Let me eat cake
I was feeling better yesterday, so I decided to do some baking. First, I made a deliciously gooey chocolate cake using this recipe. My cravings for chocolate cake started a couple days ago when I read about this vegan chocolate cake from a Rhode Island restaurant. But since I don’t have access to all the required ingredients, I just decided to go standard. So much for my healthy pre-holiday eating…
Then for dinner I decided to make this recipe for a savory spinach and sweet potato cake at my favorite food porn blog La Tartine Gourmand. I have been drooling over the pictures on this site for a while, and I decided it was time for me to actually try one of her recipes out.
As the batter came together, I was extremely skeptical. It didn’t seem right. But luckily it started looking more and more cake-like as it cooked. The result was reasonably delicious, but heavier than I expected. Not sure where I went wrong – I thought I followed the recipe pretty exactly. Maybe I was just expecting the wrong thing? (Although with so much olive oil in the batter, I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised.) Anyway, I probably won’t be making this again anytime soon (it was good and relatively easy, but not particularly healthy), but I am looking forward to trying out some more recipes from Bea’s site.
Hi Veggie Chick, I just wanted to let you know that I had the same results, the cake turned out heavy and way too oily and I followed the recipe exactly so I don’t think you did anything wrong. I wrote about it on Béa’s blog, she confirmed that the amounts she gave were right. Anyway, I thought you’d like to know. Take care.
Thanks, MS. Good to know I’m not the only one who got those results! I’d love to hear how it turns out when you try it with half the oil.
Hi again, Jul. I made the “cake” twice since I commented here. The first time I followed the recipe changing only the amount of oil from almost half a cup to 1/4 cup. It turned out a bit better but still quite bland, too pancake-like and not as green as Béa’s. So I tried once again, but this time I made it my way and instead of baking it in one mold, I used ramekins. It turned out so nice my husband took some to his office potluck next day. Guess what? Five people asked for the recipe. So, here it is, in case you’d like to give it a try.
7 oz (200 g) all-purpose flour
2 large eggs (55 g each)
4.5 oz (130 g) fresh spinach, finely chopped
7 oz (200 g) raw sweet potato, coarsely grated
3 oz (85 g) Parmigiano, grated
4 oz (120 ml) milk
2.5 oz (75 ml) melted butter
Nutmeg, freshly grated (I use about 1/4 tsp)
Chili flakes
Black pepper
Salt
2 tsp baking powder
Preheat oven at 350 F (180º C)
Butter and flour a loaf mold or ramekins (depending on size, you’ll need six to eight ramekins)
Beat eggs well.
Incorporate melted butter and milk.
Add some salt and the spices, mix well.
Add spinach, sweet potato and cheese. Stir to combine.
Fold in flour+baking powder. Don’t over mix.
Pour batter into a loaf mold or ramekins.
Bake for 50 minutes.
Allow to cool before unmolding, to prevent sticking.
Chopping the spinach finely made a big difference, too. With this method you get closer to a “cake” texture than with the original recipe, but not much, that’s why I’m calling this a “savory loaf.” Well, good luck to you and have a great year ahead. Happy holidays.