beets for beet haters

I grew up eating fresh beets from the garden, and I've always loved them. Growing up, I ate beets which were just boiled and served plain, but they still tasted wonderful because they were so fresh. As a grown-up, I've steamed beets or boiled beets and added lime juice, which is so easy and so delicious. As I became more of a gourmet cook, I also shredded beets and cooked them with wine, which is magnificent (in particular, several times I made an elaborate lobster on fettucine in fennel sauce with a garnish of beets cooked in wine. This is a showpiece for a dinner party, and the beets are a surprisingly perfect complement to lobster). I've also made beet salads, beet side dishes with mustard sauce, and beet risotto, all so startlingly technicolor. Several times I made Melissa Clarke's fettucine with beets and poppyseeds, so delightfully crunchy between the teeth. So, as you can tell, I am a confirmed lover of beets.

Recently I've run across a couple of people who hate beets. Now, that isn't so rare. There are a lot of people whose experience of beets has been limited to canned ones. Usually these people are astonished when they first try a nicely prepared fresh beet. "Oh my God, I thought I hated beets!" they will blurt out. My own husband is in that category. He first ate beets at my table with great reluctance, but soon was sucked in. "I love them!" he said, astonished.

These recent beet-haters, however, contend to have sampled, to their disgust, beets prepared in numerous gourmet ways. I'm inclined to believe them, since they live in a good eating city (San Francisco, land of a thousand flavors) and eat out frequently. Indeed, my friend Joyce whole-heartedly condemns beets. "I can't understand why anyone likes them. They taste so metallic and earthy!"

Now I am willing to allow anyone their personal food persnickitiness. Taste is so subjective. But I will issue a beet challenge: I defy beet haters to despise chocolate beet cake. Beets make a chocolate cake dense, moist, and so darkly colored, not to mention that they add so many vitamins and minerals. Dark chocolate itself has so many antioxidants and health benefits that a chocolate beet cake can perhaps be regarded as a health food (and a delightfully decadent one at that).

I made this cake once for a friend who was recovering from foot surgery. It's a perfect convalescent food, yummy but nutritious. I've made it several times for my fussy children, who delight in it. Indeed this brought me to a sort of psychic low, where the children were begging for "More cake, more cake!" and I sneakily thought, "You mean more beets, more beets!" I caught myself in this soccer mom moment and despaired for my soul. How has it come to this, I'm secretly congratulating myself on sneaking beets into the maws of my children?

Anyhow, try this cake if you are either a fan of dark, rich chocolate cakes or sneaky and passive aggressive, the sort of person who will get off on secretly serving beets to junk food junkies or beet-haters. Either way, this cake is for you.

Chocolate Beet Cake from "Farmer John's Cookbook" by Farmer John Peterson (Gibbs Smith 2006)

oil and flour for cake pan
4 oz unsweetened chocolate
1 C mild vegetable oil (preferably canola, the healthiest oil)
3 eggs
1 3/4 C sugar
3 medium beets
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 C flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/3 tsp salt
powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 375. Lightly coat a 10 cup Bundt pan with oil and dust it with flour.

Peel the beets, roughly chop them, and steam them until very tender. Puree them in a blender or food processor. You should have about 2 cups of pureed beet.

Partially fill the bottom of a double boiler with water and bring to a boil, but then reduce to a simmer. Put the chocolate and 1/4 C oil in the top of the double boiler. Heat just until the chcolate melts. Remove from heat and stir until well combined.

Combine the eggs and sugar in a large bowl and beat until fluffy. Slowly beat in the remaining 3/4 cup oil, chocolate mixture, beets, and vanilla.

Sift the flour into a large bowl. Whisk in the baking soda and salt (or stir well with a fork; it's a horrible thing to bite into a bit of baking soda). Gently stir the flour mixture into your chocolate batter, just until it's mixed in. (You do not want to over-mix at this point; you want it to get into the oven before it starts to rise). Pour the batter into the pan.

Bake about 45 minute, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 30 minutes. Carefully invert on a plate and remove the cake. Dust the top with powdered sugar. Enjoy!