Beet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting - Recipe #69

There's something intriguing to me about wartime rationing and creatively making do with ingredients that might not normally grace your table for dessert, so when I saw this one in Cooking Light in March 2001 (which was even before my Farmer's Market love affair which begat my love of beets began), I knew I had to clip it. But it is hard to rally support for a cake made of beets, so I waited for an opportunity to subject some guinea pigs to a slice or two of cake - the Super Bowl. It also gave me a chance to use my nifty cake carrier. Our friends were similarly intrigued by the concept of the cake and cautiously nibbled at a slice. They pronounced it good enough to let me leave some behind as leftovers, which was greatly needed to help protect our waistlines. Overall, I enjoyed this cake, especially since I'm a sucker for cream cheese frosting. I did have one earthy beet bite, though for the most part, it blended in well and was similar to a carrot cake. I will likely make this again, but probably not very often, as I don't have very many cake-worthy occasions.

Beet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Cake:

• 1 lb beets (about 2 medium)
• Cooking spray
• 2/3 c. granulated sugar
• 2/3 c. packed dark brown sugar
• 1/2 c. vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs
• 2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
• 2 t. baking powder
• 1 t. ground ginger
• 1 t. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 t. baking soda
• 1/4 t. salt
• 1/2 c. 1% milk

Frosting:

• 2 t. grated orange rind
• 1 t. vanilla extract
• 1 (8-oz) block 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, chilled
• 3 c. sifted powdered sugar
• 2 T. finely chopped walnuts, toasted

Preheat oven to 350. To prepare cake, peel beets using a vegetable peeler. Grate beets, using the large holes of a grater, to measure 2 c. (it will look like a crime scene - you may want to wear an apron)

Coat 2 (9-inch) round cake pans with cooking spray; line bottoms with wax paper. Coat wax paper with cooking spray.

Combine the granulated sugar, brown sugar, oil, and eggs in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well-blended. Add beets; beat well. Lightly spoon the flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 5 ingredients (flour through salt) in a large bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Pour batter into prepared pans; sharply tap pans once on counter to remove air bubbles.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 minutes on wire racks, remove from pans. Carefully peel off wax paper, and cool cake completely on wire racks.

To prepare frosting, beet orange rind, vanilla and cream cheese with a mixer at high speed until fluffy. Add the powdered sugar; beat at low speed just until blended (do not overbeat).

Place 1 cake layer on a plate; spread with 1/2 c. frosting; top with remaining cake layer. Spread remaining frosting over top and sides of cake. Sprinkle nuts over top of cake. Store cake loosely covered in refrigerator.