Sweet Potato Cake

This is a moist, delicious and filling cake.  It is not very sweet.  This recipe was a hit with Tester and Tasters, for breakfast, with a coffee, or as a meal in a cake whilst travelling.

This photo Diane Hayter, Tester and Taster

Preparation 20-40 Minutes Cooking 20-60 Minutes

Plants 6 Serves 10-12

GF V Option NF Option DF

Ingredients

200g sweet potatoes

75g dates or other sweetener of your choice eg agave syrup

75ml EVOO

3 eggs or egg replacement

200g ground almonds

4-5 tbsp dairy or plant yogurt of your choice

2 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tsp ground ginger (optional)

Zest of one lemon

1 tsp gluten free baking powder

1 tsp gluten free bicarbonate of soda

150g walnuts or pecans, or mixed nuts. Nut Free:  use mixed seeds of your choice or leave out.

3-4 balls of stem ginger chopped (optional)

1 tbsp lemon juice or apple cider vinegar

Swaps

Vegan Option Replace the eggs with 3 tbsp ground flax, chia or camelina seeds or mixture.  Do not add extra liquid as the sweet potato makes the cake quite moist, leave the mixture to stand for 10-25 minutes before baking, check the consistency and add more plant yogurt or ground almonds to gain a stiff cake mixture that does not drop off a spoon.

Nut Free Option replace the ground almonds with wholegrain flour, mixture of wholegrain and seed flour, or other grains that have a light texture such as buckwheat or tigernut.

Barbara Cooper, Tester and Taste

In advance

1.             Scrub the sweet potatoes, there is no need to peel unless you prefer to. 

2.             Either:

a.    Roast the sweet potato whole

b.    Cut into cubes and roast without oil, steam, or pressure cook, or microwave.

3.             Set aside to cool.

4.             Heat the oven to 200C, 180c fan oven 400F Gas 6.  Prepare a 20cm cake tin, alternatively bake in cupcake or muffin cases.

5.             Mash the sweet potato until smooth, if not peeled this is best done in a food processor or with a stick blender.

6.             Dates if using a food processor or stick blender there is no need to soften the dates first.  If mixing by hand, soften the dates with a tbsp of the yogurt over a medium heat stirring to form a thick hummus like consistency.

7.             Add the dates to the sweet potato with the EVOO and blend until smooth. Taste the mixture to check sweetness, add more dates or sweetener of your choice.

8.             Lightly beat the eggs and add to the potato mixture and whisk or blend together.

9.             Add the spices, lemon zest, ground almonds or alternative, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder and blend/whisk until everything is incorporated.

10.          Add the yogurt a spoonful at a time until the batter is a thick consistency that will not easily drop off a spoon.  This mixture needs to be thicker than normal cake batter otherwise it will not cook through to the middle.

11.          Stir in the nuts/seeds and stem ginger if using.

12.          Vegan Version set aside for 10-15 minutes and check the consistency again.  When happy with the consistency mix in the lemon juice or apple cider vinegar  into the mixture. This will activate the rising agents, pour the mixture into your cake tin or a cup cake or muffin cases as quickly as possible to get the most out of the rising agents.

13.          Egg Version  add the lemon juice or apple cider vinegar and stir into the batter, this will activate the rising agents pour the mixture into your cake tin or a cup cake or muffin cases as quickly as possible to get the most out of the rising agents.

14.          Cake Tin bake in the oven for 45-60 minutes.  Cover with foil for the first 30 minutes to avoid the cake going too dark on the top.  Check if cooked through and if still moist turn the oven off and leave in the cooling oven for 20-25 minutes to ensure the centre was cooked through. 

15.          Cup/Muffin Cases fill your cases and bake for 20-25 minutes.  Check if cooked through and if still moist turn the oven off and leave in the cooling oven for 10-20 minutes to ensure the centre was cooked through.

16.          The time they will take to cook will depend on the size of your case.

17.          Cook in Multi Cooker  use oven bake option and cook for 35-40 minutes.

Diane Harrison, Tester and Taster

I replaced the spices with 2 tbsp decaf instant coffee dissolved in the same amount of water.  The topping is low fat soft cheese with agave and some more coffee.

Testers and Tasters Feedback

"We love walnuts and ginger and it was delicious and scored 84 for me on Zoe."

"Really delicious and lovely texture."

"This cake was moist and light, having risen beautifully. I’ll definitely be making again."