Beetroot brownies

Beetroot brownies

With around half the fat of regular brownies, these are a slightly less guilty pleasure, but still have that intense chocolate hit

Difficulty and servings

Easy

Makes 15-20

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 15 mins

Cook time

Cook 40 mins

Plus cooling
Freezable

Method

  1. Wear a pair of rubber gloves to stop your hands from staining, then top, tail and peel the beetroot - you'll need about 400g flesh. Roughly chop and put into a large bowl. Add a splash of water, cover with cling film, then microwave on High for 12 mins or until tender.
  2. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. While the beetroot cooks, butter then line a 20 x 30cm traybake or small roasting tin. Roughly chop the chocolate and cut the butter into cubes. Tip the cooked beetroot into a sieve, drain off any excess liquid, then put into a food processor or blender with the chocolate, butter and vanilla. Whizz until the mix is as smooth as you can get it. The chocolate and butter will melt as you do this.
  3. Put the sugar and eggs into a large bowl, then beat using an electric hand whisk until thick, pale and foamy, about 2 mins. Spoon the beetroot mix into the bowl (it won't look too pretty at this stage, but bear with me), then use a large metal spoon to fold it into the whisked eggs. Try to conserve as much air in the mixture as you can. Sift in the flour and cocoa powder, then gently fold these in to make a smooth batter.
  4. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 25 mins or until risen all over, with just the merest quiver under the centre of the crust when you shake the pan. Cool completely in the tin, then cut into squares.
Try

No microwave?

If you don't have a microwave, boil the whole, unpeeled beetroot until tender (leaving the skins on prevents them from becoming waterlogged), then peel and use as above. For a real cheat, use 400g ready-cooked beetroot - just be sure to buy the type without vinegar!

Per serving

255 kcalories, protein 4.0g, carbohydrate 32.0g, fat 13.0 g, saturated fat 7.0g, fibre 2.0g, sugar 24.0g, salt 0.11 g

Recipe from Good Food magazine, September 2010.

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Latest comments and suggestions

Results 21-40

  • Binder photo LissaB

    27 September 2010

    LissaB commented on this recipe

    Excellent, followed the recipe and they came out as I expected. Love the pink tinge too. Suspect they might taste a little 'too healthy' for kids though! Will absolutely make again. Loving these vegetable cakes!

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  • Binder photo LissaB

    27 September 2010

    LissaB commented on this recipe

    The children actually love them. I haven't mentioned the beetroot though ;)

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  • Binder photo LissaB

    27 September 2010

    LissaB rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo drusilla

    30 September 2010

    drusilla commented on this recipe

    Made with ready-cooked beetroot, followed recipe exactly otherwise - but for some reason they didn't rise? Also took 50 minutes (!) to finish cooking - soggy everywhere after the recommended 25 minutes. So I have about 1cm thick brownies - still intensely chocolatey and very moist, though!

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  • Binder photo mother

    30 September 2010

    mother commented on this recipe

    These brownies were fabulous, I used up the remaining beetroot from the veg patch. I was a little short on the 500g of beetroot and used white caster sugar. Delicious!

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  • Binder photo michelle

    07 October 2010

    michelle rated and commented on this recipe

    1 stars

    Why so much sugar? 250g is a huge amount! I am sure this is a lovely recipe but I think the vast amount of sugar outweighs the health benefits from using a vegetable in a cake and I therefore & regrettably won't be making these brownies! Jane Hornby - PLEASE make your delicious cake recipes less sinful!

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  • Binder photo Tigerlily

    11 October 2010

    Tigerlily commented on this recipe

    Those who think it's awful - are you sure you didn't use pickled beetroot? I used precooked so just microwaved them to warm them up for a few minutes, so the chocolate could still melt. No matter what I did I couldn't make the eggs "fluffy and pale", are you sure the recipe doesn't call for just egg whites, not whole eggs? They were quite dense because of this, but still delicious and disappeared a bit faster than I would like to admit.

