Beetroot bread salad 'cake'

Layers of homemade beetroot bread sandwiched together with cream cheese, pickled butternut and beetroot spaghetti, coleslaw and avo

Makes: 1 large cake

Difficulty: A little effort

Time: 3 hours    

Beetroot bread:

350-400ml beetroot juice

600g bread flour

1 x 10g instant dry yeast

A pinch of salt

Pickled butternut and beetroot spaghetti:

500g butternut, peeled

500g beetroot, peeled

125ml (½ cup) white vinegar

60ml (¼ cup) water

Salt

Pepper

30ml (2 tbsp) brown sugar

Cake filling:

500g labneh or cream cheese

Pickled butternut spaghetti

1 avocado mashed with juice of ½ lemon and salt and pepper

¼ purple cabbage, thinly sliced

2 carrots, grated

45ml (3 tbsp) quality mayonnaise

125ml (½ cup) full-cream yoghurt

Pickled beetroot spaghetti

Topping:

2 purple carrots and 3 baby cucumbers, sliced with vegetable peeler

125ml (½ cup) edible flowers and micro herbs

6-8 sugar snap peas, split

Method:

1) To make the beetroot bread, warm the beetroot juice till tepid. Pour 45ml (3 tbsp) of it into a bowl and sprinkle over the yeast. Wait 5 minutes until it begins to bubble.

2) Place flour, salt and yeast mixture into a mixer fitted with a dough hook and pour in 300ml beetroot juice. If too dry add remaining juice. Mix dough for 10 minutes.

3) Place the dough in lightly oiled bowl, cover, and allow to double in size, about an hour. 

4) Remove the dough, knock back by kneading for 2 minutes, then shape into a ball. Place in a greased 20cm round cake pan, cover with plastic wrap and rest for 45-60 minutes or until doubled. 

5) Preheat oven to 180°C. Bake the bread for 35-45 minutes until crusty. Allow to cool.

6) To make the pickled vegetable spaghetti, use a spiralizer to cut the butternut and beetroot into spaghetti shapes then blanch and drain. Boil the vinegar, water, salt and pepper and brown sugar together then add the vegetables. Set aside for 5 minutes, drain

7) To assemble the cake, cut the bread in half horizontally and half again. Place one round on a platter and cover with of the labneh or cream cheese and pickled butternut spaghetti. Top with a round of bread and cover with avocado. 

8) Add coleslaw made by mixing cabbage, carrots, mayonnaise and yoghurt. Add a round of bread and cover with a layer of the labneh or cream cheese and beetroot spaghetti and grinding of black pepper.

9) Finish with last round of bread and cover with the remaining labneh or cream cheese. Decorate with vegetables, flowers and herbs.

WATCH how to make a Beetroot bread salad 'cake'

Meet the cook who created this scrumptious recipe

Claire Winstanley was the pop in the snap and crackle of the Expresso morning show on SABC3, bouncing onto our screens with good-looking food. Then she moved to the afternoon slot of Expresso as the resident chef.

Now the food stylist has ventured out on her own and launched a YouTube channel and website, Good Looking and Cooking, devoted to cooking and, of course, eating.