Beetroot goes so well in just about any cake or brownie (we know this as fact).

Carrot makes such a great baking ingredient that it has an entire (and rather popular) cake created around it.

So, what happens if you put these two together in a cake?

Besides the fantabulous colour this cake provides, what you end up with is a stunningly rich cake. But, of course, it’s rich because of the vegetables – not the fat content – so dig in and enjoy.

Tea time. Breakfast. Because it’s there. This cake is delicious whenever you eat it.

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Ingredients

Recipe makes 1 loaf cake

180 ml (¾ cup) Oil
300 grams (1½ cups) Sugar
3 med Eggs, separated
1 tsp Vanilla
3 tbsp Warm water
250 grams (2 cups) Cake flour
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 tbsp Baking powder
¼ tsp Salt
2 cups Carrots, grated
1 cup Beetroot, raw and grated
100 grams (3½ oz) Pecan nuts, chopped

To Prepare

Preheat the oven to 180ºC (350ºF, Gas mark 4). Grease and line a loaf tin with parchment paper.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the oil, sugar, egg yolks, vanilla and warm water together. Set aside. In a small bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form and set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl, sift the flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt together.

Fold this into the oil mixture, alternating with the egg whites. Fold the vegetable and nuts into the batter and spoon into your prepared tin.

Bake for 1 hour, or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Really Good Bit

Have carrots but no beetroot? Beetroot, but no carrots?

No worries, just substitute what you do have. In fact, you can even grated baby marrows instead of one or the other. Now that’s a versatile (and healthy) cake.

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From the notebook of Katie Schenk

Mmmm, cake. Fancy some more cake recipes before deciding what to bake? Or just fancy flicking through some cake-porn? We won’t tell – check these beauties out here:

Store Cupboard Standby : Fast Fudge Cake
Easy Cake, No Mess : Lime and Coconut Drizzle Cake
Chocolate and Banana Muffins

If you make this do drop us an email with a pic. We’d LOVE to see how it turns out.