Cheese is an ideal partner for sweet beetroot. Serve hot or cold. It’ll keep for 2-3 days in the fridge.
Put the beetroot in a greased roasting tin and cook for 15 minutes. Mash slightly.
On a floured surface, roll out the pastry to line a 23cm flan tin. Prick the pastry base with a fork.
Cover with a sheet of baking parchment then fill with baking beans. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove the beans and bake for another 5 minutes.
Turn the oven down to 180c/gas 4.
Beat the eggs and creme fraiche together. Season with pepper and add the thyme and 75g of the red leicester cheese. Pour into the pastry case.
Top with the beetroot, the remaining red leicester and the crumbled feta.
Bake for 25 minutes, or until just set.
Pre heat the oven to 180C/gas 4. Line a 12 hole muffin tin with paper cases. Blend together the butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add the egg yolks, flour, pureed beetroot and vanilla extract, then beat until smooth.
In a clean bowl and with a clean whisk, beat the egg whites until fairly stiff. Take a large spoonful of egg white and beat into the cake mixture to loosen it a little. Using a large metal spoon, fold the remaining egg whites gently through the mix, taking care not to beat the air out of your mixture.
Spoon the mixture into the cake cases and bake for 20 minutes or until the cakes are firm to touch. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack.
To make the frosting beat the icing sugar and butter. Add the rose water, then a few drops of beetroot, just enough to give a pale pink colour. Spread generously or pipe swirls onto the cooled cupcakes.
Chocolate and Beetroot go perfectly together. This makes a fudgy, moist cake which will keep for a week in an air-tight tin.
Boil the beetroot in water until it’s tender to the point of a knife, about 30 minutes. Drain and allow it to cool for 30 minutes or so, then remove the skin and coarsely grate the beetroot.
Preheat oven to 180C/gas mark 4, and prepare two cake tins (20cm diameter) by greasing and lining with Baking Parchment.
Beat the sugar, eggs and oil together. Add the grated beetroot and cocoa and mix well.
Finally, sift in the flour and bicarbonate of soda and mix again.
Divide the mixture between the cake tins, smoothing flat.
Bake for about 35 minutes, until the cakes feel springy to touch.
Remove from oven and let them stand for 15 minutes before gently turning out onto a wire rack.
While the cakes cool, make the butter-cream filling.
Beat the butter, sugar and cocoa together, then drizzle in the milk and beat again. Add a little more milk if it’s needed, but you want the filling to be very smooth and to hold it’s shape.
When the cakes are completely cold, lay each one flat side up.
Spread one with the butter-cream and the other with cherry conserve then sandwich together.
It’s always a bonus when the cream and conserve ooze out of the sides a little.