Meringue Chocolate & Beet Cake

I'd been dying to try a chocolate beet cake and couldn't let the year end without trying it, so I decided to bake it for the réveillon - a fudgy, moist, wonderful, delicious, utterly decadent beets cake with the rich, deep-dark flavor of chocolate that was a success!You will be very surprised at how good this is and it easily and absolutely became my favourite vegetable-cake combo. EVER. The beets in this recipe serve a purpose other than sneaking veggies into your diet; so don't be afraid to add the beets [I was a bit reluctant too in the beginning, I must admit] because you can’t taste the beets in this recipe; I promise there’s no earthy, beety flavour at all, but they make the cake incomparably light and tender while being moist, dense and rich. Without them, this dessert would be nowhere near as delicious. As I knew that some of the guests might squirm at the idea of beets in a cake, I just didn’t tell them util there was no slice left - this happened fast, believe me and then the surprise was a blast. I promise that if I hadn't revelead the secret ingredient,they would  never have known.


 Ingredients:

• 200gr of chocolate
• 200gr unsalted butter
• 250gr Sugar
• 4 eggs
• 250gr flour with baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 250gr cooked and grated beets crusts removed
• 7 egg whites [for topping]
• some drops of 1 lemon

  Heat the oven to 180ºC. Grease a rectangular shaped mold with butter, line it with parchment paper and re-grease with butter. Place the butter to melt over low heat, break the chocolate into pieces and mix it with the butter. When starting to melt, mix well with a wooden spoon. After melted let it slightly cool . Beat the eggs with the sugar until you have a creamy paste. Add the melted chocolate and butter. Slowly add the flour mixed with grated beets and stir with a wooden spoon until all is homogeneous. Place the dough in the mold and place in the oven for about 30 minutes so that the interior of the cake becomes wet, like a brownie. In the meanwhile whisk 7 egg [that's what I had frozen from a previous leftover] whites together with sugar and a few drops of lemon, removing the cake from oven and placing the egg whites  on top. Bring it back to the oven until browned slightly.


Ingredientes:

• 200gr de chocolate
• 200gr de manteiga sem sal
• 250gr de açúcar 
• 4 ovos
• 250gr de farinha com fermento
• 1 colher de chá de fermento
• 250gr de beterraba cozida e ralada sem a casca
• 7 claras [para a cobertura]
• algumas gotas de limão

  Aquecer o forno a 180ºC.  Untar uma forma retangular com manteiga, forrar com papel vegetal e voltar a untar com manteiga. Colocar a manteiga a derreter em lume brando, partir o chocolate em pedaços e misturá-lo com a manteiga. Quando começar a derreter, misturar bem com uma colher de pau. Depois de derretido deixar arrefecer um pouco. Bater os ovos com o açúcar, até ficar uma pasta cremosa. Adicionar o chocolate derretido com a manteiga. Juntar lentamente a farinha misturada com a beterraba ralada e mexer com uma colher de pau até estar tudo bem ligado. Colocar a massa na forma e levar ao forno cerca 30 minutos de forma a que o interior do bolo fique húmido, como se fosse um brownie. Entretanto bater as claras de 7 ovos [era o que eu tinha congelado de umas sobras anteriores] em castelo juntamente com açúcar e algumas gotas de limão, retirar o bolo do forno e colocar o merengue por cima. Levar de novo ao forno até alourar ligeiramente.