Beet cake

For lunch we finished the stuffed peppers. And then I was hungry/low afternoon, but this was probably related to the Barre class I took in the morning, and partially due to the low calorie meal the stuffed pepper is.

I spent the afternoon making beet cake. Recipe here:
https://stillmansfarm.wordpress.com/2014/08/09/csa-week-7-2014/
Or here: http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/beet-cake

I boiled the beets a few nights ago, so those were ready to go. I used the julienne setting on my mandolin and the safety to hold the beet. I used one GIANT beet and half of a medium beet to get two cups purée. After slicing and dicing (done with one motion on the mandolin) the GIANT beet, I piled those pieces into my food processor.  Man I hate that thing. First of all, I don't understand how my processor has like 12 different settings, but uses the same blade. Secondly, every time I use that thing, the food gets flung to the side and makes no progress.  Finally after like 20minutes of running that thing, stirring, processing, stirring, processing, it actually started to look like purée.  Unfortunately, I was just shy of two cups, so then I had to cut up the 1/2 of the medium beet. The piece was too small for the mandolin so I cut it into chunks and put it in the processor... again it took forever, but maybe I didn't have enough bulk in there to get it working right, so I added back some of the other purée to give more volume... which helped a little. Eventually it was "good enough.".

I eliminated the chocolate as the recipe writer suggested, but I kept the 1/4 stick of butter in the recipe, thinking that the fat from the butter was important (but figured the fat from the chocolate was okay to skip). I creamed the butter with light brown sugar (a little shy of 1.5 packed cups, I used all I had without going to the store). Mixed in the vanilla and then the eggs one at a time. I melted 1/4cup butter (like I was supposed to do to prepare the chocolate, and I did this because melting butter in the microwave can give it a different texture that melting on the stove or using soft butter at room temperature). I blended the beets with the butter, then added that to my sugar. I blended the flour with the salt and soda then added that to my mix slowly.  Beet juice was everywhere. My kitchen looked like the scene to a massacre. My clothes were only saved because I wore an apron.

I spent a lot of time online trying to figure out how to bake this without a 10inch fluted pan. Who has one of those things anyway? Probably my grandma because she used to make me angel cake. I should get that from her because she isn't baking anymore! Anyway, I decided to use a 9x13 baking dish (my lovely white one from Martha Stewart, cleans so easy, it didn't know that was the last thing it would ever bake. So sad). I tried to use canola in the Misto and then flour the sides, but that was a big mess, so decided to use parchment paper. This makes the corners ugly, but if you eat the corners, then no one is the wiser.  It baked perfect in 50minutes. This makes about 16-20 serving. Each with about 10g of fat, 30g of carb and 200kcal.

It is so tasty! There is a hint of beet. The texture is soft and dare I say moist. Better than any zucchini bread I have ever made.  Bert didn't care for it, but he doesn't like beets. We'll see what the girls at work say.

And then I proceeded to break my 9x13 baking dish as I cleaned it.  I was putting it back in the sink for one more rinse, when I bumped it into the drain hole. Drat.