Chocolate Beet Cake with Hibiscus

Line a half sheet tray with sprayed parchment paper, and dust with cocoa powder. Preheat the oven to 325˚F (163˚C) convection, high fan. Whisk the COCOA POWDER, almond flour, and baking soda in a bowl. Set aside. Over a simmering water bath, gently melt the olive oil and chocolate together. Once melted, add beet purée, vinegar, and vanilla. Set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, whip the eggs, brown sugar, and salt until pale, voluminous, and holds a ribbon. Add the beet-chocolate mixture and gently fold until just combined. Add the dry ingredients, and fold until homogenous. Pour the batter onto the prepared half sheet tray and spread evenly with an offset spatula. Bake until the cake springs back to the touch, about 15 minutes.

Gently melt the ALPACO 64% couverture and salt over a simmering water bath or melt in the microwave for 30-second intervals. Set aside. Bloom the gelatin in ice water. Bring the milk to a simmer, turn off the heat, then add the squeezed and bloomed gelatin. Pour the milk into the melted chocolate in 3 additions, mixing with a spatula to create an emulsion. Once all the milk is added, add cold cream while immersion blending. Scrape the bowl often to ensure all chocolate is getting blended in. Store in deli containers for up to 3 days.

Cut the beets into a small dice. Place the vinegar, hibiscus, salt, and sugar into a pot and bring to a boil. Set aside and steep for 30 minutes, then strain into deli containers. Once cool, add the beets to cryovac bags with 20% of their weight of hibiscus marinade. Then compress.

Sift the COCOA POWDER and confectioner’s sugar together, set aside. Put the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer and whip on speed 6. Once the egg whites are very foamy and almost to soft peaks, start gradually adding sugar. Once all the sugar is added, whip to medium-stiff peaks. Add the confectioner’s sugar, COCOA POWDER, salt, and Urfa Biber and gently fold into the meringue. Portion the meringue to 100g per dehydrator sheet (lined with plastic wrap) and spread as thinly and evenly as possible. Use a Microplane to generously grate black lime over the top of the meringue. Dehydrate on high until fully dry, at least 4 hours - overnight. Break off in as large shards as possible, and store in an airtight container.

Mix the yogurt and cream together in a bowl, and set aside in the cooler until ready to use. Place water and glucose syrup in a saucepan. Whisk the sugar and stabilizer together in a bowl. Bring the water to 113˚F (45˚C), then sheet in the sugar and stabilizer mixture. Bring to 185˚F (85˚C), then add the hibiscus and take off the heat. Steep for 30 minutes. Once the steep time is over, strain through a fine-mesh strainer into a container nestled in a water bath. Chill the hibiscus syrup. Once cold, add to the yogurt, whisk thoroughly, and pass through a fine-mesh strainer. Cure overnight, then freeze in paco canisters.