Sauna Cake (aka Beet Cake)

The inspiration for this recipe came the day I brought my friend Emily to volunteer at the farm. It was a Thursday, so we were picking for market and while harvesting some beautiful beets, Emily wondered aloud if beets could somehow be incorporated into a cake. We seized upon the idea of substituting them for carrots in a carrot cake, and so the beet cake was born. I gave it the name Sauna Cake when we brought it to a friend's house and devoured it post-sauna. Of course you can always make this with carrots, but for me there's something very charming about a fuchsia-colored cake with pink icing. The original Sauna Cake had eggs, but this one is vegan and arguably superior :)

Sauna Cake

2 1/2 very ripe bananas, mashed well
1/2 cup oil (a little more if the batter is too stiff)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 Tablespoons molasses
3 teaspoons baking powder
4 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 cup soy/almond/rice milk
2 teaspoons salt
2 cups shredded beets (the finer you shred them, the better they blend into the cake)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
1/2 cup raisins (optional)
3 cups flour

Preheat oven to 325 degrees and make sure oven rack is in the center. Grease two 9-inch round cake pans. Squeeze excess juice from the shredded beets and set aside for the frosting. Combine all ingredients until smooth and divide evenly between the two cake pans. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until the cakes start to pull away from the sides and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool cakes in the pan 45 minutes to an hour, then gently remove from pan and cool completely on wire racks. Frost with (vegan) cream cheese frosting (recipe follows).

(Vegan) Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz. vegan cream cheese
1/2 cup vegan sour cream
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Reserved juice from the beets in the cake (optional)
3/4-1 cup powdered sugar (more or less to taste)

Combine all ingredients in a non-metal bowl with a hand mixer and chill until firm. Frosts two 9-inch layers.

Purple batter! The non-vegan version turns brown in the oven, but the vegan one stays this lovely magenta/fuchsia color.

 The finished product. So dense, so delicious, so...pink. Good for breast cancer awareness month, no? :)