Submitted by Marcia Van Camp
Inspired by http://www.europeancuisines.com/Ireland-Irish-Chocolate-Potato-Cake-Recipe-March-7-2009. This is a really cool website and has some other fun facts about the recipe.
You read the title correctly, there are really potatoes in this chocolate cake and it's a really, REALLY good cake, so take a chance and try it out!
No pictures for now because we ate it too fast!
Ingredients:
- 1/2 lb unsalted butter
- 2 1/3 cups / 1 pound granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 9 rounded tablespoons grated chocolate
(I used about 1 ½ bars of Ghirardelli’s milk chocolate baking bars)
- 3 tablespoons cocoa (I used dark
chocolate)
- 1 cup cooked and mashed potato (cooled,
do not add hot or warm)
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 rounded teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2/3 cup milk (I used whole milk)
Bundt pan Directions: (I didn’t use this
method)
For
preparing the pan you'll bake in:
- 1 1/2 tablespoons flour
- 1 1/2 tablespoons cocoa
First
prepare your cake pan. A tube pan like a Bundt pan works best for this recipe:
but a springform cake pan works fine too.
If using a
tube pan or Bundt pan, butter it well inside, paying particular attention to
any flutings or crevices in the pan. Then mix the flour and cocoa together and
use this mixture to flour the inside of the pan.
Springform pan Directions:
If using a
springform pan, butter it too: then line it with a circle of buttered baking
parchment for the bottom and a strip of buttered baking parchment for the
sides.
This is the
method I used because I couldn’t find my Bundt pan. It was yummy, but I think the Bundt has a
better shape for presentation.
Cake Directions:
· Preheat the oven to 350° F. Then prepare the cake
batter:
·
Grate the chocolate on a fine grater, or pulse
in a food processor, or crush with a mortar and pestle, until reduced to small
granules. The food processor is by far the easiest and fastest way: the grater
and mortar-and-pestle are more labor intensive, but produce a slightly finer
result. (I did it by hand and it took a while and because it was milk chocolate
it was messy. Next time I think I will
try the food processor).
·
When this is done, sift the flour once by
itself. Then sift it a second time with the cinnamon, baking powder and salt.
·
Cream the butter with the sugar until light and
fluffy. (Mine wasn’t light and fluffy but it looked mixed!)
·
Separate the eggs. Add the yolks, one at a time,
to the creamed mixture, beating well after each one.
·
Stir in the grated chocolate, ground almonds (optional)
and cocoa. Add the potato and stir again.
·
Add the flour alternately with the milk, beating
gently until smooth after each addition.
·
When this process is complete, whip the egg
whites until stiff but not dry. Fold the whipped egg whites carefully into the
cake mixture.
·
Spoon into the prepared springform pan or Bundt
pan / tube pan: tap gently once on the counter to settle. Bake for 1 3/4 hours.
Test for doneness with a toothpick or skewer at the end of this time: bake for
another 15 minutes if needed.
·
Remove from the oven and allow to rest in the
pan for at least twenty minutes before removing from the pan: then cool on a
rack.
·
To finish, you could dust with confectioners'
sugar but I chose to drizzle some chocolate over it.
I used the fudge sauce from this recipe, and I only
needed about ½ but I put the rest in the freezer and it’s been nice to have it
ready to go for other desserts.
Notes:
1.
The original recipe has you sieve the potatoes,
but I didn’t really know how and I didn’t have time to do it. The end result
was that I had tiny, very tiny lumps in my cake, but I actually liked them because
they made it seem like there were soft little nuts in there. I am sure the cake is awesome with sieving
BUT it’s not a deal breaker.
2.
The original recipe calls for 5 rounded Tbls ground
almonds but I excluded them in case of nut allergies. After tasting the cake, I think that almonds
would be really good and I want to try them next time.
