sweet potato cake

The Cake Slice: Sweet Potato Cake

cake

and finally my post for the cake slice is out! yipee. This time round, a sweet potato cake covered with orange cream cheese (which i chose in favor over chocolate cream cheese). Laden with orange rind and spiked with a little orange liquer. I loved the icing till the max. And the addition of the pureed sweet potato ( i used japanese sweet potato) into the cake gave it such a moist and lovely texture. Though I have to admit that it's name ain't all that appealing at all, at least i gathered so judging from the strange looks i recieved from my relatives around the table.

Served up over a Thanksgiving dinner at my auntie's place. (how apt!), everyone cast one look at the cake and it's rival, the chocolate fudge lana cake and decidingly choose the chocolate one. DUH! ain't such a hard decision of course. Thanks to the few who politely had a slice of the cake despite bursting at the seams from the delightful satisfying dinner.

Really glad that I made this cake, though I probably wouldn't make this again since most people aren't open to the idea of having sweet potato in their cakes. oh well.. still it was a fine choice!

Visit the blogroll for the cake slice bakers to get a look in at the action!

collage

Sweet Potato Cake
Cake:2 medium or 1 large sweet potato (12 ounces)

3 cups of cake flour**
3 teaspoons of baking powder
1 and 1/2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon of cloves
5 eggs, separated
2 and 1/4 cups of sugar
1 stick plus 2 tablespoons of butter, at room temperature
1 and 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla
1 and 1/4 cups of milk
(**The recipe calls for cake flour and if you only have all-purpose flour on hand, you can substitute 3/4 cup (105 grams) all purpose flour plus 2 tablespoons (30 grams) cornstarch.)
(*If fresh sweet potato is not available where you live you may use canned sweet potato, yams, and pumpkin puree)

Makes a 9-inch triple layer cake, serves 16-20 people

1. Preheat the oven to 400F degrees. Prick the sweet potatoes in 2-3 places, place on a small baking dish and bake for 1 hour or until the potatoes are very soft. Remove from the oven and cool slightly.
2. Reduce the oven temperature to 350F degrees. Butter the bottoms and the sides of the pans and line with parchment paper. Butter the parchment paper also.
3. When the sweet potatoes are cool peel off the skin and remove any dark spots. Cut the potatoes into chunks and puree in a food processors. Puree until smooth. Measure out one cup of potato puree and set aside.
4. Sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ground cloves. Set aside.
5. In the bowl of electric mixer add the egg whites and attach whip attachment. Beat on medium speed until egg whites are frothy. raise the speed to high and gradually beat in 1/4 cup of sugar. Continue to beat until the egg whites are moderately stiff.
6. In another large bowl with the paddle attachment, combine the sweet potato, butter, vanilla, and remaining sugar. Beat until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks one at a time. Make sure to scrape the sides of the bowl after each egg yolk is added. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients and milk in alternately in 2-3 additions. making sure to begin and end with the dry ingredients.
7. With a large spatula, fold in one fourth of the egg whites into the batter to lighten. Then fold in the remaining egg whites until no streaks remain. Making sure to not over mix or this will deflate the batter. Divide the batter among of the three pans.
8. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Let the cake layers cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Then turn out the cake layers onto a wire rack and cool completely at least 1 hour.
9. To assemble the cake, place one layer flat side up on to a cake stand. With a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2 inch round tip and filled with chocolate cream cheese icing, pipe border around the edge of the cake. Fill the center with the orange cream filling smoothing it to the edge of the border. Place the second layer on top and repeat the process.Place the third layer on top and use all the chocolate cream cheese frosting to cover the top and sides of the cake.

Chocolate Cream Frosting:
makes 3 cups

10 ounces cream cheese*** at room temperature
1 stick of butter at room temperature
16 ounces of powdered sugar; sifted
1 and 1/2 ounces of unsweetened chocolate melted and slightly cooled

(***1 cup of cream cheese maybe substituted with 1 cup pureed cottage cheese OR 1 cup plain yogurt, strained overnight in a cheesecloth OR equal amounts of neufatel cheese)

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat together the cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Slowly add the powdered sugar to cream cheese butter mixture. Making sure to scrape down the sides the sides of the bowl. Then beat until light fluffy 2-3 minutes.
2. Measure out 1 cup of frosting and set aside.
3. Add the melted chocolate to the remaining icing in the bowl and beat until well combined.

Orange Cream Filling:
1 cup of reserved cream cheese icing from above.
2 tablespoons of frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed1/4 teaspoon of orange extract

1. Stir together all the ingredients until well mixed.

11 comments:

The Food Librarian said...

I would have picked your cake!!! And had two slices! Looks fantastic. Love how you decorated it!

Anonymous said...

Your cake looks great! As not to hurt anyone's feelings, I would have had one small slice of each. I guess that is why my waistline is growing...oh well.

Linda said...

i love japanese sweet potatoes...great job...and i would have chosen a piece this cake over the other!!!

Megan said...

I definitely would have had a slice of each - because you can never have enough desserts.

Jacque said...

I think it looks fantastic! I would have had a small slice of both, LOL.

Sihan said...

wow.. almost everyone would have two slices of each. Looks like we've got a bunch of dessert maniacs on our sleeves. haha.

Jo said...

Hi Sihan, lovely cake and very nice decorations! I checked at your blog the other to see what your creation would look like but it was not up yet.

steph- whisk/spoon said...

this cake was delicious, and yours looks fab! i hope it wound up getting polished off!!

Gigi said...

Great job on your cake! I love the cake decorations!

Anonymous said...

Sweet potato cake is the first I heard of. Looks divine with the orange cream cheese.

Sihan said...

Jo: oops.. hehe. yeh. i kinda posted this blog post late because I had it served up on the 20th exactly for a thanksgiving dinner. haha. Thanks for dropping by anyway!

Didally: oh yar! It was my first too. and everyone at the table that night gave me all sorts of weird looks when I told them it was a sweet potato cake. My aunt then later to me to keep mum about it till they ate a slice. haha.