A while back I mentioned that I was going to make this cake for a friend...but on the day I was going to make it she told me her son was coming to visit and it was his birthday...so I made her a different cake because I didn't want to send a cake made with vegetables for someone's birthday! Surely if there was ever a time NOT to eat veggies it would be on one's birthday! And to include them in a birthday cake seemed nothing short of sick and wrong. Oh, oh, oh...silly me! This cake, with it's glorious helping of sweet potatoes, is one of the moistest, richest cakes I've ever tasted and it would have been perfect for the birthday boy - and everyone else! It has such a beautiful color - pale orange (if you use yams) or a pale yellow (if you use sweet potatoes) and the taste is heavenly - just the right mix of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves...it would be a great cake to add to any festive gathering - even a birthday celebration!
In the middle of cake baking...we had a bit of toilet problem...but it's not with what you think...the mister has this nasty habit of throwing the slivers of bar soap into the toilet. He thinks they dissolve and in doing so clean the bowl. Well, they eventually DO dissolve...about as quickly as a diaper in a landfill. I've asked him repeatedly NOT to do this - fearing that one day that little sliver of soap would not be so little and the works would be clogged...and as I feared...it clogged. No problem he said...he'll get the plunger and take care of it and by the way, did I notice the nice aroma the soap makes?! So off he trots to get the plunger - where it has stood guard in the garage, awaiting deployment for 18 years. It wasn't there. He tore the garage apart...then in Godzilla like fashion he stormed the stairs, assaulting every closet in his path....I MUST FIND PLUNGER, he said in Caveman Speak!! Well, he didn't actually say that but I can't print what he did say! And of course, he didn't find the plunger nor did I. It's a mystery as to where it went....the mister asked me if I turned it into a craft...freak...I did not. I do not make plunger crafts! So he told me to go and buy a plunger...but just between you and me, that was not something I was comfortable doing...I mean...a toilet plunger implies something and I, for one, did not want to be associated with that implication...and, two, he was the one who stopped up the toilet so he should be the one to buy the plunger! We decided we would wait for the soap to dissolve...I mean, how long could i t take? We're on day three...I'll let you know when we can flush.
Back to the cake...the recipe, which is from the incredible Sky High cake cookbook, has a wonderful chocolate cream cheese frosting with an orange cream filling. It calls for "chocolate" and it doesn't say white or dark chocolate so I used white and it was SO YUMMY! This might be my new favorite frosting! I was a bit distracted after frosting the cake - I was too busy checking the status of the water level in the toilet and searching for the missing plunger...so I only got one picture before the cake was almost decimated! Let me put you out of your wonderment...we have not been wearing Depends for the last 3 days nor have we been digging holes in the backyard...we have 3 other working toilets!
Sweet Potato Cake - Adapted from Sky HIgh Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes by Alisa Huntsman and Peter Wynne Makes a 9-inch triple-layer cake; serves 16 to 20
2 medium to large sweet potatoes ( you only need 1 cup of sweet potato puree, what's left over is cook's bonus)
3 cups cake flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
5 eggs, separated
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 stick plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups milk
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prick the sweet potatoes in 2 or 3 places, set in a small baking dish, and bake for 1 hour, or until the potatoes are very soft and their juices are oozing. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly.
Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees. Butter the bottoms and sides of three 9-inch round cake pans. Line with rounds of parchment or waxed paper and butter the paper.
As soon as the sweet potatoes are cool enough to handle, peel off the skin and remove any dark spots. Cut the potatoes into chunks and put into a food processor. Puree until smooth. Measure out 1 cup sweet potato puree. Sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ground cloves. Set these dry ingredients aside.
In a large mixer bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the egg whites until frothy. Raise the speed to high and gradually beat in 1/4 cup of the sugar. Continue to beat until the egg whites form moderately stitff peaks. In another large bowl, combine the sweet potato puree, softened butter, vanilla, and the remaining 2 cups sugar. Beat until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks one at a time, beating well and scaping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients and milk alternately in 2 or 3 additions, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.
With a large rubber spatula, fold in 1/4 of the beaten egg whites to lighten the batter. Then fold in the remainder just until no streaks remain; be sure not to overmix, or the batter will deflate. Divide the batter among the 3 prepared pans. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick stick in the center comes out clean and the cake is beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan. Let the layers cool in their pans for 10 minutes. Then turn out onto wire racks, peel off the paper liners, and let cool completely, at least 1 hour.
To assemble the cake, put one layer, flat side up, onto a cake stand or serving plate. Spread 1/2 of the orange filling, stopping about 1/2-inch from the edge. Place second layer on top of the filling, add remaining orange filling, stopping about 1/2-inch from the edge. Place third layer on top and frost cake with frosting.
Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting - Makes 3 cups
10 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 oz. white chocolate, melted and cooled slightly
In a large mixer bowl, beat together the cream cheese and butter until well blended. Gradually add the powdered sugar in batches, sifting or shaking it through a sieve and scraping down the sides of the bowl several times. Beat until the mixture is light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Measure out 1 cup of the sweetened butter and cream cheese and set aside for the orange cream filling. Beat the melted chocolate into the remainder of the cream cheese mixture until thoroughly incorporated. Use at once.
Orange Cream Filling - Makes 1 cup
1 cup sweetened cream cheese and butter mixture, reserved from the frosting recipe
2 tablespoons frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
1/4 teaspoon orange extract
Stir together the sweetened cream cheese and butter, orange juice concentrate, and orange extract until well blended.
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"The thing women have yet to learn is nobody gives you power. You just take it." Roseanne Barr
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One year ago today: Cider Bugs
