Our beets have been out of control this year. Last year we had more kale and turnips than we knew what to do with. We even had a turnip bigger than Mom's head. This year, it seems like we'll be picking beets till the snow flies. Mom enjoys the tops, but we're still working on appreciating the bottoms. What to do with the market leftovers? We've tried cold beet salad with feta, shredding them on top of green salad, roasting with potatoes. We even added shredded raw beets to coleslaw for a little extra color. For something a little more adventurous:
Beet Chocolate Cake
Courtesy of From Asparagus to Zucchini
Serves 10
2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate bar (not cocoa powder)
1/4 cup oil
4 eggs
3 cups shredded beets
Heat oven to 325 degrees. Grease two 9-inch or one 9x13 cake pans. Whisk together dry ingredients. Melt chocolate slowly over low heat or in double boiler. Cool chocolate, then blend thoroughly with eggs and oil. Alternately add chocolate and shredded beets to flour mixture. Stir to combine. Pour into pans and bake 40-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
The cake turned out better than we expected. Sarah's no lover of beets, and even she liked it. We served it topped with mixed berries and whipped cream, but a cream cheese frosting or chocolate glaze would be delicious. The texture of the cake was similar to a chocolate zucchini cake: dense and moist.
Obviously not the beet cake, but Scott and I added some beets to our coleslaw to turn it a lovely shade of pink on the 4th of July. The earthiness of the beets meshed well with the sweetness of the carrots and freshness of the cabbage.
