Raspberry and Beetroot Cake

Raspberries and beetroots are exceptionally tasty at this time of year, so naturally, I had to create a recipe that would combine the two, and here it is: a moist, sweet, tangy and full of goodness beetroot and raspberry cake. I adapted my Spelt Carrot Cake Muffin recipe and turned it into a super decadent and rich cake.

This cake has a similar texture to carrot cake, only lighter, and has a brilliant sweet depth of flavour that is broken through with the juicy raspberries and is paired with a toasty note from the tahini drizzle. I can shamelessly say that this cake has made its way to the top of my list; I love how spongy and sweet it is; the goodness inside it thanks to the coconut oil, spelt and buckwheat flours; and how simple it is to make because it doesn’t even require a mixer!

Of course, if you don’t like beetroot (which you can’t even taste once baked) you can substitute it for equal amounts of carrot, apple, or courgette, as all of these will give the cake the beautifully moist texture, and the same goes for the raspberries, simply use a different fruit! I have trialed this recipe many times, and found that the combination of beetroot and raspberry was the most successful, not only for its flavour, but also the beautiful red colours, however, feel free to experiment with different flavours to find what you love the most!

Ingredients

2 tablespoons milled linseed*

150g buckwheat flour

300g spelt flour

120g coconut sugar

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

Pinch of sea salt

150ml coconut or rapeseed oil

200ml soya milk

100ml maple syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

300g grated beetroot (roughly 2 large ones)

1tablespoon apple cider vinegar

250g raspberries

1 tablespoon light tahini

1 tablespoon maple syrup

1 teaspoon hot water

*You can also use 2 tablespoons of chia seeds or flaxseeds

Method

Preheat the oven to 190℃.

Mix the linseed with 5 tablespoons of water and set aside.

Next, in a large mixing bowl combine the flours, baking powder and soda, sugar, and salt, and give everything a good mix.

In a small saucepan on low heat, melt the coconut oil, add the soya milk, maple syrup, and vanilla, and allow to cool for 5 minutes (if using rapeseed oil omit the heating and combine the ingredients in a bowl).

Next, combine the wet and dry ingredients, then add the linseed along with the water, the grated beetroot, and apple cider vinegar, and give everything one final mix.

Finally, gently fold through 1/4 of the raspberries and transfer the mix to a lined 21cm round tin, top with the remaining raspberries and bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean, then leave the cake to cool for at least 2 hours before topping with the drizzle.

For the drizzle: simply combine the tahini, maple syrup and water, and drizzle over the cooled cake, then finish off with some optional lemon zest.