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  • Binder photo Jo

    23 October 2010

    Jo commented on this recipe

    Lovely, really easy to make. Would advise wearing disposable gloves, but really good and didnt mention beetroot and no-one guessed!!

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  • Binder photo Richard O

    31 October 2010

    Richard O rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    A good brownie A bit too moist for me. I guess I should have adjusted for the large eggs/ready cooked beetroot. next time i will increase the flour by 25g. I will It would not be harmed by an increase in Cocoa by 25g either.

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  • Binder photo fiona

    05 November 2010

    fiona rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    These were excellent brownies. I used ready cooked beetroot as I couldn't get raw and just blasted it in the microwave for a couple of mins so that it would be hot to go in the processor. They were very moist and that was using slightly less beetroot. I didn't find them to be pink at all and they went down very well with virtually everybody at work. There was only one person who said they noticed a soily taste. Would definitely make them again.

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  • Binder photo nessjjackson

    10 November 2010

    nessjjackson rated and commented on this recipe

    2 stars

    I used beetroot from the garden and found the brownies a bit strange. There was a definite after taste of beetroot which overpowered the chocolate which was a shame, but my daughter thought they were ok and ate with custard to disguise the flavour. I won't make again but was fun to try.

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  • Binder photo kate7173

    09 December 2010

    kate7173 rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    wow. what a surprise. I hate beetroot but had some delivered in my weekly veg box. these are absolutely outstanding and the secret ingredient is not even *slightly* suspected by my children who have wolfed these down :-)

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  • Binder photo Dee Russell

    03 January 2011

    Dee Russell rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    Tweaked this according to the comments, used 50g less sugar (and am glad of it) and a little more cocoa and flour. The resulting brownies are divine.

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  • Binder photo yummyscrummy

    29 January 2011

    yummyscrummy commented on this recipe

    made these yesterday and they were just delicious. took some into work today and they didnt last very long and not many people knew they had beetroot in!!

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  • Binder photo Melanie Day

    01 February 2011

    Melanie Day commented on this recipe

    Made these and they were lovely and moist and very tasty. Some people said they could taste the beetroot but I couldnt. Liked the method of cooking the beetroot in the microwave, was good and not that messy.

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  • Binder photo Karen

    09 February 2011

    Karen rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    easy and turned out perfectly. have just been all eaten in the office and everyone loved them. will make a good novelty pudding for a dinner party. i cheated and bought ready prepared container of fresh beetroot from m & s - not in vinegar of course! can't beat a traditional brownie however, although maybe i saved some calories.

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  • Binder photo Erin

    19 March 2011

    Erin rated this recipe

    4 stars

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  • Binder photo farofa

    17 April 2011

    farofa commented on this recipe

    I loved these, very tasty and very moist. Everyone who tried them loved them, even the beetroot haters I will do them again no doubt, they kept well.

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  • Binder photo little spoon

    19 April 2011

    little spoon rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Unbelievably good. Went down a storm with all my friends. I don't have a microwave or a food processor so I did the grated beetroot with a bit of water on a low heat in a pan and used a hand blender, the mixture wasn't that smooth but it still worked out really well. Will be making these again soon

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  • Binder photo BrightonBaker

    07 June 2011

    BrightonBaker commented on this recipe

    I made these for our first market stall at the Kemptown Carnival in Brighton and they were our best seller of the day! Thanks for the recipe, they turned out great (although pinker than the ones in the picture...) www.brightonbakery.co.uk

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Difficulty and servings

Easy

Makes 15-20

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 15 mins

Cook time

Cook 40 mins

Plus cooling
Freezable

Ingredients

  • 500g whole raw beetroot (3-4 medium beets)
  • 100g unsalted butter , plus extra for the tin
  • 200g bar plain chocolate (70% cocoa)
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 250g golden caster sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 100g plain flour
  • 25g cocoa powder
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Per serving

255 kcalories, protein 4.0g, carbohydrate 32.0g, fat 13.0 g, saturated fat 7.0g, fibre 2.0g, sugar 24.0g, salt 0.11 g

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