I know I said I would avoid gorging myself on sweet potatoes this early into fall.

But using sweet potatoes to make cake is totally acceptable, correct? This way, you can indulge yourself while still eating vegetables, and I think everyone should get behind that.

Sweet Potato, Chocolate, and Hazelnut Cake | Things I Made Today

But let’s get real, this is still cake, so don’t think I’m going to skimp on the chocolate. And I’m all for adding hazelnuts just to give the cake an even deeper flavor.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a fall cake without the addition of your traditional fall spices: cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, and ground ginger. No need to go out and get something pumpkin flavored from Starbucks. This is far better.

Sweet Potato, Chocolate, and Hazelnut Cake | Things I Made Today

Sweet Potato, Chocolate, and Hazelnut Cake | Things I Made Today

Sweet Potato, Chocolate, and Hazelnut Cake | Things I Made Today

My original idea with the sweet potato and chocolate layers was to swirl them together and have them mixed in the middle. I made this version of the cake for a dinner party, but something just wasn’t quite right.

Sweet Potato, Chocolate, and Hazelnut Cake | Things I Made Today

I remade the cake, this time using a bundt pan (because everything looks fancier in a bundt pan), and decided to pour the chocolate layer on top. Fact: bundt cakes get flipped, so whatever you want on top should go in first. Ooops.

Halfway through spreading the sweet potato layer I realized that I’m making the cake upside down, but that’s no matter, as it still turned out delicious. I just couldn’t bare to make a third cake (and eat it all) just to get this one little piece right. You get the point, right?

Sweet Potato, Chocolate, and Hazelnut Cake | Things I Made Today

Sweet Potato, Chocolate, and Hazelnut Cake
Author: 
Recipe type: Dessert
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 6-8
 
Ingredients
  • 1-2 sweet potatoes, peeled, resulting in 1 cup mashed
  • ¾ cup canola oil
  • 2 eggs
  • 1½ cup all purpose flour
  • ¾ cup granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
  • ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ cup hazelnuts, finely chopped
  • 2 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ¼ cup half and half
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350.
  2. Bring a medium sized pot of water to boil. Add peeled sweet potato and boil until potato is soft. Drain and let cool slightly, then mash. Measure out 1 cup.
  3. In a large bowl, beat together mashed sweet potatoes and canola oil. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat until well blended.
  4. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ground ginger, ground cloves, nutmeg, and salt.
  5. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the sweet potato mixture, mixing until well combined. Finally, add chopped hazelnuts.
  6. Using a double boiler pot (or two pots stacked together), fill the bottom pot with 2 inches of water. In the top pot, combine chocolate, vanilla extract, and half and half. Turn heat on high and bring water in bottom pot to a boil, stirring the chocolate mixture until it's fully melted. Remove from heat.
  7. Transfer ⅓ of the sweet potato mixture to melted chocolate and mix until fully blended.
  8. Butter the bottom of a 10 inch bundt cake pan. Pour chocolate mixture in and spread evenly. Next, pour sweet potato mixture in. Bake for 45 minutes. Test to make sure the thickest part is done. Let cool slightly before flipping.

 

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