in the large bowl.

Pour the batter into a 9” round coated baking pan. Bake for 20-30 minutes.

In the meantime, prepare the icing by pouring all of the ingredients into the food mill with the fine milling disc inserted. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Drop the cake onto a cooling rack and allow to cool completely. Once cool, glaze the cake with the icing and sprinkle with hazelnuts. For best results, refrigerate the cake for one hour to allow the icing to set.

 Chocolate Beet Cake Pops

You can also make Chocolate Beet Cake Pops with this recipe. They’re definitely sweeter and less healthy, but hey, they’re delicious! Find out how!

How To Make Cake Pops [Using a Weston Baking Mat]

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Using the Chocolate Beet Cake Recipe, you can make Chocolate Beet Cake Pops. They’re definitely sweeter and less healthy, but hey - they’re delicious!

You’ll need fair trade, organically-certified chocolate chips or chunks and lollipop sticks. We took half of our cake (we ate the other half!), crumbled it, made another batch of the icing with a Weston Food Mill, and added the icing to the crumbled cake.

Next, roll the cake into 1” balls. Melt one cup of chocolate in a double boiler with a little butter. Dip a cake ball a quarter of the way into the chocolate, insert a lollipop stick in the middle of the chocolate, and let dry. Repeat for all of the cake balls. Once dry, insert the entire cake ball into the chocolate and coat with hazelnuts. Turn upside down on a Weston Silicone Baking Mat (much more eco-friendly than parchment paper – it’s reusable!) set over a baking sheet and place in the freezer for about an hour to set. Indulge.

Tools:

Weston Stainless Steel Food Mill              Weston Silicone Baking Mat

Techniques: How to Twist a Pretzel

Step One: Roll dough out to the thickness of a pencil. About 12-18" in length works best, depending on the size of the pretzel you plan to make.

Step Two: Fold one end over the other, making bunny ears with the ends, and a loop out of the center

Step Three: Twist the bunny ears together

Step Four: Pull the ends down to the bottom of the loop

Techniques: Dying Fondant

Do you remember making homemade playdough when you were a kid? Well I came up with this technique for dying fondant from my childhood memories. It's quick, easy, and your hands stay dye-free.

1. Place fondant in a sandwich bag.
2. Drop in desired colors.
3. Press air out of bag
4. Seal the bag.
5. Knead with your hands until dye is fully blended into fondant.

It's that simple!

If you're making Carrot Cake Cupcakes (pictured above), the blending process is as follows:

Orange: 14 red + 8 yellow
Green: 14 green + 8 yellow

For black, I cheat and blend a few smudges of black icing with the fondant. The fondant will likely become sticky, so add some confectioner's sugar to dry it a little. You can also purchase black food coloring.

Recipes: Carrot Cupcakes

Prep Time: 1 hr    Bake Time: 25 min    Makes 24 cupcakes

Ingredients

Cupcakes
2 cups shredded carrots (about 3 carrots)

1  cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon ginger

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1 cup brown sugar

3 eggs

Frosting

6 tablespoons cream cheese

1/4 cup mascarpone cheese

1/4 cup crystallized ginger

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup sliced almonds

Fondant

Food coloring

Pre packaged fondant
(Visit the techniques section of the Cooking With Weston Recipe book for tips on dying fondant)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Sift together dry ingredients for the cupcakes. Beat in eggs and mix in carrot shreds. Scoop into cupcake liners using an ice cream scoop. Bake for 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out fairly clean (these cupcakes are ultra moist, so you will get a little cake on the toothpick).

Let cupcakes cool. Blend together cream cheese, mascarpone cheese, crystallized ginger, cinnamon, and sliced almonds. With the nozzle of a Weston Jerky Gun, remove the centers of the cakes. Fill the Weston Jerky Gun with the frosting. Insert the nozzle of the gun into the centers of the cake and pull the trigger of the gun, filling the cakes with frosting. With a small spatula, spread a little of the frosting onto the cakes.

Visit the techniques section of the Cooking With Weston Recipe Book for tips on dying fondant. Roll out fondant with a Roma by Weston Pasta Machine (electric or manual - both work) and lay on parchment paper. With a round cookie cutter or a measuring cup (measuring cups are typically the exact size of a "cup"cake), cut out fondant and adhere to cupcakes (the light layer of the frosting will help the fondant adhere to the cake). With mini cookie cutters, cut out fondant shapes and adhere to tops of cupcakes.