Hippie Chocolate Cake

I am just about solely responsible for the dietary habits of our family, particularly those of my two children. My little girl, in particular, has a sweet tooth, and if I let her eat cookies and cupcakes all day, she probably would. I don't think this is particularly unusual for a child, but I do like to make sure that she, and rest of us, eats healthy most of the time. I don't intend for us to only eat celery (we do often have Ben and Jerry's ice cream around the house), but I don't like to have junky treats and snacks around the house, either.

I don't think this is a surprise to anyone.

I recently bought a cookbook called Deceptively Delicious. I heard about it shortly after it came out, but resisted buying it because it's a 'celebrity' cookbook (authored by Jessica Seinfeld, wife of Jerry Seinfeld). I've had a tough time getting the little princess to eat anything healthy recently, and I saw it on clearance at the bookstore, so I decided to try it.

I've already made a handful of the recipes with success, and incorporated some of the pureed vegetable ideas to some of our regular staple recipes. The kids have gobbled everything up, and the only complaint was from my husband. He didn't like that the beef hamburger tasted more like a garden burger. I didn't mind the flavor, but duly adjusted it the next time.

Time to try one of the desserts. I decided to make chocolate cake.

I quote my husband: "Why do you always have to make hippie desserts? Why can't you just make regular chocolate cake?"

I refer you to the above paragraphs.

True to form, I made a few adjustments to the recipe, hippifying it, I suppose (I wouldn't consider "Deceptively Delicious" a hippie cookbook at all. Apart from the beets, the original recipe was pretty straightforward. And for the record, in our household, hippie pretty much stands for anything weird.)

Without further ado, I present my hippie chocolate cake.



Ingredients:

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1/2 cup semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, melted
1/2 cup beet puree
1/2 cup lowfat milk (or buttermilk)
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 tbsp ground flaxseed
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Mix the sugar, oil, and eggs together with a mixer. Slowly beat in the melted chocolate, beet puree, milk, and vanilla. Add the flour, flaxseed, baking soda, salt and chocolate chips and beat until smooth.

3. Pour batter into 9-inch cake pan and bake for 35-45 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean when inserted.

4. Let cool and enjoy.

Despite the ingredients, everyone in the house happily partook.