This was one of those cakes that I wanted to try for a long, long time...but never got around to making it. Either for lack of the main ingredient, sweet potato or just plain laziness. One evening, sitting out in the verandah with mum, I happened to mention something about this cake. Mum was intrigued and the very next day she got some sweet potatoes for me. Even then, it took me a few more days to get myself together and go bake. The cake is definitely on the boozier side, and that got my dad's and my vote. The original recipe called for rum plumped golden raisins. And since I had run out of raisins, I used dates instead.
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| any cake that has rum and dates makes for a brilliant treat... don't you think? |
Grease the bundt tin and dust with flour...
Beat some eggs and sugar till light and frothy and nearly doubled in volume.
Add the rest of the wet ingredients and then...
Fold in the mashed and boiled sweet potato alternating with the dry ingredients and combine.
Pour batter into prepared pan and bake...
Ok...now you have to remember that we had no electricity at home because the transformer blew up in flames. And the cake had to be baked in a gas oven that definitely belongs in the Victorian era! It's temperamental and dysfunctional. Enough to give any baker the heebie-jeebies! But still, my mum wouldn't give up, she said lets give it a try and allow the cake to bake at a lower temperature but for slightly longer than the time specified by the recipe. The lower temperature is because the oven refuses to go beyond 150-165 degrees Celcius. And after all that explanation I present to you the slightly burnt cake...but don't hold it against me, blame the neanderthal gas oven!
Here's a slice...
This recipe makes a very large cake, so there's plenty for everyone. Share a slice of the cake with family and friends on a cold evening with a cup of steaming coffee!
Sweet Potato Bundt Cake with Rum-Spiked Dates
makes a very large cake, serves 16-20
recipe adapted from Mary Allen at http://whisktogether.wordpress.com/
Ingredients
3/4 cup dates, chopped into bits1/3 cup dark rum, plus more if needed ( I always need more)
3 cups flour, plus more for the pan
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus extra for salting the water ( I used flaked sea salt, you can use table salt if you don't have it)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
3 large sweet potatoes (I didn't use 3, I find that 2 large ones are more than enough)
4 large eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup buttermilk (make your own by adding 3/4 tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice to 3/4 cup of milk and allow to stand for 5 minutes before using in your recipe).
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 10 inch bundt pan.
2. For 30 minutes or so, soak the dates in the rum. Sift together the flour, baking powder, soda, salt and spices.
3. Prep the sweet potatoes while the dates are soaking: peel and cut into 1″ pieces. Boil in a large pot of water until tender. Pour them into a colander to drain. Next, mash them and measure out 2 cups. I would suggest passing the pulp through a fine mesh strainer, so you don't get any of the fibers in your cake.
4. With your mixer (use a whisk attachment if available), beat eggs and sugar together until light and fluffy – about 2 minutes. Add vegetable oil and vanilla.
5. Drain dates BUT keep the liquid!!! Add 1/4 cup of that drained liquid to the batter (I added all of it). Add the 2 cups of sweet potato mash to the batter. Mix to combine.
6. Next, you are going to do the alternating method. This is when you add about one third of the flour. Then, half the buttermilk. Another 1/3 of the flour. The other half of the buttermilk. Finally, end with the rest of the flour.
7. Fold in the soaked dates. Pour into your bundt pan and bake for 80 minutes (about 50 minutes into the baking time, cover he top of the cake with aluminum foil to prevent the top from burning) . Cool 10 minutes and then turn upside down onto a wire rack. Allow to cool completely before cutting and serving the cake.
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons whipping cream
1 tablespoon reserved rum from cake recipe
To make the Glaze: In a saucepan mix the sugar, butter and cream. Bring to a boil and then let it boil another 3 minutes. Take the pan off of the heat. Add 1 Tbsp. of the reserved rum or fresh if you ran out.
Using a toothpick (or skewers because they are longer), poke a bunch of holes into the cake. Drizzle 1/3 of the glaze on the warm cake. Now wait 15 minutes. Add the rest of the glaze. Now, let the cake cool completely.
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 10 inch bundt pan.
2. For 30 minutes or so, soak the dates in the rum. Sift together the flour, baking powder, soda, salt and spices.
3. Prep the sweet potatoes while the dates are soaking: peel and cut into 1″ pieces. Boil in a large pot of water until tender. Pour them into a colander to drain. Next, mash them and measure out 2 cups. I would suggest passing the pulp through a fine mesh strainer, so you don't get any of the fibers in your cake.
4. With your mixer (use a whisk attachment if available), beat eggs and sugar together until light and fluffy – about 2 minutes. Add vegetable oil and vanilla.
5. Drain dates BUT keep the liquid!!! Add 1/4 cup of that drained liquid to the batter (I added all of it). Add the 2 cups of sweet potato mash to the batter. Mix to combine.
6. Next, you are going to do the alternating method. This is when you add about one third of the flour. Then, half the buttermilk. Another 1/3 of the flour. The other half of the buttermilk. Finally, end with the rest of the flour.
7. Fold in the soaked dates. Pour into your bundt pan and bake for 80 minutes (about 50 minutes into the baking time, cover he top of the cake with aluminum foil to prevent the top from burning) . Cool 10 minutes and then turn upside down onto a wire rack. Allow to cool completely before cutting and serving the cake.
Glaze
The recipe does call for a glaze, but I did not make it. Firstly because I was so tired from all the mixing by hand and watching out so the Victorian era gas oven didn't burn my cake ( which it managed to do anyway!) and mainly because I felt the cake was quite sweet on it's own and didn't need any more help from the glaze, or it'd be overpoweringly sweet and will put most anybody in a Diabetic Coma!!! But if you still feel you need it here's the recipe...
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons whipping cream
1 tablespoon reserved rum from cake recipe
To make the Glaze: In a saucepan mix the sugar, butter and cream. Bring to a boil and then let it boil another 3 minutes. Take the pan off of the heat. Add 1 Tbsp. of the reserved rum or fresh if you ran out.
Using a toothpick (or skewers because they are longer), poke a bunch of holes into the cake. Drizzle 1/3 of the glaze on the warm cake. Now wait 15 minutes. Add the rest of the glaze. Now, let the cake cool completely.
*The glaze should be poured on a warm cake, not a cooled cake.
Enjoy with a hot cup of coffee!
Until next time,
Happy Baking!!!
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