Procedure1 Preheat the oven to 350F. Coat and 8 inch square pan with cooking spray. For brownies I line the pan with aluminum foil and grease it with cooking spray, so cutting it is easy and also we can get perfect squares.

2 Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or over a very low flame. I melted the chocolate in the microwave oven, in a medium size bowl. Take care while doing so or else the chocolate will get burnt. So increase the time little by little. Stir it well, it should be smooth.

3 In the same bowl, combine the beet puree, sugar, cocoa powder, margarine, vanilla and unsweetened applesauce and whisk it well. This mixture should be smooth and creamy.

4 Stir in the oat flour, baking powder, chopped walnuts and salt with a wooden spoon.

5 Pour the batter into the prepared pan and baked 35-40 minutes. I checked it after 35 minutes and felt that it was not done. Brownies should spring back when touched, but it did not. So baked it for another 5 minutes.

6 Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack. Since I lined the pan with aluminum foil I lifted it after an hour and I cooled it on a wire rack. After another 2 hours I was able to cut them into neat squares without any trouble. If baking it directly in the pan, it will take some more (actually a lot more) time for the brownies to cool completely and getting neat pieces will also be difficult.

Taste The taste was simply superb. The oat flour or the beet puree did not affect the taste at all. It tasted like any other regular brownie. The only difference I felt was in the texture, but it was nothing huge. The brownies were chewy and also pudding(y) in the middle. I don’t mean that it was in a semi-solid state, it had set properly, but the texture was a bit different than the usual brownies, which I think is because of the beet puree. Also the brownies are more reddish than brown. This did not stop my son or the rest of us from finishing it off.

My Notes1 I have used 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce instead of 2 egg whites mentioned in the original recipe. If you have extra beet puree you can use 1/4 cup of that itself. I had only 1 cup of beet puree so I used applesauce.

2 Oat flour is readily available in stores. I didn’t have that in hand, so I powdered quick cooking oats in a blender. Be sure to powder it finely, sieve it a couple times.

3 You can use all purpose flour too instead of oat flour.

4 To prepare beet puree you can either buy canned beets and blend it smoothly in a blender or do like what I did. I peeled and cooked the beets in a pressure cooker. Cut into small pieces once cooled and then blend it. I had prepared this a month back. So I put it in cup, covered with plastic wrap and froze it. To use the puree, thaw it in the fridge overnight and by the following afternoon it should be alright.

Procedure 1 Preheat oven to 360F/180c for 15 minutes.

2 Grease and flour a 9 inch spring-form pan. You can use cocoa instead of flour.

3 In a large mixing bowl sift together the flour,cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

4 In a small blender/processor blend together the Ener-G and water until it’s nice and fluffy like beaten eggs. I used my Magic Bullet blender. I pulsed it a couple of times.

5 In a medium bowl add oil, applesauce, sugars, vanilla extract and coffee powder. Using a hand mixer beat the mixture in medium speed for 3-5 minutes.

6 Add the egg replacer liquid in 3 additions beating it after every addition. Now also add the milk and beat until well combined.

7 Reserving half a cup of the flour mixture, add slowly the remaining flour to the wet ingredients, while beating it in low speed. Combine well the grated zucchini, chocolate chips and 1/2 cup of flour. Add this to the batter and mix it well. Note that the batter is thick at this stage. So don’t worry.

8 Pour the batter in the prepared cake pan and smooth it out using a spatula. While using a spring-form pan it’s advisable to place the pan on a baking sheet, so that the batter or baked cake does not fall down if the pan is not locked properly.

9 Prepare the topping by mixing the brown sugar and pistachios. Sprinkle this mixture evenly on the batter. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Mine was done in 45 minutes.

My Notes 1 The key in using Ener-G is processing it with the water in a blender until it’s nice and fluffy. Simply whisking it with a fork does not give desirable results. If you pour this immediately in a liquid measuring cup, you will see that it measures exactly 3/4 th of a cup, which is perfect because we usually replace every egg with 1/4 cup of any egg substitute. But by the time I was ready to add this mixture to the rest of the wet ingredients, I saw that it had reduced to 1/2 a cup. So to replace the 1/4 cup of liquid missing I used unsweetened soy milk. You could use any milk or even some fruit juice which you think would go with the flavors you are baking.

2 You can also use an 8 inch or 9 inch round cake pan instead of a spring form pan. But I think you cannot do the topping because, while inverting the pan to unmould the cake the toppings may fall down.

3 Zucchini can be grated without peeling. After grating I felt that the strands were very big, so I chopped them coarsely.

Cake Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 325F (160C).
2. Grease and flour (I used cocoa powder to flour the base of the pan because it’s a chocolate cake) two 9-inch cake pans.
3. Sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa and sugar into a large mixing bowl.
4. Make a well. Add the canola oil. Then the hot coffee decoction.

Frosting

1. Sift the mix.
2. Add the butter, hot milk, vanilla and baking soda. (I read in the same book that adding a pinch of baking soda to icings prevents hardening and cracking so icing stays moist)
3. Beat the mix using a hand mixer at medium-high speed. Add few drops of water/milk if required.

Frosting the Cake:
This was my first experience with frosting a cake, so I simply followed the steps listed in the book.
1. First I placed the bottom layer upside down, so the rounded side (top of the cake will be on the serving plate). If you have dome top on the cake, even it out by slicing it with a serrated knife and then place it upside-down.
2. Spread about 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup of frosting on top of the bottom layer. Don’t use hard strokes, but spread it gently using an offset metal spatula or plastic spatula.
3. Now place the second layer on the first, cut or domed side up.
4. Frost the sides of the cake first with another 1/2 cup of frosting.
5. Finally frost the top of the second layer.

Decorating

As you all know the options are endless. Being a rookie that I am, and because my son loves M&M’s I used them to line the cake. I also used the ready made CakeMate decorating pens which are available in the grocery store in the baking aisle to write the birthday message and draw some flowers.

My Notes As a whole the cake was excellent. But considering healthy eating I would modify the recipe a little bit the next time. Like reducing the quantity of sugar in the cake recipe from 2 cups to 1.5 cups. Since the frosting is also sweet enough, we don’t need that much sugar in the cake too. Next reducing the quantity of oil too. Instead of 1 cup of oil, 1/2 cup can be replaced with unsweetened applesauce.