The Baker’s Book (Murdoch Books) is a goldmine of recipes for those who love desserts, cakes, biscuits and sweet and savoury delights of all types. It features 60 recipes from numerous top chefs and cooks. Here, Jo Barrett, of Victoria’s Wildpie fame, offers up her recipe for a scrumptious Beetroot and Apple Cake with Wattle Seed Icing – a great example of the quality treats you get throughout the book. Her yum cake is bound to be a hit at the Easter dinner table!
I love this cake for its earthiness and moist texture. It’s perfect served with sweet icing, but the dough can also be baked into buns for a different breakfast or morning tea option. Despite the amount of beetroot, you almost can’t pick what the ingredients are once they are combined. I’ve used this recipe in the different places I have worked and in many different forms – as an element in a dessert, as a wedding cake, in breakfast hampers and in the bakery. It’s extremely versatile. At different times of the year, replace the beetroot with parsnips or carrots and the cake changes dramatically while remaining delicious.
Serves 12
Special Equipment
25 cm (10 inch) diameter bundt tin, stand mixer with whisk and paddle attachments
Ingredients
330 g (11¾ oz) plain (all-purpose) flour
16 g (½ oz) baking powder
10 g (¼ oz) bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
15 g (½ oz) ground cinnamon
30 g (1 oz) unsweetened dark cocoa powder
185 g (6½ oz) egg (from about 3 large eggs)
420 g (14¾ oz) brown sugar
250 g (9 oz) extra virgin olive oil
560 g (1 lb 4 oz) peeled and coarsely grated beetroot (beets)
220 g (7¾ oz) peeled, cored and grated green apple
Wattleseed icing
125 g (4½ oz) butter, softened
320 g (11¼ oz) icing (confectioners’) sugar, plus extra for dusting
1½ tablespoons pouring cream
1 teaspoon ground wattleseed, plus extra for sprinkling
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Method
Preheat the oven to 160°C/325°F conventional (no fan). Lightly grease a 25 cm (10 inch) bundt tin with butter or spray with oil, and set aside. Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and cocoa powder into a bowl twice to make sure they are well combined. Whisk the egg in a stand mixer with the whisk attachment on medium speed until it begins to foam, then add the brown sugar one-third at a time, whisking until each third is dissolved before adding the next. When the mixture is thick and glossy, slowly drizzle in the olive oil until it is completely emulsified. Remove the bowl from the stand mixer and use a metal spoon to gently fold in the grated beetroot and apple. Once they are half folded through, gradually fold in the flour mixture. Fold until just combined, then pour into the prepared bundt tin. Bake for 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Leave in the tin for 15 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely. For the wattleseed icing, cream the butter until pale in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Add the icing sugar and continue mixing until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is pale and fluy. Mix in the cream and spices until combined, then set aside until ready to ice. Once the cake has cooled, generously spread the wattleseed icing over the top. If you like, dust with a little extra icing sugar and some extra wattleseed.
Images and text from The Bakers Book edited by Ruby Goss, photography by Rochelle Eagle, illustrations by Beci Orpin. Murdoch Books RRP $45.00.
