It my birthday!

[offcntr]

Traditionally, this is the one day of the year Denise does baking--Old Fashioned Cocoa Cake, recipe from an ancient can of baking cocoa. This year, we decided to try something different, so baked the cake together. She's still in charge of applying the frosting.

The cake? A second generation version of Chocolate Potato Cake as adapted from D. Dylan Hollis' TikTok by Tumblr user Kirain and her grandmother (and further tweaked by me.) My version:

Chocolate Potato Cake

1 cup mashed potato
2 cups sour cream (one 16 oz. tub)
1 ¾ cup flour
1 ¾ cup sugar
¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
½ cup softened butter
2 eggs
1 ½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
Pinch of salt

Cook two medium or three small russet potatoes in salted water until tender. (If you're going to use a masher, peel them first. I squished them through a ricer, so didn't bother.) Drain, and return to heat briefly to dry out, then mash or rice and let cool.

Preheat oven to 350° F.

Whisk together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt and set aside. Cream butter and sugar, then mix in eggs and vanilla. Stir in potato and sour cream, then mix in dry ingredients until combined. Beat on medium 2 minutes, then transfer to a greased 9x13" pan.

Bake 40 minutes at 350°. Check for doneness with a toothpick. Cool completely before frosting.

The Tumblr recipe includes a chocolate drizzle recipe, but I'd just gotten from my Mom an improved variation of the Hershey can frosting I've used for years. The original recipe beat cocoa and sugar into softened butter, and getting all the cocoa lumps out was a trial. By mixing fat-loving cocoa into melted butter, that problem is alleviated.

Frosting

½ cup melted butter
⅔ cup baking cocoa
1 tsp vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar
½ cup milk

Mix cocoa into melted butter until smooth. Add sugar alternating with milk and vanilla, and beat until smooth.
(Mom's version called for 3 cups sugar and ⅓ cup milk, but that's a little dark/bitter for my taste, so I went with the proportions from my original recipe.)

We're saving the cake for supper, but the scraps from the bottom of the pan--with leftover frosting--are pretty amazing.

Comments

[james]

Happy Cake Day!

[anais_pf]

That does look like an excellent recipe. I may have to try it!

Happy birthday!

[edrevol]

Happy Birthday! The cake looks delicious--thanks for sharing the recipe.