Sweet potato pound cake conjures thoughts of autumn

Posted on Tue, Jan 19, 2010 : 10:41 a.m.

Sweet potato pound cake conjures thoughts of autumn

By Erin Mann

Erin Mann is baking a new cake every week for a year from the "All Cakes Considered" cookbook and shares her adventures here on Ann Arbor.com. Read past columns here.

One taste and you may pass on pumpkin pie next Thanksgiving.

Photo by Amy Mann

Missy G's Sweet Potato Pound Cake reminds me of my favorite time of year. Oh how I miss the autumn season and all the wonderful things it brings! Thoughts of pumpkin patches, apple orchards and fallen leaves filled my head as I baked this cake. The holidays are officially over, but this cake makes me want to turn back the clock to November. A slice of this cake would be the perfect end to a big Thanksgiving meal.

One of the highlights of this cake is a sweet and nutty crumbly topping.

Photo by Amy Mann

This cake could also be called Takes A Lot of Time Cake. Time consuming? Yes. Worth every minute? You bet! It required that I roast and mash 4 medium sweet potatoes which would later be added to the batter. I started to mash the sweet potatoes with a fork because I don't own a potato masher but this proved to be a test of my patience and my strength. (Note to self: purchase potato masher!) After a few frustrating minutes of fork-mashing I opted to rest my poor arms and move on to Plan B, as in blender. I pureed the roughly mashed sweet potatoes in the blender, which made them smooth and easy to incorporate into the batter. Four medium sweet potatoes yielded about 3 1/2 cups mashed. The recipe called for 2 cups and I reserved the rest to be eaten later.

Diced granny smith apples add additional flavor and moisture to the cake.

Erin Mann | Contributor

My younger sister paid me a visit the day I made this cake. Naturally, she arrived when the cake was cooling. Where was she during the mashing?! I could have used the extra muscle! She made it up to me by stepping in as photographer and taking some great shots of the cake.

One of the most fun things about my cake project so far is sharing - the act of sharing cake with others and also sharing stories, baking tips, cake critiques, etc. I invite you to bake your own Missy G's Sweet Potato Pound Cake and share your baking experiences with me.

Erin Mann is a new contributor to AnnArbor.com. She is baking a new cake every week for a year from the "All Cakes Considered" cookbook. Email her at SheGotTheBeat@gmail.com or follow her on Twitter.

Comments

Fri, Mar 26, 2010 : 7:30 p.m.

I do plan to bake the cakes in the order of the book. Before now I have shunned the kitchen but my love of anything cake and this book have led me to invade territory previously ruled by my boyfriend. He gets a lot of cake so he has not complained too much!

Mon, Mar 22, 2010 : 10:38 a.m.

I was excited to find your column on the web and have been following your posts from your cake journey. I found you because I was looking for pictures of key lime cake because I couldn't find a picture of it in "All Cakes Considered". I have just finished the 3rd cake and love reading about your adventures after I've had mine! I had really good luck with the sweet potatoes and the mashing piece but they took way longer to bake than Melissa Grey had written in her book. I had the same problem with my oven that you had too and the best purchase I've made was an oven themometer! Fantastic work and pictures!

Angela Smith

Wed, Jan 20, 2010 : 11:03 a.m.

I recently discovered a recipe for sweet potato bread that I make in leiu of banana bread sometimes. such a yummy way to sneak in veggies!

Linda Wiedmayer

Tue, Jan 19, 2010 : 3:15 p.m.

I love apple cake so would bet I'd like this one.