By Request: Canned beets are the secret ingredient that makes chocolate cake tasty

The kindness of strangers is indeed a blessing.

This week’s hero is Grant Butler, a food writer at the Oregonian newspaper in Portland, Ore., who responded to a random email request with a dig into his newspaper’s archives, and within hours — “Karma shines upon us!” he emailed back.

This all began when Robin Yama­shita wrote looking for a recipe for a chocolate cake made with canned beets. She’d cut it out of the Oregonian long ago but lost the recipe.

I found many recipes for cakes using fresh beets, but Yamashita was adamant that it had to be canned beets because this recipe was just perfect.

Butler found the recipe, which ran in the Oregonian in 1995, credited to a cookbook by Marlene Sorosky.

The cake is everything Yamashita said it would be. The beets keep the cake oh-so moist. Little beety bits in the cake don’t taste beety — most people would probably mistake them for bits of fruit.

CHOCOLATE BEET CAKE

Adapted from “The Dessert Lover’s Cookbook” by Marlene Sorosky (Harper and Row, 1985)

• 1 (8-1/4-ounce) can beets, with juice
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature (1 stick)
• 2-1/2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
• 3 eggs, at room temperature
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 3 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate, melted
• 1/2 cup buttermilk

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom and sides of two 9-inch round cake pans; line bottoms with parchment.

Drain beet juice into small bowl. Chop beets into very small pieces; add to beet juice and set aside.

Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.

Beat together butter and brown sugar. Add eggs, followed by vanilla, beating until smooth, scraping sides occasionally. Reduce speed and beat in melted chocolate.

Beat in flour mixture alternately with buttermilk, starting and ending with flour. Mix until incorporated, then add beets and juice; mix again. You’ll see beet pieces in batter.

Divide batter between prepared pans. Bake 30 to 40 minutes, until a pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool cakes in pans on wire rack 10 minutes, then invert onto racks to cool completely.

Frost as desired, or sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serves 10 to 12.

Nutritional information unavailable.

Write By Request, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, Honolulu 96813; or email requests to bshimabukuro@staradvertiser.com.