Red Velvet Cake

 Perfect for a romantic evening!

Ingredients

few sweets to decorate

For the sponges
9oz butter
7oz dark chocolate, broken into chunks
18oz plain flour
18oz golden caster sugar
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
½ tsp salt
2 large eggs
7oz natural yogurt
14oz cooked beetroot in natural juices (not vinegar)
4 tbsp red food colouring

For the frosting
7oz full-fat soft cheese, at room temperature
9oz butter, softened
14oz icing sugar, sifted
2 tsp vanilla extract

Method

1.Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Make the first batch of sponges by greasing and lining 2 x 20cm round tins. Gently melt half the butter and chocolate together in a saucepan. Mix half the flour, sugar, cocoa, bicarb and ¼ tsp salt in a large mixing bowl. Whizz one egg and half the yogurt and beetroot in a food processor or blender until fairly smooth. Put the kettle on.
2.Tip the beetroot mix into the dry ingredients along with the melted chocolate mixture and 150ml boiling water, then stir to combine. Stir in half the food colouring, if using, and divide the mixture between the tins. Bake for 25 mins until a skewer poked into the centre comes out clean. Leave the cakes on a wire rack to cool completely.
3.Repeat Steps 1 and 2 to make 2 more sponges or if you’re lucky enough to have 4 x 20cm sandwich tins you can bake in a big batch all at once.
4.To make the frosting, briefly beat together the soft cheese and butter, then beat in the icing sugar and vanilla. Use a little to sandwich the cooled cakes together, then swirl the rest all over the sandwiched cakes and decorate with sweets, if you like. Sit the cake somewhere cool (not the fridge) to set a little before serving.