²ÝÁñÉçÇø

In this months Best of British recipe, award-winning cookbook author Jenny Jefferies shares her favourite chocolate cake recipe in memory of a loved one.

The 27th January 2023 is National Chocolate Cake Day and it is believed that the worlds first chocolate cake was baked around the late 1800s after Bostonian Dr. James Baker discovered that one could grind cocoa using a water powered mill. Since then, chocolate cake has rightfully become its own category of cake, with many different styles of chocolate cakes baked and consumed around the world.

There is an extensive list of different chocolate cakes, but my personal favourite, is this beetroot and chocolate cake shared and contributed by Duncan Farrington of Farringtons Mellow Yellow in For The Love Of The Land II.

The combination of beetroot and chocolate is deliciously regal, and satisfies the old adage conflict of sweet verses savoury!

My brother, and his late wife who tragically died just before Christmas, enjoyed a chocolate cake at their wedding and reminds me of the very beautiful and vivacious woman that Regine was. May her dear soul rest in peace.

• Follow Jenny @jennyljefferies

Chocolate beetroot cake

This is one of our favourite cake recipes made with Farringtons Mellow Yellow Rapeseed Oil and takes inspiration from the wartime tradition of using beetroot in cakes when cocoa was rationed. The combination of chocolate and beetroot creates an incredibly rich and indulgent cake that always goes down well, says Duncan Farrington of Farringtons Mellow Yellow

PREPARATION TIME: 15 MINUTES | COOKING TIME: 1 HOUR | SERVES 8

Ingredients

200g plain cooked beetroot, well drained

30g cocoa powder

115g plain flour

11?2 tsp baking powder

Pinch of salt

150g caster sugar

240ml Farringtons Mellow Yellow Rapeseed Oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 eggs, beaten

150g dark chocolate, chopped

Method

Preheat your oven to 180c or 160c fan. Grate the cooked beetroot into a bowl and put to one side. Grease an 18cm (7 inch) round cake tin with a little Farringtons Mellow Yellow Rapeseed Oil and line with greaseproof paper.

Sift the cocoa powder, flour, baking powder and salt into a large mixing bowl and stir in the sugar. Add the grated beetroot, Farringtons Mellow Yellow Rapeseed Oil, vanilla extract, eggs and dark chocolate and mix well.

Pour your cake batter into the prepared tin and bake for 1 hour in the preheated oven, until a skewer comes out clean. It will be fairly moist and fudgy in the middle.

Allow the cake to cool for a few minutes in the tin once baked and then turn out onto a wire rack to fully cool. Enjoy with a cup of tea and good company.