Sweet Potato Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Icing

This is officially my most favourite cake recipe ever. That is a big deal coming from me, because I've made a lot of cakes and I'm very picky about them. Before this I'd say banana was probably my absolute favourite, because if it's fabulous flavour, texture and moistness and I could eat toasted banana bread nearly everyday if I was able to. But this one wins hands down. I know, I can hear your doubts; sweet potato in a cake?! Really? How does that even work? This is exactly the type of scepticism I was met with whenever I mentioned this idea to any of my friends. But then I made it, and oh boy did they eat their words.

This cake was officially dubbed the 'I can't believe it's not Carrot Cake!" because its colour and moistness had so many people in the office convinced it was a really great carrot cake. There were gasps of shock and I think I even got a euphoric hug from a workmate after I explained the cake to them.

The cake on its own is not very sweet and surprisingly light and fluffy. You wouldn't expect it because it is a heavy mother of a cake. My tupperware was groaning with the weight of all the cake slices I stuffed into it. It's sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo moist and the exterior becomes amazingly crunchy and golden and I pretty much cut the entire top (err well the bottom since it was a bundt pan) and ate it straight out of the oven because it tasted so good. The maple syrup cream cheese icing was the perfect match for the cake. It was sweet and creamy and rich with the flavour of maple syrup. You could use the icing for anything, and I also think this entire recipe would make a fantastic cupcake.

Sweet Potato Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Icing
(based on this recipe from Epicurious)
For the cake:
2-3 fairly large red sweet potatoes (enough to make 2 cups cooked & mashed)
2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

For the icing:
125g cream cheese, softened
200g icing sugar
1 tbsp maple syrup

Peel and chop your sweet potatoes into even sized chunks. Bring a medium pot of water to boil and boil the sweet potatoes until they are very tender (about 15 mins). Drain and mash well with a fork and then set aside to cool.

Preheat oven to 160°C (325°F). Sift flour, cinnamon, ginger, baking powder, baking soda and salt into medium bowl. Measure enough mashed sweet potatoes to equal 2 cups. Transfer to large bowl. Add sugar and oil to sweet potatoes; using electric mixer, beat until smooth. Add eggs 2 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour mixture; beat just until blended. Beat in vanilla.

Transfer batter to prepared pan. Bake cake until tester inserted near center comes out clean, about 1 hour 5 minutes. Cool cake in pan on rack 15 minutes.

Using small knife, cut around sides of pan and center tube to loosen cake. Turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

Prepare the icing while your cake cools; place cream cheese in a medium mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer until smooth. Sift icing sugar into the mixing bowl and beat well. Add maple syrup gradually while continuing to beat the mixture until you reach the desired consistency.

It was about 1 tbsp of maple syrup for me but you can put more or less depending on how you prefer it. PLEASE don't use that horrible fake maple syrup stuff, I will cry if you do! Use a spatula to spread icing over the top of your cake.

Finally, drizzle about a teaspoon of extra maple syrup over the top of the icing. *Drool*

I think the only downside about the recipe is how long it took to bake, I got so impatient waiting for it that I must have tested it with a skewer about 15 times. I also couldnt resist slicing little bits off the bottom of it while waiting for it to cool because it was so yummy! The long baking time is why I'm going to try these as cupcakes next time :) It really surprised me how great the texture was considering all the sweet potato in it, it wasn't starchy at all and you could see little orange flecks of potato all through the cake. It's so moreish, I was originally going to share it with everyone in the office but several greedy friends of mine (and myself) ended up eating something like 3 pieces each! Oh well, as long as it was enjoyed thoroughly, it doesn't really matter!