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Beetroot Cake with Avocado Icing

Beetroot Cake with Avocado Icing
    • Prep time:
    • Cooking time:
    • Total time:
  • Serves: 8-10

This vibrant beetroot cake blends earthy sweetness with warm spices, sultanas, and seeds for a moist, flavourful cake. Inspired by Nigel Slater’s recipe, it’s topped with a creamy avocado icing that adds a fresh, silky finish without overwhelming the cake. A unique, vegetable cake that’s surprisingly indulgent and wonderfully different.

  • Vegetarian

Ingredients

For the Beetroot Cake

  • Butter or oil, for greasing
  • 225g (8oz) self-raising flour
  • ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • A level teaspoon of baking powder
  • ½ tsp of ground cinnamon
  • 180ml (6¼fl oz) sunflower oil
  • 225g (8oz) light muscovado sugar
  • 3 free-range eggs, separated
  • 150g (5oz) raw beetroot, peeled
  • Juice of half a lemon
  • 75g (3oz) sultanas or raisins
  • 75g (3oz) mixed seeds (such as sunflower, pumpkin and linseed)

For the avocado icing

  • 200g (7oz) icing sugar
  • 1 avocado, chopped and peeled
  • 2 tbsp cream cheese (such as Philadelphia)

Equipment

  • A rectangular loaf tin (20cm x 9cm x 7cm)

Method

To make this Beetroot Cake with Avocado Icing, preheat your oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4. Grease and line with baking parchment a rectangular loaf tin (20cm x 9cm x 7cm/8in x 4in x 3in).

Step 1

Sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and cinnamon. Beat the oil and sugar in a food mixer until well combined, then introduce the egg yolks one by one, mixing after you add each egg yolk. Grate the beetroot coarsely and fold it into the egg mixture, then add the lemon juice, sultanas (or raisins) and the assorted seeds. Pulse until combined.

Step 2

Fold the flour and raising agents into the egg mixture whilst the machine is on a slow setting.

Beat the egg whites until light and almost stiff. Fold gently but thoroughly into the cake mixture, using a large metal spoon (a wooden one will knock the air out).

Step 3

Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake for 50-55 minutes, covering the top with a piece of foil after thirty minutes.

Step 4

Test with a skewer to see if it’s ready. The cake should be moist inside but not sticky. Leave the cake to settle for a good twenty minutes before turning out of its tin onto a wire cooling rack.

The Beetroot Cake with Avocado Icing, sliced and showing the inside.

The original idea for this cake came from this recipe for Beetroot Cake by Nigel Slater. If you liked making this Beetroot Cake with Avocado Icing recipe, check out a few more recipes.

Notes

I have also experimented with the recipe for this beetroot cake with avocado icing by doubling the recipe to fill up a round cake tin. Once the cake was cooked and cooled I cut it in half and used some of the extra icing to fill in the middle. I then used the back of a spoon to smooth the icing over the beetroot cake.