A Southern Grace: you could've fooled me

November 27, 2008

you could've fooled me

Yum

If I didn't make this cake with my own two hands, two feet, and left elbow, you'd have a hard time convincing me that there was sweet potato involved.


Gigi of gigi cakes and Katie of Apple and Spice have started a group specifically for cake lovers aptly named The Cake Slice. I, being a cake lover, signed on immediately. Each month a different three-layer cake is made by the members, and the chosen cake this month was Sweet Potato Cake with Chocolate Cream Frosting and Orange Filling from the book Sky High: Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes by Alicia Huntsman and Peter Wynne.

Another sweet potato cake, eh? All righty. Although I stayed true to the book's cake recipe (using sweet potatoes from my grandpa's garden), I changed up the rest. For one thing, I opted to go with my favorite frosting recipe instead of the suggested chocolate version. I'm sure none of you will be shocked to find that my favorite frosting recipe is composed of cinnamon and cream cheese, first introduced in my ode to cinnamon.

The other change was an effort to make it more Thanksgiving-friendly by using cranberry juice instead of orange juice for the filling. It didn't color the frosting as much as I had hoped, but it was a lovely little tart surprise nonetheless.


This cake was pretty darn fabulous. The sweet potato doesn't affect the flavor at all as far as I can tell, for better or for worse. It does, however, keep the crumb extremely moist, which is very important to me. The cranberry flavor is detectable, but only, I suspect, because I knew it was there. Really, the predominant flavor is cinnamon, which explains why I enjoyed the cake so much.

If you're wondering why my cake looks so dang small, it's because I only made one-third of the recipe and baked it in three mega-muffin molds. I cut each little cake in half and got two miniature three-layer cakes out of the deal. All for me.

Check out the other Cake Slice Bakers for more sweet potato goodness.

Happy Turkey Day!

46 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looks beautiful and sounds delicious!!

Pamela said...

Oh, cinnamon cream cheese frosting. What sweetness. Cake looks cute and tasty!

MaryBeth said...

It sounds and looks fabulous, I bet it taste really good too. Happy Thanksgiving!!

Anonymous said...

I'm throwing away my pies and making this!

Happy Thanksgiving.

jesse said...

Sweet potatoes? YUMMMM I'd like a slice please!

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

Look at how high that cake is too:D I am sure it was delish:D

Bunny said...

It was a wonderful cake wasn't Grace, a total surprise in that sweet potatoes in a cake could taste so darn good! Have a blessed Thanksgiving Grace!

Rosie said...

Happy Thanksgiving!!

The sweet potato cake is delish and such a lovely group to belong :) I love your frosting.

Rosie x

Noodlegirl said...

Happy Thanksgiving and that cake looks so good!

The Blonde Duck said...

It looks wonderful! Have a happy Thanksgiving and hopefully lots of cinnamon is coming your way!

Y said...

Mini me cakes! Very cute :)
That macabre sesame street cartoon reminds me of the time I heard my boyfriend mutter in his sleep, "Big bird... like an ostrich". I woke him up from laughing so hard.

Anonymous said...

I love it! Cut layer cake food porn-absolutely fabulous and yes the cinnamon frosting is not a surprise ;)

Anonymous said...

I didn't have time to bake this month's cake - and now I'm sorry!

This looks so fantastically dense - wow!

test it comm said...

That cake looks amazing!

LyB said...

Look at that frosting! Wow, that looks good! And that "big bird" is too funny. :)

kat said...

I've been interested in trying this cake but your version with the cranberries & cinnamon makes me REALLY interested

Sara said...

This looks so good, I love sweet potatoes.

OhioMom said...

Looks yummy! The sweet potato is so versatile :)

Ingrid_3Bs said...

Happy Thanksgiving to you!

That frosting sounds so good! Speaking of frosting I made your Pecan Praline frosting from the sweet spud cake. Now that was some yummy frosting! I poured it over the cake while it was still warm so it soaked into my bundt cake which made it even better! Thanks for sharing the recipe!
~ingrid

Lore said...

It looks very moist indeed! Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving Grace :)

anudivya said...

Never heard of sweet potato in a cake. Looks great.

Pam said...

Looks fantastic Grace. The frosting looks so darn good.

vanillasugarblog said...

I'm a cinnnnnnnammmon lover too. This clearly rocks the house.

Marjie said...

I'd love a cake "all for me!" This looks wonderfully moist and delectable!

Hope your Thanksgiving was a great one!

Lori said...

I have been wanting to make a sweet potato cake for a while. I must try it!

Unknown said...

I love sweet potatoes we had them for thanksgiving!

I made a sweet potato cassarole for my fiance's parents yesterday to impress them ever since he proposed to me with a gorgeous diamond engagement ring from www.idonowidont.com and it was a success.

They loved it, but next year I will have to try this cake next year, what a great idea!

Heather said...

yum! what a great way to use sweet potatoes :) the cake is beautiful. i love the use of cranberry juice! hope you had a great turkey day :)

Jacque said...

Oh my gosh, that cinnamon icing sounds like something I would LOVE. Nice job!

giz said...

Aye yay yay - look at all that buttercream. I think they should create a song called "A Hundred Ways to use your Sweet Potato" - when did it get to be the popular girl at the party and look so good?

Anonymous said...

I've never heard of a sweet potato cake, but with a cake looking like that, I don't think I'd give a care in the world even if you told me they were made from broccoli. yuMMy!

Sophie said...

Using cranberry juice instead was an awesome idea, so was going with the cinnamon frosting! :)

What a cute little Thanksgiving image! I miss Sesame Street :P! I hope you had a wonderful turkey day :)!

Maria said...

I love sweet potatoes on their own so I am sure they are even better in a cake!! Looks great!

Mike of Mike's Table said...

That sounds like a great seasonal twist on that cake, which sounds delicious and definitely has your touch to it (cinnamon!). I'd happily gobble that right up--anything with sweet potato in it gets high marks in my book

Shari said...

Poor Big Bird! Love your twist on this cake! Cinnamon and cream cheese - yum!

The Blonde Duck said...

Grace,

Can you e-mail me your address? I have a little sussy I'd like to send your way. mirkoerner@gmail.com. Thanks!

Emily said...

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

The cake looks so scrumptious. I'm a fan of the sweet potato.

Pearl said...

oh how adorable!

Tabitha Blue said...

Ok, now that is a cake! It looks so good, and I feel like I can taste that frosting... cinnamon and cream cheese, yum!

I love the idea of three little ones all to myself! ;)

Anonymous said...

Great cake Grace! The close up on the frosting really has me yearning for a big lick!
I love cake too and it's really the only dessert that I crave!
We love your ode to cinnamon and have some really cool Viet cinnamon waiting for ya....give us your addy!

Katie said...

You fooled me with the picture but the description sounds amazing.

Deborah said...

It looks beautiful!! Cream cheese and cinnamon? I'm sold!

Anonymous said...

ahhh, a perfect combination! cream cheese and cinnamon frosting sounds so much better than chocolate and I love the idea of a small tall cake with thick gooey frosting...

Robin said...

Waaaaa they ate Big Bird! I forgot all about that fantasitc cake when I saw they cooked up Big Bird, I knew they had it in for him!!

Vera said...

Moist and delicious looking cake,Grace!

TeaLady said...

Don't you just love joining a new baking 'club'. Your cake looks good enuff to dip into and just stay there.

Thanks for visiting.

Jeanne said...

What a clever use of your mega-muffin tins! I love the indulgent idea of a triple-layer cake for one!

I've made sweet potato muffins before and they do keep the texture very moist and delicious :)