Chocolate beet cake with Orange cream cheese frosting — The Lovely Crazy
So its birthday season in my family.. Between September and April there is at least 3 birthdays a month to celebrate, and I usually make the cakes. What better way to share my beet booty then with a chocolatey beet cake. It helps that I went a little crazy at my last CSA pick up and brought home 8 lbs of beets. Yup, that is what I did and I don’t regret one single beet. So birthday+beets makes a happy birthday cake!
p.s. This cake is an ace for the holidays!
Suggestion for serving this super awesome cake, Do not tell anyone that they are eating a cake with beets in it until they are raving about how delicious it is. Over the years, I have learned that people tend to be wiry of veggies in there desert. You are not lying, just omitting unnecessary information for their own enjoyment. Let them eat cake!
I love a good fine grater. Just watch you fingers, blood and beet juice are hard to distinguish between. You might be tempted to eat all of the fine beet, but don’t. Just eat the left overs.
All the ingredients ready to go. I start with the wet the largest bowl cause that were I add my dry. I also whisk or sift together all my dry ingredients. Preheat the oven. I also grab the frosting ingredients.. Let the butter and cream cheese come to room temp.
Mixi the oil and sugar and vanilla. Then the best part, add those beets! Check out how bright that color is !
Add half of the dry. mix just until incorporated then add milk mixture. Mix that in and finish with the other half of dry. Dont over mix that batter
Pour that lovely batter into well greased and dusted cake pans. Taste or don’t taste your cake batter, thats completely up you but it is full of beets and there are no eggs so. Just lick the bowl clean, and the spoon.
Remove cakes from oven when an insert in the middle comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Dont let it over bake… it will dry out. Let cool in pans until you can handle then invert cakes onto wire rack and let cool completely
While the cake is cooling off, time to whip up that frosting.
Cream cheese and butter in the bowl at room temp. Beat it up on medium speed making sure it is fully mixed together.Sift in half the powdered sugar and mix slowly No Matter how hard I try, I always end up with sugar all over me. Add a bit of milk, then slowly sift in more sugar. Beat together and check you consistency. Add a splash more milk if you want a thinner frosting.
Once you get to the desired consistency, add the fun. Orange zest for flavor and color. Beets to really make this beauty pop. Isn’t it amazing? Now frost you cake! Just make sure it cool enough
Look at all those flavor specks! The orange really pops through the pink.
Hey, even dinosaurs like to eat cake
Happy BIrthday!
Chocolate Beet Cake with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting
Makes one 9-inch layer cake
Cake Ingredients
- 2 medium beets measuring about 1 cup shredded + 2 tablespoons shredded
- 1 cup minus 1 tsp milk or milk subsutie if you want to keep it vegan
- 1 tsp white or apple cider vinegar
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 brown sugar
- 1/2 cup canola or coconut oil
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- pinch salt
Frosting Ingredients
- 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
- 4 ounces (1/2 brick) cream cheese, softened
- 3 to 4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- 2 tablespoons finely grated beets
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1-2 teaspoons milk
- Tablespoon orange zest. More or less to taste
- pinch of salt
To roast beets
Preheat oven 400 degrees
Wrap beets in a piece of foil and put on a baking sheet or in a casserole dish. The beets may drip a bit of juice. Roast until beets are easily pierced, about 1 hour. If you think of it, roast the beets ahead of time. The roasted beets will last a couple days in the fridge. Allow beets to cool enough to handle. Finely grate the roasted beets. Peeled or unpeeled is up to you. I never peel. Measure out 1 cup for cake and a tablespoon or two for frosting
To make Cake
Preheat oven 350
Mix milk and vinegar and set aside
MIx oil and sugars until fully incorporated, then mix in vanilla and beets
In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
Slowly mix in half the dry ingencient them add the milk and vinegar mixture. Mix in the rest of the dry until the batter evenly mixed. The batter should be a bit thick you can mix in another splash of milk to thin it out a little.
