What you need
250g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), 100g butter, 250g cooked beetroot, drained; three eggs, 250g light brown sugar, 2 tbspn cocoa powder, 1 tbspn vanilla extract, 150g ground almonds, 1 tbspn baking powder, 1 tbspn cayenne pepper powder (optional).
Method
1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Prepare a 23cm square baking tin by greasing with a little butter. Line with a wide strip of baking paper, leaving two “tails” at either side to help lift the cooked brownie out of the tin.
2. Break chocolate into squares and put into a heatproof bowl with the butter. Set over a pan of barely simmering water and allow to gently melt, stirring to mix together as it does so.
3. Tip beetroot into a food processor and process to a puree, pausing the motor to scrape down sides if necessary.
4. Add melted chocolate, butter and eggs and whizz until combined. Scrape sides down, add sugar, almonds, cocoa, baking powder and chilli powder (if using) and process until smooth.
5. Pour into prepared baking tin and bake for about 30 minutes until the top is set and brownie is starting to pull a little away from sides of the tin. A skewer inserted in the centre will come out fairly clean but still a touch sticky – don’t worry if it still seems a little soft as it will firm up on cooling.
6. Remove from oven, place on a cooling rack and allow to go cold in the tin. 7. Using baking paper tails, ease from the tin and cut into 16 squares.
