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<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Melanie Munk, Features Editor munk@heraldnet.com   Published: Friday, July 25, 2008 The Forum: Turn a can of beets into a delicious dessert By Judyrae Kruse Herald Columnist What on earth, you might wonder, does a can of beets have to do with making a delicious dessert? Well, Everett cook Edith Rustay tells us, "I am 91 years old and have baked this beet cake a number of times over the years. It is an old recipe and it is very good.'' Devilishly good beet cake 1 can (16 ounces) sliced or diced beets 2 squares (2 ounces) unsweetened chocolate, melted 3/4 cup vegetable oil 2 eggs 1 1/4 cups sugar 1 3/4 cups unsifted cake flour 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon vanilla Chocolate beet frosting (recipe follows) Drain beets, reserving liquid, and puree. Pour pureed beets into a 2-cup measure and add reserved beet liquid until contents measure 11/2 cups. Save remaining beet liquid for the frosting. Turn beets into mixing bowl, add melted chocolate and oil and beat well. Beat in eggs. Mix together the sugar, flour, baking soda and salt; combine with beet mixture, then stir in vanilla. Pour batter into 2 greased and floured 8-inch round cake pans. Bake at 350 degrees 30 to 35 minutes or until cakes test done. Remove cakes from oven, cool, then fill and frost with chocolate beet frosting. Makes one 8-inch layer cake. Chocolate beet frosting 4 tablespoons margarine or butter, softened 1 square (1 ounce) unsweetened chocolate, melted 1 teaspoon vanilla 3 cups powdered sugar Reserved beet juice In mixing bowl, beat together the margarine or butter, melted chocolate and vanilla. Beat in powdered sugar until frosting is smooth, adding enough reserved beet juice to make the frosting spreadable. SOS: Longtime Forum helper-outer Dianne Berst of Marysville writes, "This time, I'm the one in your SOS department. I'm hoping Forum readers might have a recipe for cherry pie filling that can be frozen or canned, preferably a lite version or a recipe that can be converted to sugar-free with Splenda. "My goal is to use the pie cherries or sweet cherries off our trees and turn some of them into a product like Wilderness canned cherry pie filling that can be used in various baking recipes. "With a pear tree bearing lots of fruit for the first time, I could also use some ideas for low-sugar pear recipes. "Also, does anyone cook/bake with Asian pears?'' If you can help, please write to Judyrae Kruse at the Forum, c/o The Herald, P.O. Box 930, Everett, WA 98206. We are always happy to receive your contributions and requests, but please remember that all letters and e-mail must include a name, complete address with ZIP code and telephone number with area code. No exceptions and sorry, but no response to e-mail by return e-mail; send to kruse@heraldnet.com. The next Forum will appear in Monday's Time Out section.

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