The interesting thing is that the moist texture comes from the mashed potatoes. You definitely need to use real mashed potatoes, not instant. Also, this recipe has Irish Cream liqueur in it. Not just a few tablespoons but a whole cup, which makes these extra special. I would say they tasted like little brownie cakes with a zing of Irish cream.
The original recipe for the whole bundt cake is below. Should you decide to make mini cakes, cupcakes or try any other deviation from the whole cake, the baking time should be adjusted. I have not stated the time for mine because I consider my pan to be out of the norm. The cavities are bigger than mini muffins but not as big as cupcakes.
Chocolate Irish Potato Cake
adapted from 365 Great Chocolate Desserts
Ingredients
1 3/4 cups of flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup or 2 sticks of butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 one ounce squares of unsweetened chocolate, melted
1 cup mashed potatoes
1 tbs espresso powder or instant coffee
4 eggs, room temperature
1 cup Irish Cream liqueur
powdered sugar (optional, for dusting cake)
Make sure that the melted chocolate as well as the mashed potatoes have cooled before starting on this cake. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and generously grease a 12 cup bundt pan.
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
Take another bowl out and cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the espresso powder or instant coffee (whichever one you decided to use), melted chocolate and mashed potatoes. Beat until all is smooth and evenly distributed. This should take about 2 minutes. Add an egg to the batter and beat for 30 seconds. Continue with this process until all the eggs are incorporated into the batter.
Fold half of the flour mixture into the chocolate batter, making sure no dry streaks remain. Then blend in the cup of the Irish cream. Lastly, fold in the rest of the flour mixture until the all ingredients are well combined. Spoon evenly into prepared cake pan.
Place pan in oven and bake until tester comes out clean. Baking time should be about 45-50 minutes. Let the cake cool in the pan for about 20 minutes and then invert cake onto a rack to finish cooling. If you have elected to dust with powdered sugar, do this step prior to cutting and serving.
**LAST YEAR: Annie's Banana Cookies**