Curly-Top Black Forest Cake

Inspired by Black Forest Gateau and the retro Estonian curly top chaos cake, this one brings together the goodness of beetroot and the delicious flavour of chocolate. Cherry compote and the cream cheese-curd cream add juiciness to the chocolatey beetroot sponge.

So simple to make that anyone can handle this, and well worth the stir-and-bake time! Prep this for the festive summer garden parties or snuggle with it on the couch on a cozy winter eve - what ever the occasion calls, trust me - you can never go wrong with some chocolate and cherries.

Prep Time 40 mins

Cook Time 25 mins

Rest Time 2 hrs

Total Time 3 hrs 5 mins

Cooking Method: Baking

Courses: Dessert

Difficulty: Beginner

Servings: 12

Ingredients

Sponge

400 g beetroot (steamed)
200 g brown sugar or stevia sweetener
200 g butter
4 eggs
400 g white spelt flour
2 tsp baking powder
6 tbsp raw cocoa powder

Täidis

300 g frozen cherries
2 cl rum
40 g brown sugar or stevia sweetener
600 g vanilla-flavoured curd (kohupiim)
400 g cream cheese
80 g brown sugar or stevia sweetener
2 tbsp pressed orange juice
100 g dark chocolate
Some fresh sweet cherries

Preparation

1
Place the steamed and chopped beetroot and melted butter in a bowl and with a hand blender, purée until smooth. Aim for a very smooth silky texture, that would not have any bits or pieces inside.
2
Separate the egg yolks and whites. Whisk the egg yolks with the flavourings and add to the bowl. Mix together the dry ingredients, flour, raw cocoa, and baking powder. Then gradually add them to the egg yolk mixture, while stirring constantly. Whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form and carefully fold into the batter. The batter should remain airy and fluffy. Divide the batter between two 26cm diameter cake tins lined with baking paper. Even out the top of the batter and bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 25 minutes. Remove and let cool.
3
Place 300 g of frozen cherries in a pot, heat and melt, then simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the liquid has almost disappeared, about 5-7 minutes. Add the rum and sweetener, stir through, and simmer again over medium heat until reduced, about 8 minutes.
4
Place one cake base on a serving plate and leave the cake tin ring around it. Drizzle the cherry compote liquid (note: only the liquid, not the compote!) over the cake base and let it soak into the sponge.
5
In a large bowl, whisk together the vanilla curd and cream cheese. Add a bit of freshly squeezed orange juice and flavourings. Then crumble the second cake base inside the curd-cream cheese mixture. Gently fold through the creamy batter.
6
Now set aside 2-3 tablespoons of the cherry compote from the pot. Then add the remaining cherry compote to the cream and fold it through a few times so that it remains swirly. Pour the cream onto the cake base and transfer the cake to the refrigerator to chill for 1-2 hours or overnight. Before serving, drizzle the cake with the remaining 2-3 tablespoons of cherry compote, melted dark chocolate, and garnish with some sweet cherries

Keywords: sweet, cake, beetroot, chocolate

Read it online: https://paulasarekanno.com/en/recipe/curly-top-black-forest-cake/