PEI - Chocolate Potato Cake

Today we are enjoying PEI. Yes, we’ve pulled PEI out of the bag and we’re gonna bake up a yummy treat. One thing that comes to mind other than Anne of Green Gables when we think of PEI is potatoes. PEI produces about 25% of Canada’s potatoes each year. Potatoes are usually planted in May and harvesting begins in September until early November. There is a museum in O’Leary called the Canadian Potato Museum. There are 100 different types of potatoes grown in PEI with Russet, Superior, Yukon Gold, Goldrush, and Red Norland being the most. For our potato cake, we are going to use Yukon Gold potatoes.

Ok, so you’re probably thinking that potatoes in cake would be gross but apparently it makes the cake moist. We haven’t baked in a while so we wanted to make a yummy treat and chocolate cake seems like a perfect idea, so we thought why not try it out with some potatoes.

We found a really easy recipe for chocolate cake with potatoes. Look below for our step by step how to make the cake and we found a caramel icing to put on top as well. Enjoy!

PEI Potato Chocolate Cake  (from the Prince Edward Island Potato Board http://www.peipotato.org/)

You will need...

1 cup of Yukon Gold hot mashed potatoes

1 cup of lukewarm water

2/3 cup butter, softened

2 cups of brown sugar

1 tsp. Vanilla extract

4 eggs

¾ cups of cocoa power

2 cups of flour

2 ¼ tsp. Baking Powder

½ tsp. Baking Soda.

Pinch of Salt

1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease and dust with cocoa powder a 9x13 inch pan.

Once the potatoes are mashed after being boiled, whisk in the lukewarm water until smooth.

In a mixer beat the butter, sugar, and vanilla for about 4-5 minutes. Then add two eggs and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the other two eggs and beat until mixed.

Mix all of the dry ingredients together and then add alternating with the mashed potatoes, the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients on a low speed. Make sure it is all thoroughly mixed and then fold in the chocolate chips.

Place the batter into the prepared pan and bake for half an hour.

The cake is ready when it “springs back when pressed lightly and begins to move away from the sides of the pan.”

Let it cool in the pan on a cooling rack.

If you don’t plan on eating it right away, you can put it in an airtight container for up to three days at room temperature or you can freeze it instead.

If you do plan on eating it right away, you can ice it after it has cooled down or you can sprinkle it with powdered sugar or make a light glaze for it. We found a caramel icing that we are going to try. 

Caramel Icing

This icing looked really easy to make so we thought that we’d give it a try. You can spread it all over the cake or you put it on the side and for those who want it they can put some on their cake and for those who don’t they don’t have to have it. Not everyone likes icing.

It’s really simple you just need...

½ cup of butter, cubed

1 cup of packed brown sugar

¼ cup of evaporated milk

2 cups of powdered sugar

½ tsp. of Vanilla Extract

In a saucepan on low heat, cook the butter and brown sugar until the butter is melted and the sugar is mixed in well.

Stir in the evaporated milk and bring to a boil, but make sure that you stir constantly.

Remove from the heat after it has boiled and cool to room temperature. Once it’s cooled add in the vanilla and powdered sugar and stir until smooth.