Divide the batter between the two well greased and flour or cocoa dusted cake pans. Bake 25- 30 minutes or until toothpick stuck in middle comes out clean.. Cake is done when a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove cakes and let cool completely.
To make frosting
In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth then beat in butter until combined making sure to scrap the sides of the bowl to get it all. Add the half the powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and a teaspoon of milk and salt. Beat on medium speed until mixed, add rest of sugar and mix until smooth. Add a splash more milk if you want to a thinner frosting. And last but not least, mix in the orange zest and beet. Beat until combined. Refrigerate the frosting for 30 minutes before using.
To frost cake place one layer on a cake stand or platter. Spread a good amount of frosting on first layer then place other layer on top. Scoop rest of frosting on top and evenly spread from top down the side.
HOORAY FOR SPRING!!!!!!!
Pesto stuff. Kale, walnuts, parmesan cheese(nutritional yeast to keep it vegan), garlic, lemon, olive oil, and salt and pepper.
Straight up frozen ravioli goes onto an oiled baking sheet.(make sure that non are overlapping) Place into an oven at 400 degrees for about 15-18 minutes, flipping after 10. If you want to add mushroom and a few more walnuts, just toss them onto the ravioli when you are flipping over the ravioli. 
Look at this… fresh, crunchy, light and happy. Kinda like a spring day.
The other day the mister and I started reminiscing about some of our earliest memories of what our parents fed us or what they used to eat when we were growing up. One of the dishes that we both remember eating was the classic creamed beef on toast, or as my mom use to call it, shit on a shingle. Yup, shit on a shingle. (who ever started calling creamed meat on toast is a freaking genius) I think that as a kid, I liked the dish just for the mer fact that I could say the word shit and get away with it. I think my mom liked it for few reasons; she could make a big butt load of it really fast, for a crap load of kids, on the super cheap. And I think that she just really like it. 
The shit….. A few mushrooms, a bit of onion, cooked lentils, flour, milk, oil, salt and pepper, and garlic powder. And the shingles.. 2 pieces of thick white country bread. 
Slice the mushrooms and the onion and toss into a skillet with a drizzle of oil. Cook on medium heat until browned and fragrant..Remove from pan.
In the empty pan still on medium heat, add in the olive oil and the flour. Whisky constantly, slowly add in the milk. Keep whisking until sauce thickens. Remove from heat. Add in salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
Add the mushrooms and the lentils into the sauce and give it a good mix. Oh, and don’t forget to toast up the bread. 
Now dump that shit all over those shingles! Oh the memories.
There is irish soda bread in your future. I can see it. A nice hardy hunk slathered in butter and honey, crumbs all over the place. So all you have to do know is make it. 
White whole wheat flour and all purpose flour mixed together. Salt baking soda and buttermilk. That’s it.
All the dry whisked together and in goes the buttermilk. Mix together until dough starts to form then dump onto a floured surface. Handling dough as little as possible, knead into ball.
Place on a baking sheet and dust with flour. Take a sharp knife and cut an X through the top about 1/2 inch deep.
One of the best things about winter is that I can have something in the oven at any time and not worry about how hot the house is going to get. I get to spend my free time (or my in between free minutes) baking up all the thing that I would not dare bake in the summer. (lots of bread and cakes) Yeah, I might complain a little about how cold it is outside (to my defense, -20 is kind of a bitch) but then I think of the super hot humid days that come during the summer and cringe. At least when its cold out I am able to get warm, (que oven) but when its super hot and humid, I just turn into something that border lines a wet towel and the rabbit animal… Not so pleasant. I much prefer cooler weather. So no big surprise….I made bread.. or focaccia to be exact. And now you should too because first off, you want to eat it, and secondly, you can probably whip this up faster then it would take to get all of you winter warmies on and leave the house. Don’t leave, just turn the oven on. 
The stuff, which isn’t a whole lot… Flour and salt. A mixture of honey, water, and yeast. And olive oil. Its pretty much my pizza dough recipe, tweaked with the addition of oil, less flour and no kneading. 
