Vegan Beet Cake with Avocado Frosting

In honour of Melissa's, as well as my dear friend Krysta's birthday, which we celebrated this weekend, I am going to post a healthy birthday cake option. Unfortunately, they live out of town so my family and I had ate it all before they had gotten a chance to try any, oops :).
This recipe is extremely rich and only for devoted chocolate lovers. Besides the higher sugar content, which is typical for any sweet treat, it is relatively healthy alternative to classic chocolate cake and even sneaks in some vitamins and minerals with the beets and avocados. It can even be made gluten free by substituting out the wheat germ for an extra half cup of gluten-free oat flour.

Ingredients:
Batter:
1 cup oat flour
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup cane sugar
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp ground coffee
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 salt
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup of packed beet
3/4 cup almond milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp vanilla

Icing:
2 avocados
1/2 cup cocoa powder
~7 tablespoons of maple syrup or more depending on sweetness preference

Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees celsius. Mix all of the dry ingredients in a bowl. Add the oil to the wet ingredients.
2. Blend a cooked beet in the food processor and add to the wet ingredients. Mix well and then add the dry ingredients to the wet.

3. Line an 8 inch cake pan with parchment paper and oil the edges. Add the batter. And enjoy licking the bowl, since it's egg free! The batter was actually so delicious, I think I even liked the batter more than the cake (even though that was still good). I realized after I had stuck the cake in the oven that I had gotten a little out of control licking the bowl....

Cook the cake for 35 minutes until the toothpick comes out clean.

4. Make the frosting by using a hand blender to combine all of the ingredients. Add more maple syrup as desired.

5. Once the cake is done, let it cool and then frost the cake. Use toothpicks to keep up saran wrap, and cover the cake. Keep in the fridge overnight or make it in the morning and keep it in the fridge until night and then serve.

-A

Roasted Balsamic Vinegar Glazed Beets

Aren't beets awesome? Look at them, aren't they the most beautiful colour? Anyway, I love beets and I made them for dinner tonight. Here's one of the ways I like to make them - roasted with a balsamic vinegar glaze

^ I can't get over their colour! and all that colour means they are high in antioxidants! ^ 

^ hot chillies, olive oil, fresh rosemary and balsamic vinegar ^ 

^ fresh whole beets ^ 

^ coated and ready to pop in the oven ^  

Recipe:
6 whole fresh beets
2 tablespoons of olive oil
a sprig of fresh rosemary
hot chillies to taste
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste

First, peel and slice the beets. Toss with olive oil, hot chillies, rosemary and salt and pepper. Bake at 400 degrees F in the oven for 40 minutes. While the beets are roasting, reduce your balsamic vinegar in a saucepan over medium heat. When the beets are done, coat them with the balsamic vinegar reduction and serve. A lot of recipes for roasted veggies recommend roasting them in aluminum foil; I have found that roasting them in an oven safe pot (I used a cast iron pot) gives you the same results, but helps save money and the environment too!

Beets are a great source of vitamins, minerals, and fiber. I eat them roasted like this, boiled, raw over a salad, and I even add them to my smoothies. I wanted to add a beet "fun-fact" to conclude this post, but I didn't come up with anything... however, I did find out that beets are thought to be an aphrodisiac... who knows if this is actually true, but it's pretty interesting- eat your beets people!

-M