Vegan Chocolate, Beet, Tahini Cake

aka a really good, moist chocolate cake

Don’t let the ingredients fool you, this is actually just a really good, very easy, chocolate cake. The tahini and beet add subtle complexity and moisture, complementing the chocolate, to make a really satisfying, and vegan no less, soft chocolate cake. This was a cake we made at Astro as well as Ochre, usually as a loaf- for a mysterious reason our cakes always sold better as a loaf rather than a round- but we also occasionally made them as cupcakes which works really well.

I make this cake as much for the icing as for the cake itself- it’s so more-ish I can eat it straight from the bowl with a spoon! As the cake itself is not overly sweet, the icing is necessary for it to really hit. Black sesame seeds look especially good sprinkled on the top to garnish if you have any.

Because this is a vegan cake, there are no eggs to help it rise or to hold it together. I always add a little vinegar (or lemon juice in some recipes) to vegan cakes to activate the baking powder. If you don’t have apple cider vinegar, another cooking vinegar will work fine, just don’t leave it out! You also need to wait for this cake to cool completely, difficult as that may be, before slicing into it, or you will have a crumbly mess on your hands. If you are making large quantities of this cake, you may wish to boil the beets in water until cooked through and then peel and blend them in a food processor, rather than grating them all. At the shops we found this is a better way to make this cake on a large scale, but I prefer the below method at home.