Recipe: Spiced Sweet Potato Bundt Cakes (makes 2 mini cakes)

SPICED SWEET POTATO BUNDT CAKES
(makes 2 mini cakes)

Debby Maugans Nakos - "I grew up in a household where sweet potatoes routinely found their way into breads and desserts - they weren't reserved just for Thanksgiving dinner. Here they make a very moist and flavorful cake with a beautiful color. The brown-sugar icing adds the perfect finish. Baked in miniature Bundt pans, they look, as a friend suggested, like doll's cakes. I sometimes garnish them with organically grown pansies, which are abundant in pots on my front porch during the fall. They are just beautiful."


"Since the sweet potato needs to bake for about an hour before you can use it in the cake, you might want to bake it ahead. Or bake an extra if they are on the menu for dinner. If you remove the skin, the flesh can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for three days before you use it."

FOR THE CAKE:
1 small sweet potato (about 8 ounces)
Unsalted butter, at room temperature, for greasing the molds
1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour, plus more for flouring the molds
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
Yolk of 1 large egg
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
FOR THE ICING:
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup whipping (heavy) cream
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
PAN REQUIRED:
1 mini Bundt pan with six (1 cup each) molds*

TO MAKE THE CAKES:
Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Rinse the sweet potato well and pat it dry with paper towels, then prick it several times with a fork. Place the sweet potato in a baking dish and bake until it is very tender, about 1 hour. Transfer the sweet potato to a wire rack to cool completely. Leave the oven on.
Peel the sweet potato and mash the flesh until it is free of lumps. Measure 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons of mashed sweet potato and place it in a medium-size mixing bowl. If there is any remaining nibble on it while you prepare the cakes.

Thoroughly grease 2 miniature Bundt molds (see Note) and dust them with flour, tapping out the excess. Set the Bundt pan aside.

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and salt together into a small bowl. Set aside.

Add the sugar, oil, egg yolk, and vanilla to the mashed sweet potato and whisk until the mixture is smooth. Add the flour mixture to the sweet potato mixture, and whisk just until the dry ingredients are moistened.

Spoon the batter into the prepared Bundt molds, dividing it evenly between them. Fill the empty Bundt molds halfway with water to prevent them from scorching.

Bake the cakes until a toothpick inserted into one of them, between the center and the outside of the mold, comes out clean, 15 to 20 minutes.

Remove the Bundt pan from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes. Then carefully pour the water out of the extra Bundt molds. Place a large plate over the Bundt pan, and using potholders to hold the plate securely, invert the Bundt cakes onto the plate. Transfer the cakes to the rack to cool completely.

TO MAKE THE ICING:
Sift the confectioners' sugar into a medium-size mixing bowl. Place the brown sugar, cream, and butter in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly until the butter melts and the sugar dissolves. Let the mixture boil for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove the saucepan from the heat and pour the mixture over the confectioners' sugar. Whisk in the vanilla, and continue whisking until the icing is light in color and smooth. Let the icing cool, whisking it often, until it is lukewarm and thick enough to fall from a spoon in ribbons, about 20 minutes.

Spoon the icing thickly over the cakes, allowing it to drip down the sides. Let the cakes rest until the icing is firm, about 1 hour.

*Miniature Bundt molds come in pans of 6, like a jumbo muffin pan. They are available at kitchenware stores.

Makes 2 cakes; serves 2
Used by permission to Recipelink.com from Workman Publishing
Source: Small-Batch Baking by Debby Maugans Nakos