My series on baking with vegetables is nearing its end, but I could not ignore the humble potato in this endeavor. And so I give you this chocolate potato cake recipe that I found online. While the potato is a very common thing, it certainly doesn't get treated that way here, with this recipe calling for "Dutch process" cocoa powder and instant coffee granules. Fortunately at a recent trip to the store, I discovered a "new item", the very Dutch process cocoa powder required and made the wise decision to go ahead and buy it despite the hefty $10 price tag. (Actually, it wasn't a wise decision as much as an impulse purchase and the kind that I am most prone to indulging in when faced with new and unusual baking goods). Not knowing what the difference is, I did a quick search and learned at JoyOfBaking.com that:

"Dutch-Processed or Alkalized Unsweetened Cocoa Powder is treated with an alkali to neutralize its acids. Because it is neutral [it] does not react with baking soda, [and] it must be used in recipes calling for baking powder, unless there are other acidic ingredients in sufficient quantities used. [N]atural cocoa (an acid) is used in recipes calling for baking soda (an alkali), [because] it creates a leavening action that causes the batter to rise when placed in the oven."

Well, no one could claim I didn't learn anything new today.

Chocolate Potato Cake
From Stephanie Zonis at GlobalGourmet.com

• 1 cup hot, unseasoned mashed potatoes (no lumps!)
• 1 cup lukewarm water
• 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder
• 2-1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• Optional: 2 teaspoons instant coffee granules
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• Optional: 1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
• 2/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 4 large eggs

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350°F
• Place mashed potatoes into medium bowl and with a small whisk, gradually stir in water to form a smooth mixture; do not beat mixture excessively. Cool to lukewarm.
• In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, optional coffee granules, baking soda, and salt.
• If using the miniature chocolate chips, place them in a small bowl with about 1 tablespoon of the sifted dry ingredients and stir well until chips are coated.
• Set aside.
• In large bowl of electric mixer (fitted with paddle beater, if available) cream butter, sugar, and vanilla.
• Add eggs, 2 at a time, beating in at a low speed until well blended.
• At lowest speed, add sifted dry ingredients in 3 additions and mashed potato-water mixture in two additions, beginning and ending with dry ingredients and beating after each addition just until blended.
• Batter may still appear curdled after all ingredients have been added -— OK. Remove bowl from mixer.
• If using the chips, fold them in now, along with any remaining sifted dry ingredients until evenly distributed.
• Pour and spread batter into a greased and floured 9x13 cake pan.
• Bake in preheated oven 27 to 32 minutes, turning pan back-to-front once about halfway during baking. Cake is done when toothpick inserted near center emerges with a few moist crumbs still clinging to it. Do not overbake!

About this recipe: I felt that this recipe was kind of a lot of work. I think you could make things easier by using instant mashed potato flakes to make your mashed potato water. I actually boiled some potatoes on the stove and then riced them to make sure there were no lumps. So that's partly why I think this seemed to be an overly time consuming recipe. Also, my kitchen wasn't entirely in order while I made this and that always makes me not enjoy the process as much. If I had been a little more methodical in my process, I think I would find this recipe only slightly more difficult than your average cake recipe, so don't be put off by my whining.

Creaming the butter sugar and vanilla together went smoothly and I enjoyed the direction to add eggs "two at a time:" how bold. As usual, I was stingy on the sugar since 2 cups is a lot. I think you could safely get away with 1 1/2 cups. I added my dry-wet-dry-wet-dry in more like a dry-wet-dry-wet-dry-wet-dry manner and found that my batter didn't appeared curdled at all, so chances are yours won't either if you measure accurately. The batter was smooth and thick and quite tasty.

Despite actually setting out the chocolate chips and dusting them with some of the dry mixture, I decided at the last minute not to include them. The batter was rich and sweet enough and I doubted that more chocolate would make this cake any better.

I am now uterly convinced that pam with flour is the best cooking spray on Earth so I've given up greasing and flouring pans myself. I baked my cake for a total of 34 minutes. The cake cools as I blog so I can't speak to the result. I am optimistic, however. I think I will update my entry tomorrow and let you know how it turned out.