The saying goes pink makes the boys wink, but I've found my niece and nephew love pink equally, and a pink sponge is always a winner in my household.
To achieve a pink sponge, instead of food colouring, I've used a natural additive: beetroot. Like carrots and courgettes, using beetroot in a sponge cake makes it a moist, and scrummy. Kids won't know it even has beetroot in it because they're enthralled by the colour.
Halve the amount of sugar and butter, if you dare, but for a truly indulgent treat, keep the quantities as they are and enjoy this not-so-naughty sponge, which is tasty as it is pretty.
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Makes: 8 servings
Ingredients
250g butter
250g self raising flour
250 caster sugar
3 eggs
1 baby beetroot bulb
Tblsp mixed spice
Method
Place the beetroot in a saucepan of boiling water for 10 minutes.
Remove the beetroot from the saucepan and add to a food processor, and process until it is finely chopped.
Grease two cake tins with butter.
To achieve the perfect sized amount of baking tray paper, and save waste, draw around a saucepan lid of similar size to the cake tins, and cut out.
Add the flour to the bowl of chopped beetroot, but pass through a sieve for a lighter sponge.
Add the eggs, sugar, butter, and spices and process until a cake batter forms.
Place in the oven for 30 minutes on the middle self at 170 degrees, gas mark 4.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool for at least 30 minutes.
Spread the jam on the bottom layer of cake.
Carefully place the other layer of cake on top.
Enjoy.
It's a doddle to whip up this cake, and can be tweaked depending on your tastes. Feel free to add buttercream in place of, or along with the jam.
As you can see, the pink colour seems to dissipate during the cooking process, but there are still pink dots which stud the sponge and make it that bit more special.
Categories
#Cake
#Dessert
#Beetroot