Dianne Bibby’s Carrot and Beetroot Cake

Serves 12

My girls always ask if I could please, just once, bake a cake without adding vegetables. I nod and agree. Then I make this. It’s the kind of cake you want to usher out on special occasions. Beetroot adds to its goodness and keeps the crumb moist. There. I said it. Moist. It can’t be helped.

250 ml vegetable oil

200 g soft light brown sugar

75 g castor sugar

4 extra-large eggs

300 g cake wheat flour

1,25 ml fine salt

10 ml baking powder

5 ml bicarbonate of soda

10 ml ground cinnamon

5 ml mixed spice

50 g desiccated coconut

280 g grated carrots (fine grate) 125 g cooked beetroot

(large grate)

125 ml crushed pineapple, well-drained

100 g walnuts, roughly chopped

Frosting

125 g butter, softened

250 g full-fat cream cheese, room temperature

200 g icing sugar

5 ml vanilla extract

15 m lemon juice

gel food colouring

a pinch of salt

Drizzle

100 g white chocolate, roughly

chopped

60 ml fresh cream 

15 ml glucose syrup

2–3 drops gel food colouring

Preheat the oven to 180 ℃. Grease and line 3 x 15-cm cake tins with baking paper.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, whisk together the oil, brown sugar and castor sugar. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition.

Sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and spices. Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture and mix on a low speed, just until combined.

Tip in the coconut, carrots, beetroot, pineapple and walnuts and fold through by hand. Divide the batter between the tins and bake for 45–50 minutes. Test with a skewer for doneness. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes before turning out.

For the frosting, cream the butter until light and pale. Add the cream cheese and beat to incorporate. Sift in the icing sugar and whisk for 2 minutes. Add the vanilla, lemon juice, colouring and salt. Mix until the colour tone is even.

To ice, place the first cake layer on a stand and spread over a heaped spoonful of frosting. Sandwich with the second layer and repeat once more. Cover the sides and top with a thick layer of frosting.

For the drizzle, melt the chocolate, cream, glucose and colouring together, 30–40 seconds in the microwave should do. Once melted, set aside to cool and thicken slightly before drizzling over the cake, encouraging drips over the sides. Decorate with edible fresh flowers. DM