You can’t ‘beet’ this sweet Valentine’s Day treat.
By Courtney Runn, Photo courtesy of Tiny Pies
There’s not much sweeter than a Tiny Pies Valentine’s Day recipe. The mother-daughter team behind the eatery shared their recipe for their Love Letter Pie in our February issue and they’re back with a second, equally delicious recipe, just in time for lovers’ day.
Chocolate Beet Torte Pie
Ingredients for the Pie:
8 ounces beets, unpeeled, rinsed and scrubbed free of dirt
7 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate (70 percent cacao solids), chopped
1/4 cup hot espresso (or water)
7 ounces butter at room temperature, cubed
1 cup flour
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (natural or Dutch process)
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
5 large eggs at room temperature, separated
Pinch of salt
1 cup superfine sugar
Ingredients for Cream-cheese Frosting:
8 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
6 tablespoons salted butter at room temperature
4 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions for Cream-cheese Frosting:
1. Beat the cream cheese and butter in a large mixing bowl until combined and smooth.
2. Add about half of the powdered sugar and mix until well combined and smooth.
3. Add the vanilla extract and mix until well combined.
4. Add the remaining powdered sugar and mix until well combined and smooth. Add more or less powdered sugar as desired for consistency purposes.
Directions for the Pie:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large sauce pan, boil the beets with the salt and keep the lid askew for about 45 minutes, until the beets are fork-tender. Drain the beets. (Reserve the water for later.) Rinse them with cool water and let them cool until they’re ready to handle. Slip off the skin, cut the beets into a large dice and puree them in a food processor. Reduce the reserved beet water until you get a thick syrup, then blend it in with cream-cheese frosting.
3. In a large mixing bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and sugar until well combined.
4. Add the hot espresso, eggs, melted chocolate and butter to the flour mixture.
5. Fold in the processed beets.
6. Store the mixture in the refrigerator until you’re ready to use it.
7. In a raw pastry shell, scoop 1 ounce of chocolate beet cake batter. Bake it at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Turn and bake six to eight more minutes or until the cake is done and the bottom of the pastry shell is golden brown.
8. Top the cake with dark chocolate ganache, cool and then top it with the cream-cheese frosting.