Grated Sweet Potato Cake With Coconut Topping
Cake:
- 2½ cups sifted all-purpose flour
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
- 1 cup corn oil or vegetable oil
- 4 large eggs
- 1½ cups coarsely grated raw sweet potato (about one 8-ounce potato)
- ¼ cup water
- 1 cup coarsely chopped pecans, black walnuts, or wild hickory nuts
- ½ cup sugar
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- One 12-ounce can evaporated milk
- 1 cup sweetened grated or flaked coconut
- 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions:
Of all the sweet potato recipes to come out of the South, this one—similar to but better than carrot cake —may be the most delicious.
- Preheat the oven to 350° F. Coat a 9 × 9 × 2-inch baking pan with nonstick oil-and-flour baking spray and set aside.
- For the cake: Sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt onto a large piece of wax paper and set aside.
- Beat the granulated sugar, brown sugar, and oil in a large electric mixer bowl for 1 minute at medium speed or until well combined. Beat the eggs in one by one. By hand, mix in the sifted dry ingredients, grated sweet potatoes, water, and pecans.
- Scoop the batter into the pan, spreading to the corners, then slide onto the middle oven shelf and bake for 50 to 55 minutes or until the cake is springy to the touch, begins to pull from the sides of the pan, and a cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Remove the cake from the oven and cool right side up on a wire rack.
- Meanwhile, prepare the topping: Whisk the sugar, cornstarch, and salt together in a medium-size heavy saucepan. Add the milk, set over moderate heat, and cook, whisking constantly, for 3 to 4 minutes or until the mixture becomes thick and shiny. Set off the heat and mix in the coconut and vanilla. Spread at once over the cake, then cool for 10 minutes or until the topping is firm.
- To serve, cut the cake into rectangles, but make them small; the cake’s unusually rich.