The tales of an elimination diet continue. Spurred on from my sweet potato brownies, I remembered that Delia (Smith) made chocolate cupcakes using mashed potato. Keen to give baking with mashed potato a go I thought I would try a different flavour of cake and settled on lemon drizzle. Despite the fact it looks like you've split the mixture when making the cake, and I thought baking the cake at 180º for such a long time would burn the cake (I have made a note in the recipe IF your cake does brown a little too much), I was VERY surprised with the outcome. It's a light cake with a crumb that, well, tastes of lemons. I don't know what to say. It's not a dense cake nor is it mushy given the main dry ingredient is ground almonds. The one thing I would stress, for the mash do make sure it's plain boiled potatoes. I find it best to boil a load (yes that's a quantity) of spuds, mash them and take out what you needful the cake. The rest you can season and add a little fat before freezing for another day. Don't forget this cake is gluten and dairy free!
Serves 8-10
Hands-on Time 15 minutes
Baking Time 45 minutes
Ingredients
170g (plus extra for greasing) Margarine
190g plus 5 1/2 tbsp Caster sugar
250g Mashed potato (plain boiled potatoes thoroughly mashed)
4 Eggs, medium
1 tsp Vanilla extract
140g Ground almonds
40g Plain flour (gluten-free)
2 tsp Baking powder (gluten-free)
3 Lemons
Equipment
Scissors
Baking parchment
20cm Loose bottom or springform cake tin
Large bowl
Wooden spoon
Fine grater
Spatula
Juicer
Palette knife
Spoon
Skewer
Wirerack
Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C (Fan)/350°F/Gas mark 4.
Cut the baking parchment to line the bottom of the cake tin.
Grease the sides and bottom of the tin with margarine before lining with the circle of parchment.
Add the 170 grams of margarine and 190 grams of caster sugar to the large bowl and beat using the wooden spoon until light and smooth.
Tip the mash into the bowl and stir into the mixture.
Add one egg at a time, beating between additions followed by the vanilla extract. It may be that your mix is looking grainy/split, don’t worry.
Add the ground almonds and flour to the mixture and grate the 3 lemons over the top. Give a final stir until combined.
Pour the cake mix into the lined tin using a spatula to ensure you don’t leave anything behind. Smooth the mixture out so it’s nice and flat.
Pop the tin into the oven on a middle shelf for 45 minutes. IF the cake browns too quickly place a loose piece of foil over the top of the tin.
Clean the bowl whilst the cake bakes. Squeeze the juice of the 3 lemons into the bowl followed by 5 1/2 tablespoons of caster sugar. Stir until the sugar has dissolved.
When the cake has finished baking, remove the tin from the oven. Run a palette knife carefully around the outside of the cake to help it come away from the tin.
Stab the cake a few times with a skewer. One spoonful at a time, pour the sugary lemon juice over the cake. Don’t rush.
Leave the cake to cool in the tin for at least 15 minutes until it’s cool to handle.
Remove the cake from the tin, peel the parchment off its bottom, and leave the cake to completely cool down on a wire rack.
Enjoy!
