Chocolate and Beetroot Mini Cakes - Recipe

Chocolate and Beetroot Mini Cakes

Mini cakes that look cute make eating mini portions a pleasure and I also like an excuse to use my mini loaf baking tins.  January is the month to measure our food intake and these mini cakes are delicious.

I'm not suggesting for one minute these are healthy mini bites but mentally they definitely lift the spirits on a dull, grey, rainy, January day.

The Craisins are used in the batter mix and I decorated the loaves with them too. Craisins are dried cranberries and a registered trademark belonging to Ocean Spray.

Makes 12 mini loaves
Spray the tins with cake release and it shouldn't be necessary to line the bases

I wasn't sure how many cakes I'd get but guessed if I filled the tins three quarters full I'd stand a chance of them rising enough to produce 12 cakes.

Good guess - it made 12 mini loaves

Decorated they will keep for a couple of days, without icing they can be frozen.

You will need:

75g dark chocolate
75g chopped Craisins
150g grated Beetroot
175g self-raising flour
40g cocoa powder
175g soft brown sugar
250ml vegetable oil
3 large eggs

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 170ºC.
2. Place the chocolate into a bowl over a pan of gently simmering water until it has melted, stir and cool.
3. Sift the flour and cocoa powder into a bowl, add the sugar, oil, eggs and melted chocolate.  Whisk together and stir in the grated beetroot and Craisins.
4. Pour the batter into the mini loaf compartments until they are three quarters full.  Bake for 25 minutes and allow them to cool in the pans.
5. Remove the loaves from the pan and decorate with icing and extra Craisins.