Chocolate Sweet Potato Cake
1 hour 15 minutes · One 8-inch cake, 10 slices
- 2 medium sweet potatoes (about 1 lb / 450g)
- 1 cup almond flour
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup tapioca starch
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder (gluten free)
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3.5 oz dark chocolate, roughly chopped
- to serve flaky salt
- 01 Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C). Prick the sweet potatoes and roast whole, 45–55 minutes, until completely collapsing. Cool enough to handle, then scoop out the flesh and mash smooth. You want 1 1/2 packed cups.
- 02 Turn the oven down to 350°F (175°C). Line an 8-inch springform tin with parchment.
- 03 Whisk almond flour, cocoa, tapioca starch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together, breaking up any cocoa lumps.
- 04 In a large bowl, whisk the mashed sweet potato with the eggs, maple syrup, olive oil, and vanilla until completely smooth — no streaks of potato.
- 05 Fold the dry into the wet until just combined, then fold through two-thirds of the chopped chocolate.
- 06 Scrape into the tin, level the top, and scatter over the remaining chocolate.
- 07 Bake 40–45 minutes, until the top is set and a skewer comes out with a few damp crumbs. It should stay fudgy in the middle — a clean skewer means you have gone too far.
- 08 Cool completely in the tin before releasing. Finish with a pinch of flaky salt.
Roast the sweet potatoes rather than boiling them. Boiling waterlogs the flesh and the cake goes gummy; roasting drives off moisture and concentrates the sugar, which is doing most of the sweetening here.
Better on day two, and it keeps four days covered at room temperature.