Okay, this cake is amazing. I’ve made it at least five times just in the last few weeks. I brought it to our father’s day dinner this evening, and my father-in-law kept saying: “But I don’t even like sweet potatoes!”

This cake not only contains a large helping of good-for-you sweet potatoes, but it also doesn’t have much bad-for-you stuff either. No oil or butter, and not much sugar either! It’s wholegrain and vegan. Not quite guilt-free, but I don’t mind letting the kids have seconds. And did I mention: it tastes decadent and delicious? Oh, and the frosting is made with sweet potatoes, too.

The recipe is just very slightly adapted here from Plant-Powered Kitchen.

Ingredients

1 cup of sweet potatoes, peeled, chopped, cooked and cooled (I used a steamer)

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup maple syrup

1 T balsamic vinegar

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup spelt flour

1/4 cup sugar (original recipe calls for coconut sugar, but I couldn’t find any)

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup mini dark chocolate chips

Method

Preheat oven to 180 C or 350 F. To make a cake, grease the sides of a 9-inch cake pan (coconut oil works well) and line the bottom with baking paper. For cupcakes, put cupcake liners in your pan.

Place your cooked sweet potatoes into a blender or food processor, along with the water, maple syrup, balsamic vinegar and vanilla until it is really smooth.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, salt, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda. Add the chocolate chips.

Mix the sweet potato mixture into the dry ingredients and just until combined.

Put into the cake pan or cupcake pan and bake. About 22 minutes for the cake and 18 minutes for the cupcakes.

Makes about nine cupcakes and a fairly thin layer cake. If you want a more traditional-sized cake, double the recipe and make two cakes, then layer them.

Sweet Potato Chocolate Frosting

This frosting is so yummy, yet not so heavy and sweet as traditional frosting. The main thing is to make sure it is really smooth. It would make a pretty tasty chocolate pudding that you could just eat with a spoon! This recipe makes more than two cups, so you’re likely to have enough leftover that you can do just that.

Ingredients

1 cup peeled, cooked and cooled sweet potatoes

1/2 cup sugar (use an unrefined sugar if you can)

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup cashew butter (or blend raw cashews until very smooth)

1/4 tsp salt

1 T honey

1 tsp vanilla

2 to 5 T non-dairy milk

Method

Puree all the ingredients in a blender or food processor until very smooth.