For some reason, vegetables with a golden hue have been the favorites to bake with. Squash, pumpkin and even sweet potatoes have made it in cakes. However, I cannot just pick them because of the color, even purple yams have made it into recipes for baked goods.
Vegetables, unlike fruit, do not hold a lot of liquid nor do they have the acid content you will find in some fruits. With the absence of liquid and no acid, vegetables are easier to incoporate into a recipe.
Today's post uses sweet potatoes as a major ingredient. For the moist texture, olive oil is used along with butter. To compliment the sweet potatoes, the cakes are laced with cinnamon and ginger.
Paired with coffee or tea, these little cakes are a perfect if you are seeking something a little sweet in these cold, crisp days of fall. This recipe makes 1-12 cup bundt cake or mini bundt cakes (1-2 1/2 dz, depending on size of cavities.
Sweet Potato Bundt Cakes
adapted from Feast Magazine
Ingredients/ Cake
2 cups pureed sweet potato
1/2 cup or 1 stick butter
1/2 cup olive oil
splash of vanilla extract
4 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 3/4 cup flour
Ingredients/Frosting
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 stick of butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup powdered sugar
In a large bowl, sift together baking powder, baking soda, flour, salt, cinnamon and ginger. Set aside.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, then grease and flour the cavities of a mini bundt pan or 1 12 inch bundt pan.
Fill another large bowl with both kinds of sugar and butter. Beat until the mixture is like wet sand. Whisk in the add the olive oil until evenly distributed. Add the sweet potato puree, folding the batter together to blend. Add 2 eggs and beat for about 30 seconds. Do the same with the remaining 2 eggs. Lastly, whisk in the splash of vanilla. Once all is blended, fold in the sifted ingredients.
Spoon batter into prepared mini bundt pan or 12 cup bundt pan. Place in oven and let mini cakes bake for about 15-20 minutes and the large cake about 30 minutes. Test for doneness by using a toothpick. Cakes should have a toasted edges and spring back when touched on the surface.
Let the mini cakes cool in pan for about 3 minutes and the large bundt for about 20 minutes. After cooling time, invert and invert again so decorative side is face up.
For the frosting, put all ingredients ( with the exception of the powdered sugar) in a saucepan over medium heat. Once the butter has melted, watch for the mixture to start to simmer. It will need to simmer for approx 3 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
Sift powdered sugar into a medium size bowl. Then pour in the brown sugar/butter mixture and whisk together. Let cool for about 10 minutes and then ladle glaze over cakes using a spoon. Once set, then the cakes are ready to serve.
Tips and Notes:
1. the frosting is more like a glaze and to get rid of all the clumps of powdered sugar (even though sifted) you may have to use a mixer to beat.
2. Mini bundt pans vary in size, I used the smallest cavities and the recipe yielded 28 cakes.
3. I ended up using 1 1/2 times the recipe to coat all my mini cakes.
4. For the pureed sweet potato, I sliced 2 peeled sweet potatoes into 1/4 inch slices and boiled for about 20 minutes. Then I drained in a colander and beat until smooth and let cool.
**Last Year: Maple Pecan Pinwheel Cookies**