Brown Sugar and Sweet Potato Bundt Cake

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I would so love to tell you that I'm set for the upcoming holiday, but that would be a stretch of such magnitude that even Old Nick would blush. Truth is, I still have no idea how many people will be seated at my table, much less what I'm going to feed them, and until that gets sorted out my motto is going to be "Let them eat cake." Fortunately, I've been experimenting with a handful of cakes that are so good you could make a meal out of them. This one would actually contribute to the vegetable component of the meal. The recipe comes from The Washington Post and those of you who give it a try will really be delighted. I happen to love this cake and it will be making repeated appearances on my fall and winter table. It is a well-spiced cake that gets its moisture from pureed sweet potatoes or pumpkin. While I have never seen pureed sweet potatoes in markets around here, I wanted to follow the recipe as it was written, so I boiled and pureed the potatoes needed to make the cake rather than use canned pumpkin puree. The cake has a moist crumb and a slightly crisped crust that gives it fabulous texture. It is a good keeper, and while it might be too heavy to serve at the end of a big meal, it would make a perfect company or snack cake for the remainder of the holiday weekend. I really hope you'll try this one. While I can't tell you the cake is good for you, I can tell you that sweet potatoes were once the main source of nourishment for homesteaders and soldiers during the Revolutionary War. That has to count for something. Here is how the cake is made.


Brown Sugar Sweet Potato Bundt Cake...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of the Washington Post

Ingredients:
3 cups flour
1-3/4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt, preferably fine sea salt
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1-1/2 cups firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
3 tablespoons light molasses
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
15 ounces canned sweet potato or pumpkin puree
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 10-inch Bundt pan with flour-and-oil cooking spray.
2) Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and cloves onto a sheet of wax paper.
3) Beat butter in bowl of a stand mixer or hand-held electric mixer on medium speed for 4 minutes, or until quite creamy. Stop to scrape down bowl.
4) Add dark brown sugar in three additions, beating for 1 minute after each one. Add granulated sugar and beat for 1 minute longer. Beat in eggs one at a time, mixing for 30 seconds after each addition, to blend. Stop to scrape down bowl. Blend in molasses and vanilla extract on low speed.
5) Add sweet potato puree and beat on low speed to incorporate. The mixture might look slightly curdled at this point, but it will smooth out once the sifted mixture is introduced. Continuing on low speed, add sifted mixture in three additions, stopping to scrape down bowl after each one and mixing just until absorbed.
6) Spoon batter into the prepared baking pan. Use a rubber spatula to smooth the top. Bake for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in the cake emerges clean. The baked cake will pull away slightly from the sides of the baking pan. Transfer cake pan to a wire cooling rack to cool for 10 minutes, then invert cake onto a separate cooling rack and remove the pan. Cool completely. Store in an airtight cake keeper. Sift confectioners' sugar on top of cake before slicing and serving. Yield: 10 to 12 servings.

                    

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