A while ago David Lebovitz - who is one of my favorite blogger, his way of writing is so much fun to read (I also bought his book “Sweet Life in Paris”) – posted recipe of a Chocolate Beet cake which you can find here. Reading his blog post a chocolate came to my mind that my mum used to make for birthday parties when my siblings and I were little. This chocolate cake was always a big hit because of the “secret ingredient” my mom used. My mom added potatoes to this cake (don’t worry you won’t taste the potatoes in it) which makes the cake incredible moist and soft. At the same time it is not overly chocolately. Yesterday I asked my mom for the recipe, made the cake in the evening and today was the big day. After taking pictures of the cake for this blog entry, I tried the cake and oh my dear readers, I can’t tell you how good this chocolate cake is. At the same time so many memories of my childhood and my birthday parties when I was a little girl came to my mind. I can’t believe that I have not eaten this cake for more than a decade. I was missing out a lot in terms of “cake culture”.
After I had a piece of cake of this magic chocolate cake I talked to my mom on skype and I talked about this particular chocolate cake for 30 minutes. Yes, I am able to talk about a chocolate cake for half an hour I wish there were an express cake delivery because I dearly wished my mom (of course my dad as well) could try this cake.
Make my mom’s Chocolate Potato Cake and if you make the cake, let me know. I am really curious if you also think that this is the world best chocolate cake (I know, know that everybody thinks that she or her makes the best chocolate cake but don't believe this because my cake is the best one :-)and has the chance to get the title of the UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage.
Makes one cake (21 cm / 9 inch cake pan)

INGREDIENTS

  • 150 g cooked and grated potatoes
  • 100 g unsalted butter, room-temperature
  • 200 g granulated sugar
  • 3 eggs, medium size
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
  • 3-4 tablespoons unsweetened cacao powder
  • 240 g pastry flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 100 g almond flour
  • 150 ml milk
  • 100 g yogurt
  • Powdered sugar

DIRECTIONS

  • Preheat the oven to 175 °C.
  • Butter and flour a cake pan (21 cm / 9 inches)
  • Beat the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs, one after another and beat for another minute.
  • Add vanilla sugar and the cacao powder. Then add the grated potatoes.
  • Mix flour, baking powder and ground almonds. Add this together with the milk and yogurt and stir with a wooden spoon until it is mixed well (but don’t over mix the cake batter because this will make the cake dry and we want to have a moist cake).
  • Pour cake batter into the cake pan and bake for 50-60 minutes.
  • Check the cake after 50 minutes (you know every oven is different). Insert a toothpick in the middle of the cake and if it comes out clear, the cake is done. But the toothpick can be a little bit moist.
  • Let the cake cool down, then sprinkle with powdered sugar. The cake tastes best the next day.