Bolo De Batata Doce (Sweet potato cake)

Every time I see her,
Bea makes this oh so sweet,
Oh so good to eat,
knock me off my feet,
Sweet Potato Pie!

It tastes so delicious,
It is oh so nutritious.
I become very suspicious
because the taste is somehow capricious.
I love that Sweet Potato Pie!

It has a golden brown crust
that never leaves me in disgust.
When I place a piece in my mouth,
It tastes so moist.
Oh how I love that Sweet Potato Pie!

Kiera R Lewis

Ingredients

1 Kg Sweet Potatoes cooked and cooled 
250 gm butter or margarine at room temperature
400 grams sugar
6 whole eggs at room temperature
1/2 cup flour
1 level teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup milk

Method

Note: I cooked my sweet potatoes the night before so they were completely cool when I prepared the cake.

Place the sweet potatoes in a microwave safe dish .  Pierce all over with a fork or a sharp knife.  Add water up to 1/2 inch up the sides.  Microwave covered for approximately 20 minutes on high power till very soft when pierced.   

 The sweet potato will just come away from the skin easily.  Remove the pulp and put in a bowl.

Mash the potato with a fork till smooth. Set aside

Discard the skin.

Preheat the oven to 375 F

Line and grease a 9 inch spring form pan


Cream the butter and the sugar until light and creamy.  I do this is a food processor with the cutting blades. Cut the butter into smaller pieces to make the blending easier.

Beat the eggs in one at a time.

Use up all the eggs

At this time I transfer my mixture to a large mixing bowl because the bowl of my food processor is not big enough to hold the entire batter.  You can continue in the food processor if your bowl is big enough.

Add the mashed/creamed potatoes.  Mix well.

Stir in flour and baking powder which has been mixed well with a whisk.  Mix again till well blended.

Finally add the milk a tablespoon at a time so that you have the consistency of a cake batter. I used only a quarter cup of milk because my batter reached a good pouring consistency.


Pour into a lined and greased spring form pan.I like to use a spring form pan because it is so easy to remove the cake.

Try to smooth the top as best as you can.  Put the cake pan on a lined baking tray to prevent leakage if using a spring form pan like I did.

Bake for 1 hour until the center comes out almost clean when pierced with a tooth pick or skewer.
Check the cake after 45 minutes to make sure the top is not burning. I placed a piece of foil gently on the top of the cake after it browned and continued the cooking process till it was fully cooked.

The indicator that the cake is done is when it no longer jiggles and is a nice caramelized brown on the top ( not burnt).  Touching it lightly on the top yields a firm touch not a softness, or jiggle.

Remove the cake when done and let cool completely in the pan before removing.  As you can see the sheet at the bottom collected any oozing from the cake pan, thus protecting my oven from a major clean-up.

The cake has a nice soft pie-like texture so do not be alarmed if the cake does not have the crumb-like texture of other cakes.

Approximate nutrition value per serving based on 16 servings

• Calories 253.9
• Total Fat 13.4 g
• Saturated Fat 7.9 g
• Polyunsaturated Fat 0.8 g
• Monounsaturated Fat 3.7 g
• Cholesterol 101.0 mg
• Sodium 116.0 mg
• Potassium 111.7 mg
• Total Carbohydrate 31.4 g
• Dietary Fiber 0.6 g
• Sugars 26.2 g
• Protein3.3 g