Beet Apple Gingerbread

Hello! My name is Catherine and I am new to Pittsburgh Kitchen.  I am originally from the same part of Pittsburgh as Laura, although I only just met her last year. We enjoyed cooking and sharing recipes while we worked together, so she invited me to contribute.  A few months ago, I moved to a small city in Russia.  I write my own blog with some recipes and reflections about living abroad, but I’ll post here whenever a recipe makes me particularly nostalgic.

This recipe is my beet redemption.  Before I left for Russia, we had a dinner party at Laura’s house and I tried to make beet pancakes that utterly failed.  This beet cake is an adaptation and amalgam of about a half dozen zucchini and carrot cake recipes.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups of grated apples and beets (1 small-medium beet, peeled and grated and 2 small apples, peeled, cored and grated)
• 2 cups flour
• pinch salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp powdered ginger
• 3/4 c oil
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup walnuts
• 1/2 cup candied ginger (I made my own candied ginger using Alton Brown's recipe)

Instructions:

1.   Preheat the oven to 350 F (175 C).

2.  Sift or mix the flour with the baking powder, baking soda and salt.

3.  Peel and grate your beets and apples.  Taste your raw beets to make sure that they aren't bitter.  I had to throw away one beet which was almost black and very soft.  Some softness is okay and is natural if you've stored the beets in your refrigerator for a few days.  

4.  Add the beet/apple mix, the eggs, the oil, and the sugars to your dry ingredients.  Mix. 

5.  Chop the walnuts and candied ginger.  Stir into the batter. 

6.  Pour the batter into a prepared (greased and/or floured) tin.  Optional: Sprinkle sugar on top of the bread.  I used the ginger sugar that was leftover from making my own candied ginger. The bread does not look pretty at this point. 

7.  Bake for about an hour or until a knife or toothpick stuck in the middle comes out clean.

I hope you enjoy!  We did!