We’re not traditionally ones for celebrating Valentine’s Day but this year we decided to get into the spirit, and mark it, with the launch of Nobó’s Random Acts of Goodness campaign.

We love the idea of being able to spontaneously brighten someones day with a little goodness so to launch this campaign we are delivering 5 boxes of Nobó on Friday. We’ve been getting loads of wonderful emails and messages and it’s been an absolute joy to read through the worthy nominations. There is a lotta love out there and it’s really cool to see people nominating friends, family, partners, and themselves – the hard part is going to be picking the winners. Luckily this won’t be the last we’ll see of this campaign, so those that entered will be high priority for next time.

For anyone thinking of staying cosy this weekend with a home cooked meal, we wanted to offer a yummy decadent dessert. Chocolate seemed like the natural choice, with an element of surprise.

There’s nothing worse than thinking you’re ‘treating yourself’ with lovely shop bought dessert only to feel sick and stuffed after it. Enter beetroot.

These little vegetables have a multitude of health benefits, and if you’re attempting to woo someone this Valentines day, you’ll be happy to hear that in many cultures the belief persists that if a man and a woman eat from the same beetroot then they will fall in love. Add the fact that one of the earliest known benefits of beetroot is its use as an aphrodisiac (with modern science supporting it!) and you’ve got yourself a pretty sweet cake.

This recipe is an adaptation of Susan Jane White’s cake (original version here). It’s really simple to make and tastes amazing.

Dark chocolate beet cake

Ingredients:

• 80g cocoa / cacao powder
• 125g dark chocolate (melted)
• 1 cup pureed beetroot *
• 1 cup date paste or date syrup *
• 4 eggs
• ½ cup good quality extra virgin olive oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• Blueberries & raspberries for decoration

* Short on time, we followed Susan Jane’s suggestion and used 1 vacuum pack of beetroot with no vinegar. You can however cook your own beetroots by boiling them with the skins on, then when cool, rubbing in paper to remove skins.

* You can either purchase date syrup or, make your own (which we did) by boiling pitted dates with a little water until they soften, puree, and use 1 cup of this date paste.

Step One:
Preheat oven to 170 degrees, and grease a 9 inch springform tin.

Step Two:
Break dark chocolate into pieces and place in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water.

Step Three:
In a high powered blender, blitz the cooked beetroot, cocoa and date syrup until smooth.

Step Four:
Empty beetroot mix into a mixing bowl, and, using an electric beater mix in eggs, olive oil, baking powder, salt and vanilla extract until combined.

Step Five:
Pour batter into greased tin and bake for 50 minutes. Allow to cool before removing from tin.

Step Six:
Garnish with berries (heart shape optional) and serve with a generous scoop of Nobó.
Dig in, and enjoy.

Rachel & Brian