Beetroot, orange + star anise cake
It’s a fun game to play seeing how many people you can fool by sneaking some vegetables into your cakes. Rather than sneaking the vegetable in, this cake places beetroot front and centre - not only does it bring incredible moisture and earthy tones, it also adds visual interest, with specks of magenta strewn throughout the crumb. I like to use spelt flour (made from an ancient wheat grain) in this recipe as its nuttiness suits nicely, and it’s pretty easy to come by in supermarkets these days. I try to stay away from artificial colouring wherever possible when baking, and beetroot juice is a great natural option to use for red-pink perfection.
Top Tip - when you grate the beetroot, squeeze a handful of it over a small bowl to get a few drops of juice - you will use this to decorate the cake.
hands-on time
20 minutes
1 hour + cooling time
total time
12
serves
Ingredients
Cake batter
100g butter, softened to room temperature
100g caster sugar
100g honey
3 eggs
finely grated zest of 2 oranges
60ml juice from 1 orange
85ml canola oil
150g spelt flour
110g ground almonds
2 tsp ground star anise
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp sea salt
1 medium beetroot, peeled and coarsely grated, approx. 150g*
Orange cream cheese icing
50g butter, softened to room temperature
150g cream cheese, at room temperature
300g icing sugar, sifted
2 tbsp orange juice
1 tsp finely grated orange zest
To decorate
a few drops of beetroot juice
finely grated orange zest
*when you grate the beetroot, squeeze a handful of it over a small bowl to get a few drops of juice - you will use this to decorate the cake.
Method
Preheat the oven to 160°C fan-forced (180°C conventional). Grease and line a standard 20cm round cake tin with baking paper.
To make the cake batter, in a large bowl using an electric hand/stand mixer, beat the butter, caster sugar and honey for 2 minutes until smooth, whipped and becoming fluffy. Add the eggs, orange zest, orange juice and canola oil. Beat for a further minute until well-combined. In a separate bowl, whisk together the spelt flour, ground almonds, star anise, baking powder, and sea salt. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet until smooth and just combined. Finally, stir through the grated beetroot.
Pour the batter into the lined cake tin and bake for 45 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature before removing from the tin and cooling on a wire rack.
For the icing, in a bowl using an electric hand mixer, beat together the butter and cream cheese for 2 minutes until smooth and whipped. Add 1 cup of icing sugar and beat for a further 2 minutes. Add the remaining icing sugar, orange juice and zest, and beat for a final 2 minutes until whipped smooth and nicely thickened.
To assemble, spread the orange cream cheese icing evenly over the top of the cake. Place a few drops of beetroot juice on top of the icing and with the back of a spoon, gently swirl the beetroot juice into the icing. Sprinkle with finely grated orange zest and serve at room temperature. Store in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature before serving.