Birthday Cake made for a friend
Pat said her Kindle got her through the pandemic and so it was the decor of this sheet cake made for a summer evening, outdoor birthday party, and served with Lemon Olive Oil Ice Cream. Moist like a carrot cake, red like a red velvet, this beet and pear mixture provide the taste of both, but not the hard textures. I reduced the sugar so it was not sweet, until dusted (twice) with powdered sugar to make the Kindle screen with text (a fork drug through the sugar).
Make a Beet/Pear Cake
- 2 sticks butter (may be too much)
- 1 beet, grated
- 1 Bartlet pear, grated
- 200 milliliters plain (not-Greek or strained) yogurt
- 1 large lemon
- 2 cups/200 grams cake flour (sift before measuring)
- 2 tablespoons Black Onyx cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon/6 grams salt
- 150 grams granulated sugar
- 3 eggs (for more height add another egg, or as I did, two egg whites)
- 7 milliliters vanilla extract
Remove butter from fridge to soften. Zest and juice a lemon into a narrow container for an immersion blender. Grate beet and pear and add with the yogurt to the container and purée the grated bits to the texture you want. Preheat oven to 350℉
Cream the butter and sugar. Add the egg yolks and set aside the whites to whip (add extra if you have them). Measure and mix the dry ingredients (flour, cocoa, salt) and use a 1/2 t of baking powder if you like it.
Add the purée, the vanilla, half the dry and mix. Add the remainder of the dry ingredients. Whip whites until stiff but not dry and fold in. Pour into a sheet pan that has been greased. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Cool.