Chocolate Chip-Sweet Potato Loaf

Here's the dessert recipe of the week. But is it dessert? Or is it a bread? Or is it a side? WTF? It has piles of sugar like dessert. But so do some breads, but it's shaped like a bread. It doesn't have meat but it does have sweet potatoes in it! It's a little confusing. But yeah, it was classified as a bread by the magazine so I'll roll with that. I'm certain dessert would be an equal classification.

Chocolate Chip-Sweet Potato Loaf
from Cooking Club, Fall 2013
click to print

1 16-oz sweet potato, peeled, halved lengthwise
1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 1/3 c sugar
6 tbsp canola oil
2 eggs
2 tsp grated orange peel
1/3 c orange juice
1/2 c mini chocolate chips
1/2 c chopped pecans

Glaze
1 to 1 1/4 c powdered sugar
2 tbsp orange juice
2 tsp mini chocolate chips

Place sweet potato on microwave-safe plate. Microwave, covered, on high 8-10 minutes or until tender.


Using fork or potato masher, mash sweet potato until smooth (or puree in food processor). Reserve 1 cup; save any remaining sweet potato for another use.


Meanwhile, heat oven to 350°F for a metal pan or 325°F for a glass dish.

Spray 9x5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray; line bottom with parchment paper. Spray paper; dust with flour, tapping out excess.

There was way more flour left stuck to the parchment than I'd normally leave on it but I was afraid to bang on it too hard and have the parchment fall out. That's only a concern since I do my pan banging over the sink which may or may not have piles of crap in it.

Whisk flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, allspice, nutmeg, cloves, and baking powder in medium bowl.


Beat sugar and oil in large bowl at medium-low speed 30 seconds or until blended.


Add eggs one at a time, beating until blended.


Beat in orange peel and orange juice.


Beat in sweet potato.


At low speed, beat in flour mixture.


Stir in chocolate chips and pecans; pour into pan.


Bake 60-65 minutes or until top springs back when gently touched and skewer inserted in center comes out clean.

The loaf was baked 60 minutes, checked, and baked another few minutes.

Cool in pan on wire rack 10 minutes. Invert onto wire rack; turn top-side up. Cool completely.


Meanwhile, whisk 1 cup powdered sugar with orange juice in small bowl, adding additional powdered sugar to desired glaze consistency.

I used 1 cup of powdered sugar.

Drizzle over bread; sprinkle with mini chocolate chips. Let stand until set.

Oof! I didn't realize until after I started drizzling that the glaze was thick. I like very fine drizzles, not huge wide ones. If they're going to be huge wide ones I may as well spread it with a spatula. Considering that, I realized I'd only make it look worse since it was starting to set up almost immediately.


Yup, it's a bread/dessert! It's good! You could have it for breakfast, dessert, a sweet snack. While I'm not one who gets all worried over weight/size and calories/number of zits on my face, I don't believe this is a side dish just because potatoes are included.

I used mini-chips throughout; my rationale was that if I was going to buy a bag of them for a couple teaspoons to sprinkle on top I may as well use them throughout. I think that was wise. The chocolate tid-bits were nicely dispersed throughout. Next time I'll use chopped chocolate of a better quality if I can't find better quality mini-chips. I'm not into sugar chips disguised as chocolate chips.

Now, what to do with the extra yam mash?

Cost:

• sweet potato: $1.07
• all-purpose flour: $0.12
• sugar: $0.32
• canola oil: $0.64
• eggs: $0.65
• orange: $0.68
• mini chocolate chips: $0.53
• powdered sugar: $0.27

Total: $4.28 or about $0.27 for each of 16 thin slices.

Apple-Cream Cheese Bundt Cake

Continuing my hunt for new recipes to utilize the pumpkin puree in my freezer, I came across this one and looking so pretty, I had to try it. Apples and cream cheese in a bundt cake? Oh yeah, let's go.

The original recipe photo had coursely chopped pecans on top of the cake but the recipe didn't call for them. I fixed that. Otherwise, I executed the recipe as specified.

Apple-Cream Cheese Bundt Cake
from MyRecipes.com
click to print

CREAM CHEESE FILLING
1 (8-oz.) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 c butter, softened
1/2 c granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 tsp vanilla extract

APPLE CAKE BATTER
1 1/4 c pecans
3 c all-purpose flour
1 c granulated sugar
1 c firmly packed light brown sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground allspice
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 c canola oil
3/4 c applesauce
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 c peeled and finely chopped Gala apples (about 1 1/2 lb.)

PRALINE FROSTING
1/2 c firmly packed light brown sugar
1/4 c butter
3 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 c powdered sugar

Prepare filling by beating cream cheese, butter, and sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until blended and smooth.


Add egg, flour, and vanilla; beat just until blended.


Preheat oven to 350ºF.

Begin preparing batter by baking pecans in a shallow pan 8 to 10 minutes or until toasted and fragrant, stirring halfway through. Once cooled, reserve a few nuts for topping; finely chop the remaining to yield one cup.

You can't really tell, but the nuts in the second picture are toasted.

Stir together flour, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, nutmeg, and allspice in a large bowl.


Stir in eggs, canola oil, applesauce, and vanilla, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened.


Stir in apples and pecans.


Spoon two-thirds of apple mixture into a greased and floured 14-cup Bundt pan.


Spoon filling over apple mixture, leaving a 1-inch border around edges of pan. Swirl filling through apple mixture using a paring knife.


Spoon remaining apple mixture over Cream Cheese Filling.


Bake for 60-75 minutes or until a long wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool cake in pan on a wire rack 15 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack, and cool completely (about 2 hours).


Meanwhile, prepare frosting by bringing brown sugar, butter, and milk to a boil in a 2-qt. saucepan over medium heat, whisking constantly; boil 1 minute, whisking constantly.


Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla and gradually whisk in powdered sugar until smooth; stir gently 3 to 5 minutes or until mixture begins to cool and thickens slightly.


Pour immediately over cooled cake. Spread whole pecans over still-soft frosting.


This recipe doesn't call for an electric mixer of any sort so you can make it in the middle of the night without worry of waking neighbors. I like that. I also liked how many apples went into this cake; I used six and it looked almost like too much but it baked very nicely.

I'm not sure what the point was to leave a one-inch gap between the filling and pan before swirling the filling into the batter. There was no way to keep the filling from touching the pan edges when swirling and even if I did, the weight of the remaining batter on top of the filling would've squished it to the edges anyway. Maybe the gap is to help you see where you started swirling?

When preparing the frosting, I didn't really pay too much attention to how much time it was boiling. Once I saw the texture change from thick and bubbly to thin with smaller bubbles the pan was removed from heat. It worked out well and the frosting tasted fine. As the frosting cools it gets stiffer; it starts firming almost immediately. I waited a little bit too long before pouring it over the cake. It wound up so thick my frosting didn't trail down the sides of the cake at all. Next time I'll pour it while still quite warm since I like that drizzly look. The nuts were pushed into the stiff frosting to ensure they'd stick.

I brought this cake to work, dropped it off in the kitchen when I arrived and found it was gone shortly after lunch. Guessing, it tasted good!

Cost:

• cream cheese: $1.11
• butter: $0.40
• granulated sugar: $0.36
• eggs: $1.09
• all-purpose flour: $0.25
• vanilla extract: $0.24
• pecans: free from Mom
• llight brown sugar: $0.42
• canola oil: $0.32
• applesauce: $0.50
• Gala apples: $2.25
• milk: $0.05
• powdered sugar: $0.20

Total: $6.95 or about $0.50 for each of 12 servings.