This year I really wanted to make my niece a special third birthday cake which not only looked like a fun kids birthday cake but wasn’t loaded with refined sugars and preservatives.
It was really simple to make and a lot of fun to decorate. I chose raspberries as they were in season at the time (which means cheaper too) and pistachios for their colour. Depending what produce is in season at the time you could use almost anything.
The cake itself was quite rich, I would probably look at using less dark chocolate next time or perhaps serving smaller slices (at a kids third birthday party, yeah right!).
Given the ingredients I definitely recommend storing the cake in the fridge rather than leaving it out. If you have heaps leftover (like I did) you can always scrape off the icing, slice the cake into bite size pieces and store for kids lunch boxes.
INGREDIENTS (CAKE)
250g beetroot (grated)
200g wholemeal flour
120g finely grated dark chocolate (85% or more)
70g coconut sugar
80g coconut oil (melted)
30g cacao powder
1 tsp vanilla paste
3 eggs
2 tsp baking powder
METHOD (Cake)
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees and grease 20cm cake tin
2. Place wholemeal flour, beetroot, coconut sugar, coconut oil, cacao powder,, baking powder, dark chocolate and vanilla paste into a food processor and blend for 30 seconds, scrape down the sides and blend again until well mixed
3. Scoop mixture into greased tin and bake in the oven for 35-40mins or until inserted skewer comes out clean
4. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely
INGREDIENTS (ICING)
1 ripe avocado
1/4 cup maple syrup
30g cacao powder
METHOD (Icing)
1. Blend avocado, maple syrup and cacao powder in a high speed food processor for 30 seconds
2. Ice the cake as desired and decorate cake with seasonal produce (I used raspberries and pistachios)