Mix together the wet and dry…I used my nifty dough whisk, but a wooden spoon or even your hand works. Mix mix mix. The dough should be really slack and sticky. And guess what.. no need to knead! Just make sure the dough is uniformly incorporated…hehe.. uniformly incorporated… sounds weird. 
Drizzle the dough (don’t worry about making it into a ball, a blob is good) with a little oil and place in a nice warm place topped with a towel to rise for about an hour or until dough has doubled in size. Once is has fully risen, drizzle 2 tablespoons oil in two 9 inch cake pans. Divide dough in half, and kind of smoosh dough into pans. Cover and let rise for another 20 minutes or so. 
When dough has finished its second rise, drizzle each with another tablespoon of oil and with your fingers, fill out the pan and indent the dough, kind of like playing a piano or tickling a puppy(?)….Then layer your toppings (if you want any) Start with any herbs, then the veggies. Then last, any cheese you got. I used thyme, cracked black pepper, tomato, onion, topped with parmesan cheese. And the other one is just plain old salt. 
Pulled from the oven when nice and golden brown..set on a wire rack to cool for a few minute and removed from the pans. 
The mister was practically salivating waiting for a slice… and he was so not disappointed. Crispy outside with soft airy insides… Everything a perfect focaccia should be. The one with the toppings was the favorite for the first night, but for a peanut butter and cheese panini for lunch the next day…plain is the way to go.. My suggestion, do what I did, jazz one up and leave one plain. And then make more if you need too because the forecast call for another week of below zero!!! Oh the things that I’ll get to make! (me being positive) Stay warm! -C
So the mister wants to know…”Why would anyone ever buy those crappy english muffins from the store when they could be eating these?”
Everything all mixed together, dumped onto a floured surface and kneaded for 10 minutes by hand…..If you have a stand mixer, you can use it if you want, but you are missing out on the fun of doing it by hand….
When dough has doubled, punch down and plop out onto floured surface. Dust the bottom of a griddle or in my case, two cast iron pans, with corn meal. Divide dough into 8-10 equal balls and smash into 2 inch thick disks. 
Place on griddle or pans and sprinkle more corn meal on top of each E.M. Cover and let rise for another 15 minute. 
Now the E.M.s have rested, turn the griddle (or pans) on to low heat. Once your griddle (or pans) gets hot, continue to cook that side for another 7-10 minutes, or until golden brown. Flip and cook other side for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Once browned, check for doneness with a thermometer. The inside should reach 200 degrees.( if you don’t have a thermometer, fork split one open and check…. you are going to eat it anyway) If the outside cooked faster then the inside, no worries, just pop them into the oven at 350 for 8-10 minutes. I had to pop mine into the oven for to cook completely.
Remove form griddle, let cool a bit, and ……Fresh, fluffy fat, fantastic….Everything and more that a real english muffin should be. Split open with a fork and……. the nooks and crannies! So spot on. Serve with anything your heart desires…I served these with whipped honey butter…. and eat the only kind of E.M. you will ever again eat. Grocery store english muffins be damned!
HORRAY, its Saturday!!! I don’t care that I have a bunch of laundry and house work to do, bills to pay, a mangy dog to groom… I get to do it all at home with the music blasting,(maybe some holiday tunes) a lot of coffee, in my comfy sweats and the oven on. Weekends are always a mixed bag of crazy for me but I can usually count on being at home for a chunk of the morning or afternoons and that’s when I jump at the chance to make me some yeasted bread. Give me a couple of hours, my list of chores and watch me go.. I can mix and knead,, set aside to rise and hit up cleaning that toilet. Go back and knead, divided and rise again, then go fold all the laundry. Stick the bread in the oven and watch out, I am mopping the floors. I am nothing if not a fantastic multitasked, much like these rolls. You can serve them as a side for dinner , use them as a sandwich roll, or eat them as the star with a dab of butter and a drizzle of honey. The possibilities are endless. This particular recipe is fantastic for may reasons…. Its pretty simple, not to many ingredients and is made with whole wheat flour. If you don’t want 16 rolls, you can make the dough, bake half and freeze the rest. You could even bake into loaves of bread instead.Yeah, sounds good right? Go ahead, you know you want to. Just do it!
