Here's an unusual treat; try Ambassador Abercrombie Winstanley's recipe for chocolate beetroot cake! Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley is the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Malta and she generously shared this wonderful recipe for us all to enjoy.

Ingredients: 

• 200 g butter
• 250 g pre-cooked beetroot
• 100 g chocolate
• 4 tbsp beetroot juice from squeezing it out of the beetroot puree
• 135 g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 3 tbsp cocoa powder
• 5 eggs, separated
• 190 g caster sugar

For the beetroot cream cheese frosting: 

• ½ packet cream cheese
• ½ cup butter
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2½ cups icing sugar
• 6 tbsp beetroot juice drained from the beetroot used for the cake

Instructions: 

1. Preheat oven to 160°C.
2. Blend the beetroot in a food processor to a very smooth purée.
3. Melt the chocolate in a bowl then pour in the beetroot juice.
4. Stir in the butter in small pieces and leave to soften. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.
5. Sift the flour, baking powder and cocoa together in a bowl and set aside.
6. Separate the eggs. Whisk the yolks in a bowl until they are frothy. Stir the eggs into the chocolate and butter mixture, then fold in the beetroot.
7. Whisk the egg whites until they form stiff peaks and fold in the sugar.
8. Fold the egg white mixture into the chocolate mixture then fold in the flour and cocoa.
9. Pour the batter into the cake mould and bake for 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.
10. Allow to cool in the tin then serve with cream or this special beetroot cream.

For the beetroot cream cheese frosting:

1. Beat all the ingredients together in a mixer.
2. You can use piping or you can also spoon the frosting on and tidy it with a palette knife.
3. We sprinkled fine pistachio dust on ours and you can do this by blending it and passing it through a sieve, separating the dust from the bigger bits and keeping the bigger ones for use with other recipes.
4. We coated the cake with 500 g melted dark chocolate and a spoon of oil mixed together until smooth.

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