Method

Preheat the oven to 180 °C.

Place the butter and chocolate into a glass bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and leave to melt gently.

Beat together the eggs, vanilla and castor sugar until light, creamy and pale in colour. This should take at least 10 minutes.

Once the chocolate and butter have melted, add to the puréed beetroot and stir until combined.

Pour the beetroot mixture into the whisked eggs mixture and gently fold in the almond flour or ground almonds.

Pour the mixture into a 23-cm baking tin, lined with baking paper, and bake in the oven for about 40–45 minutes or until just firm to the touch. Don’t use a skewer as the cake should still be moist in the centre.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes before carefully removing from the tin.

Dust the cake lightly with cocoa powder and serve each slice with a scoop of mascarpone cheese on the side.

Tip: The vanilla extract can be substituted with 5ml vanilla essence.