Chocolate and beetroot cake

Never tried this awesome combination? Trust us - adding beetroot into your chocolate cake mix really brings out the cocoa flavour AND makes a sponge that's deliciously soft every time. It's also a fool-proof way of sneaking extra veg into your kids - win win! Chef Claire Thomson of The 5 o'clock apron shows us how easy it is to make. Full recipe below.

Ingredients:
- 200ml vegetable oil, plus extra for greasing
- 100g rice flour
- 100g ground almonds
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 75g cocoa powder
- 250g caster sugar
- 250g cooked, peeled and blended beetroot (Don't want to cook 'em from scratch? We got ours already-done from the supermarket...)
- 3 eggs

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180c/gas mark 4. Grease and line a 20cm cake tin with baking parchment.
2. Mix the rice flour, ground almonds, bicarbonate of soda, cocoa powder and sugar in a large bowl.
3. In a second bowl, mix the chopped beetroot, then add the eggs one at a time, stirring well between each addition. Finally, pour in the oil and give one last stir to combine.
4. Mix wet and dry ingredients together, then pour into the prepared tin and bake for about 40 minutes, or until a skewer inserted.

Get your copy of Claire's family cook book, The 5 o'clock Apron, on Amazon here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0091958490/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=0091958490&linkCode=as2&tag=mumsnet&linkId=R7DR45KSEHPNT5E5

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