The Bohemian Stove

Sweet Potato Tea Cake

Move over boring banana bread… this loaf will knock your socks off! Loaded with cinnamon and topped with toasty pecans, it has become one of my new favourite recipes. 

The inspiration for the recipe came after I tried a sweet potato loaf at my local coffeehouse, Detour. After numerous tasty experiments, I received a tip-off that the Detour loaf was a variation on the Tartine Pumpkin Tea Cake. From there, it was easy to find the original recipe and start to customize my loaf. I like to cut back on the amount of sugar, swap out some of the white sugar for organic brown sugar, and switch up the flour for something whole grain. The result is just as tasty and still pretty decadent.

Here ya go!

Ingredients

• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons puréed sweet potato
• 1 cup vegetable oil (I use an organic sunflower or safflower oil)
• ½ cup cane sugar
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 2/3 cups flour (I have used a variety of flours - whole spelt, whole wheat and white. I find using a combination of flours usually works best; 1 cup white flour and 2/3 cup whole wheat is a good compromise)
• 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons freshly ground nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
• ¾ teaspoon sea salt
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar for topping
• 3 tablespoons pecans, chopped, for topping
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon, for topping

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Oil the bottom and sides of a loaf pan and line with parchment paper. In a bowl or standing mixer, beat together the sweet potato purée, oil, and sugar. Add eggs one at a time and continue beating until the mixture is well combined. Mix together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until just combined. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. In a small bowl, combine the topping ingredients; sprinkle these over the loaf. Bake the loaf for about an hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the loaf comes out clean. Cool on a rack for at least 20 minutes before removing from pan, if you can last that long! Realistically, you should let the loaf cool all the way through before cutting and devouring, but who are we kidding really? That never happens in this house!

Note: For the sweet potato purée, I peel a good-sized tuber and cut it into chunks. Put it in a small pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and simmer until the potato is soft. Strain off the water and mash the potato. Yer good to go.