I always gather the ingredients.. I have learned over the years that if I have all my stuff out and measured in front of me, I will almost never forget something and that I make less of a mess. It also helps that I find it pretty. So, flours and salt are whisked together. The yeast and honey in a bowl waiting to be proofed. The butter in need of more melting and an egg.. Pretty.
Honey and yeast mixed with a cup of warm water. BE CAREFUL with the temperature of the water.. If its to hot, the yeast will kill the yeast and you will have to start over again, but I trust you won’t do that.
Now that the yeast is active, mix in melted butter and egg. (Make sure the butter is not hot, warm is ok) Add wet ingredients to the dry and mix.
Little ball of dough turned into big balls of dough. (Yeast is so cool!).Into the oven they go. Right before I baked them I gave the tops a little milk wash, just for color. Do it if you want, you could even do an egg wash, but it’s really not necessary.
So lovely! Who wouldn’t want to just tear these beauties apart?
It’s been a long, packed, but very fantastic week. Everyday has been full of work, chores, family, and trying to get in a least one good bike ride or walk in. I made a list of a few important points to mention from the past week.
The mister and the worlds biggest crayon, which is made of scraps of blue crayons from all over the world. I could totally use a big ass crayon like this.
The coolest most badass 95 year old lady that I know (I know a few), Grammy Stem. And the little, getting a lift. (I could have used a lift too!)
Brothers. The guy in the green is my Dad.
Aftre dinner ice cream break.
The sky has been on point all week long
And made myself some veggie chips. The colors alone are delicious.
My winter farm share is coming to an end this week. One more pick and then a three week stretch until the summer share starts… WHAT AM I GOING TO DO!!! Stock up as much as I can is what.
The stuff….For the split pea gravy we have a carrot, a parsnip and a large onion chopped into small chunks. Salt, thyme, a bay leaf and of course the split peas. Then there is the celeriac root* sliced into 1/2 inch thick rounds and some plain old yellow mustard .
Toss the chopped parsnip, carrot, onion and the spices into a pot on medium heat and let veggies sweat a few minutes until tender. Add in the split peas and enough water to cover everything. Turn pot on high and bring to a boil, then cover and turn to low. Make sure to give the pot a good stir ever few minutes and add more water if needed 
Once the peas have soften, remove the bay leaf and puree until smooth and oh so creamy. Taste and add more salt and pepper if needed. If you find that the gravy seems to thick, just add in more water until it’s the consistency that you want. 
The gravy is made, the celeriac is roasted… now we are ready to eat!! 
Stick the celeriac on a plate and dump good amount of that gravy right on top. Feel free to add a bed of spinach, or a grain or anything you want, because why not, and also some chopped tomatoes for a little acid and prettiness.
And that’s how I know that this is a winner. 
As an awesome aunt, when I have any of my nieces or nephews, I feel the need to make something special for dinner, something that the kiddos might not get very often, but also keep it on he healthy side. I have 2 littles for the night which gives me the perfect opportunity for a trash food recipe. You know trash food, things like boxed mac and cheese, beefaroni in a can, or, in this case, sloppy joes.
The stuff… We start with onion and green pepper, chopped into pieces. Black beans, bulgur, can crushed tomatoes. Chili powder, garlic powder, a bit o apple cider vinegar (which I forgot to picture) ,and some salt and pepper. Oh and cheese if you want… Plus a bun of some sort is necessary.
Toss the chopped onion and peppers into a deep skillet or pot with a drizzle of oil. Cook on medium heat until tender and toss in the spices. Give a stir. Add in the beans, bulgur, and tomato, a splash of vinegar. Stir it all up, cover, and let simmer for about 15 minutes, or until the bulgur has absorbed the liquid and is nice and tender.
