Sweet Potato Pound Cake
Submitted by neowets2
Dense, buttery sweet potato pound cake with sour cream and warm spices, served with a vanilla bean-cinnamon custard sauce and praline ice cream. This is dinner party dessert that earns a standing ovation.
YIELD
10 servingsPREP
25 minCOOK
75 minREADY
160 minThis pound cake belongs on a restaurant dessert menu, and now it belongs in your kitchen. Sweet potato puree stirred into a buttery, sour cream-enriched batter gives the cake a velvety crumb and a gorgeous sunset color. Cinnamon and nutmeg keep the spice subtle, letting the sweet potato’s natural richness lead.
Baked low and slow in a loaf pan until a tester comes out clean, the cake is dense and moist in the way only a true pound cake can be. But the real showstopper is the sauce.
Crushed cinnamon sticks and a split vanilla bean steeped in milk, then turned into a silky custard finished with sour cream. Drizzle it over a thick slice of cake, add a scoop of praline or toffee ice cream, and you’ve built a dessert that no one at the table will forget.
Chef Tips
- Add the eggs one at a time and beat well after each. This builds the structure that keeps the dense pound cake from collapsing.
- Don’t boil the custard sauce. Cook it gently over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until it coats the back of a spoon. Too much heat scrambles the yolks.
- Make the custard sauce ahead and chill it. The flavors deepen overnight, and cold sauce against warm cake is a beautiful contrast.
Ingredients
Directions
Cake: Preheat over to 300℉ (150℃).
Lightly oil 8½ x 8½ x 2 5/8 inch loaf pan.
Sift first 5 ingredients into medium bowl. using electric mixer, beat butter and sour cream in large bowl until well blended.
Gradually add sugar and beat until well blended.
Gradually add sugar and beat until mixture is light and fluffy.
Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.
Mix in ½ cup sweet potato purée and vanilla.
Stir in dry ingredients transfer to prepared pan.
Bake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour 15 minutes.
Cool cake in pan on rack 30 minutes.
Cut around sides of pan with knife. Turn cake out onto rack and cool.
Sauce: Combine milk and cinnamon sticks in heavy medium sauce pan scrape in seeds from vanilla bean ; add bean.
Bring to boil. remove from heat.
Cover and let steep 15 minutes.
Whisk yolks and sugar in bowl to blend.
Slowly beat milk mixture into egg mixture.
Strain custard into same saucepan.
Cook over medium-low heat until custard tickens and leaves path on back of spoon when finger is drawn across, stirring constantly, about 15 minutes; do not boil.
Pour custard into bowl. whisk in sour cream.
Cover and chill until cold, stirring occasionally.
Cut cake into slices and transfer to plates.
Top with ice cream and sauce.
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