One of the best ways to be green in the kitchen is to be energy efficient. We’re not talking about going out and buying an expensive new appliance. Using your own energy can be an excellent way to give back to mother earth. The
Weston Stainless Steel Food Mill is a great multi-purpose manual tool in cooking homemade dishes from scratch. It’s a sturdy, ergonomic, hand operated rotary mill that purees, mashes, sifts, strains, and rices.
So we thought we’d try making a cake in it! We saved the electricity that pureeing our beets in a food processor would have taken and saved our own energy typically taken up by using a wooden spoon to mix the batter. In keeping with our theme, we thought we’d try an organic,
eco-friendly recipe. The
Weston Food Mill made a batter that turned into a deliciously decadent
Chocolate Beet Cake. A collapsible steamer, cooking pot, two bowls, and the Weston Food Mill were all it took.
The short story (the whole story is at the end of this post) is that we steamed our beets and pureed them with the Weston Food Mill. Then we used the food mill to sift together flour and dry ingredients. We whisked the eggs in the mill and then we poured all of the ingredients back through the mill to make our batter.
Over -mixed cake batter can result in air pockets and a chewy cake. The food mill evenly mixes the batter to a perfect consistency so that once baked, it’s dense and moist, the way chocolate cake should be.
So why
Chocolate Beet Cake? Don’t let the beets fool you – they actually enhance the cocoa essence of the cake and provide moisture. They also happen to be in season. You should be able to find beets at your local farmers’ market year-round, but they tend to be sweeter and more tender in the cooler months. And, as if that wasn’t enough, they’re an excellent source of vitamins and minerals. We figured that while we were at it, we’d come up with a recipe that was organic, healthy, seasonal, and locavore-friendly. And natural sweeteners are, well, the icing on the cake for this red velvet gone green. Piece of cake – peace of mind.
Get the full recipe.