And Then dump a good heaping pile right onto a bun. Add some cheese, or not..and eat with wild abandonment, making sure to get as much on your face as you get in you mouth. 
I don’t know if I have bitched enough about it, but I only have one window in my living space. And as much as I love love love our little tiny loft, I am a person who needs the sun. So when I am home I spend a lot of time siting in front of the window. Over the past few weeks I have been doing a lot of watercolor painting in front of that window and somehow between drawings of carrots and vintage fans, I ended up making these marbled window stained glass hoops. And I am glade I did because these little watercolor gems really do make a big impact on my one source of sunlight. Even when the day is kind of gray and gloomy, having these in the window make the light seem brighter and happy. 
So this project is really easy and fast. I recommend that if you are going to go to the trouble (it’s really no trouble) of making one, you might as well make 2 or 5. I actually made a bunch (think Mothers day or Easter presents) and ended up only keeping a s couple. I am going to have to make a few more soon.
Take a piece(s) of paper a little bit bigger then the hoop you are working with and stick it into a pan or tray of water. Let it sit there for a few minutes until the paper is completely soaked.
Take the wet paper and, oh so gently, crumple into a ball. This part can be a little tricky. You want to make as many creases as possible without ripping that paper. (I ripped a few pieces) I found that if I folded that paper a few time, then crumpled that it was less likely to rip.
Uncrumple the paper and lay it gently onto the inner part of the hoop. Now the fun part. Go to town with the watercolors. I used 2 colors per piece, but you could do 1 or 3, or more. When applying the color, use big gentle strokes and let the colors kind of meld together. Watch as all the crumple veins soak up the paint. Try using different dilutions of color. I applied some color on thinly and some on the thicker side. But really, you can’t go wrong, just keep applying paint until you are happy. I stopped a few times and held it up to the window just to see what it looked like. When it looked good, I was done.
When you are happy with the colors, let the paper dry for a while on the hoop until it is not longer super wet. I would say about an hour or so, but if you stick it near the heater, it might dry faster. (Just don’t stick it in the oven while you are making bread like I did with one.. It just ended up setting on fire. Oops)
This one is good. How can a pile of scrap paper make me so happy? Tuning it into a lovely round wreath of pretty is how. I love me a good wreath. I usually make one every year out of the scraps from our Christmas tree. We don’t have out tree yet and I needed a little something to holiday up the room..Enter the coolest easiest paper wreath! Bonus, this is a very kid friendly project, a 2-year-old even made one.(Dont let that stop you as an adult from making one) And not just for Christmas.. Wreaths can be for any holiday or even a normal day. Pretty doesn’t discriminate. I’ll keep it short and sweet.
Get you stuff together.. I did most of the cutting for myself and the littlest little. Not that I didn’t trust the 2 year old with the scissors. We only had three pairs of scissors to work with.
Step 1
Step 2
Continue to overlap paper in rings until you get to the inner circle. Once you get to the inner circle, either cut extra or fold over left over paper .
Step four
Aren’t these amazing! The most perfect paper wreaths. I had a blast doing this, I bet you will too.
Wowzers…Is it for real Memorial day weekend? Where has all the time gone? Let’s talk about a week gone by fast. My brain is on complete overdrive and I am having a hard time keeping it from exploding…SO MUCH TO DO! (Not bad stuff, just a lot of stuff) But lo, that’s life right? There is always a lots of “stuff” to do, but today I am going to try and let that stuff chill and maybe give myself a few hours of coffee, (so much coffee) reading a book in the sunshine, gardening, and just some overall chillin. 
Goodbye fiddleheads…. Hello ferns 
On our way to a geo catch…. And note clothing options for 2 in the afternoon. I am much fond of that little guy wearing a rain jacket without a shirt in when its sunny and 80 degrees. And a pink poke dot bath robe.. I mean, it’s so the cool thing to do. 
We didn’t find the geo, but we found this gigantic mushroom. Just as cool, maybe even cooler.
I love brick and there is one street in all of burlington (that I know of) that has brick sidewalks. I like to walk down it a lot. 
