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Ingredients
Cake
75g walnut halves
200g plain flour
150g caster sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 raw beetroot, peeled coarsely grated (250g)
1 orange zest, finally grated (1 tbsp)
100g stem ginger from a jar, finally chopped
2 large free-range eggs
60g sour cream
125ml sunflower oil
1 large vitamin c tablet (1500mg), crushed to a fine powder in a pestle and mortar or the back of a spoon
Icing
150g full fat cream cheese at room temperature
60g icing sugar, sifted
70ml double cream
6cm piece fresh ginger, grated into a fine mesh sieve placed over a bowl, flesh squeezed to extract all juices (20ml)
20 cm diameter cake tin, greased, lined with non-stick baking paper
Method
- Heat the oven to 180˚C. Spread out the walnuts on a baking tray and roast for 10 minutes. Remove and chop into 1cm pieaces; set aside. Increase the oven heat to 190˚C.
- Put the flour, sugar, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl, then stir to combine and aerate. Add the beetroot, orange zest, roasted walnuts and stem ginger. Do not stir.
- Put the eggs and sour cream in another small bowl and whisk to combine. Add the oil and crushed vitamin tablet and whisk again. Pour over the beetroot and flour mix, then mix thoroughly using your hands or a large spatula.
- Pour the batter into the cake tin and bake in the middle of the oven for 50-55 minutes until an inserted skewer comes out clean. Set aside for 30 minutes, the remove the cake from the tin and cool completely on a wire rack. The baking paper can be left on or removed (leaving it on means the sides won’t dry out).
- To make the icing, put the cream cheese in a large bowl and whisk using an electric hand mixer for 10 seconds or until smooth. Add the icing sugar and whisk briefly to incorporate. Add the cream and whist for 1 minute or until the icing is thick and smooth. Add the ginger juice and whist for a few seconds. Use a palette knife to spread the icing over the top of the cake (remove the baking paper), then serve.