Nurse lady making food… I compare this to a big foot sighting. I have heard stories that she cooks,but have never actually witnessed it myself. (Just kidding….kinda)
And I am home. The mister and I woke up at 2:15 am Friday morning to drive to Easton PA and spend the weekend with family, going to the Crayola crayon factory, wondering a grave yard, and hearing some fantastic stories about my family from the mouth of my 95 year old grandmother. (I’ll show some pictures and tell you some stuff later this week) Than we drove back late last night… I don’t know how I am even awake right now…I am sooooo much tired! But that’s how I work I guess. The coffee is almost ready, calling my name, telling me its totally cool to drink it all.
My forsythia bush in from of one of my houses… Always the first one to bloom. 
This is how washer sleeps in the warmer months.. All feet in the air. 
I ate it all and it was good.
Two pretty ladies
Veggies Plants!!!! 
I don’t know about you guys, but I am JUMPING FOR JOY… cause its finally SPRING!!!!!!! I was really starting to doubt that it ever going to happen. So now that it is actually warm enough to be outside, what are your plans today? Are you going to spend it outside? Or at the very least, in a light filled house with all the windows an doors open? I hope so, cause I think everyone needs to take the day to finally de-thaw and get out of the winter funk that we, or at least me, having been living in for that past 2 months. 
Oh little little. I picked him up from school and all he wanted to do was cut out paper snowflakes. It then proceeded to snow 3 inches … I blamed him. 
Snow covered world. I admit, very pretty, but I am hopping that this was it, that I won’t see snow again unlit November.
A day with blue skies and amazing clouds
The most perfect little and the trash dog. These two spent a good hour fighting over sticks. It was fantastic. 
And this salad. I have been eating it all week long. Pineapple and dill… So freaking good. 
We had ourselves a very full past week. Dinners with the misters family, dinners with mine. Lots of running around for last minutes projects, papers and bills. Mailed in the taxes in (barf) and washed the Washer dog (now he smells like a wet dog with a faint lavender scent… not much better) Then it happened, the most amazing spring day. I spent half the day on Friday trying to remember what it’s like to function in warm weather. I was getting hot and forgot that I could take of my sweater. But it was back to the sweater, hat, and mittens the next day which made me kind of cranky. It actually worked out ok because I didn’t feel bad about hanging inside listening to music , drawing and painting. Oh, and can’t forget to mention the cleaning… lots and lots of cleaning.. and there is still more to be done. All in all, not a bad week.
The collection of snow shovels has finally moved to the barn!!!
Sure you can dye eggs, or like me, just melt a bunch of crayon.
I have never seen it before, but all these leaves were melting into the ice. Very weird and very beautiful.
Speaking of weird and beautiful… 
And yes.. I pulled out my sandals for the one day of spring we had this week. It was glorious and amazing. I had forgotten what warm weather felt like.
THE LOVELY CRAZY
September 19, 2015 by maximios • Blog
Anyways.. another week full of stuff that fills. I am a little taken aback that its already February… when was it January? Time just keeps going by fast and faster, (especially when I get cabin fever) and I think, “What have I done in the past year?” Well, I have done a lot. I was just looking through pictures from a year ago and found some of our tiny home in working progress. Not to many people can remodel a five unit house and a meat locker to live in, within a year.. by ourselves. (ourselves being Nick and I)..So yeah, that made me feel pretty freaking awesome and accomplished. (I needed to remember that because I haven’t been feeling it) But now I am feeling inspired and am looking forward to some new projects and fun things to come! (hopefully getting my pottery studio up and running, maybe another house remodel and lots of traveling!!…. take that winter blues!)
Anyway.. here are a few little bits from my week that made me happy.
The only warm day this week. (20..woo whoo!) Took the little out for a sled ride. She spent the entire time dragging her hands in the fresh snow.
Happy Sunday!
Happy February!
And if you are into it….
Happy Football Super bowl Game and or party! ( If you need any awesome fast party recipes, I have bunch, just check out the recipes page!)
-C