Thursday, November 20, 2008

Sky High Cakes: Halloween Sweet Potato Cake (Cake Slice Bakers)

Sweet Potato Cake

I've joined a new baking group! The Cake Slice Bakers make one recipe every month from a single book. This year, it's one of my absolutely favorites: Sky High: Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes by Alisa Huntsman and Peter Wynne.

So far, I've made the Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake, Strawberry Shortcake, and Chai Tea Cake before joining the group. This is a great book with beautiful cakes!

This month, we made the Halloween Sweet Potato Cake in the Holidays and Special Occasion section of the book (pages 178).

Sweet Potato Cake
The cake is made with sweet potato (me love the sweet potato - I baked a bunch extra and ate them during the week) and yummy spices: cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.

Sweet Potato Cake Sweet Potato Cake
Sweet Potato Cake Sweet Potato Cake
The filling is cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar with orange juice concentrate. The only problem was the filling made it a bit too loose so I think that caused my cake to tilt; I also should have leveled out my layers. Next time, I might use only orange extract and zest so there is less liquid in the filling.

The frosting is the cream cheese mixture with the addition of unsweetened chocolate. It is very sweet.

Sweet Potato Cake
The cake, like her other cakes, is incredibly moist but very weighty. You get a workout carrying this around!

Sweet Potato Cake
The cake was a hit at work! And since it had fresh sweet potato inside, we put it in the "vegetable" food group!

Sweet Potato Cake
This photo looks straight but the layers were sliding and caused a leaning tower of sweet potato cake!

Sweet Potato Cake
Grab a slice!
Join in on the fun and visit the other Cake Slice Bakers!

34 comments:

  1. Monica HNovember 20, 2008 at 12:52 AM

    I just made their vanilla BUttermilk cake- yum! And yes, very weighty!

    BTW, you always say that your desserts are hits with your co-workers and I believe you because they are drool-worthy, but have you ever made anything that they didn't like? Just curious :-)

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  2. RosieNovember 20, 2008 at 2:29 AM

    Such a great looking cake - well done!

    Rosie x

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  3. The Blonde DuckNovember 20, 2008 at 3:35 AM

    Gorgeous!

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  4. AnonymousNovember 20, 2008 at 5:50 AM

    i love the close-up picture showing the slice of cake in all its delicious glory. Perfect!

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  5. MariaNovember 20, 2008 at 6:30 AM

    Nice job on the cake! It looks fabulous!

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  6. JanssenNovember 20, 2008 at 6:44 AM

    As always, I'm more than impressed with your baking skills. Amazing!

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  7. JoNovember 20, 2008 at 7:12 AM

    Great pictures and your cake looks lovely! This is such a yummy cake with delicious spice flavours. I really loved it.

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  8. JodieNovember 20, 2008 at 7:15 AM

    Looks great! Yours is kind of decorated like mine!

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  9. katNovember 20, 2008 at 7:30 AM

    I think I'm going to have to try this cake. You are the second person I read who said the orange filling was too runny.

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  10. CathyNovember 20, 2008 at 8:38 AM

    This looks so wonderful! Tilting or not (it looks straight to me!) And an extra bonus that you had all of that leftover sweet potato!

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  11. ShariNovember 20, 2008 at 9:06 AM

    I love that bent-up, kind of ugly sweet potato sitting next to your beautiful cake! Looks perfect!

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  12. Snooky doodleNovember 20, 2008 at 9:24 AM

    wow what a nice cake :) surely a slice of this sky high caek is equivalent to two normal ones ha yummy more cake !!!

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  13. Mary AnnNovember 20, 2008 at 9:25 AM

    It turned out beautifully! You really did a great job. I am excited to make this tomorrow for my baby, especially since it officially counts as a veggie, right?

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  14. KatieNovember 20, 2008 at 11:39 AM

    Your cake looks wonderful. I love how you piped the little dots of frosting on top. I agree it was very sweet though

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  15. TeaLadyNovember 20, 2008 at 11:52 AM

    Sorry yours slid, but if it will make you feel any better, mine did too. Veggie CAke, I like it. Looks like it tasted great.

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  16. BunnyNovember 20, 2008 at 1:07 PM

    It was such a nice surprise to find out that all the flavors in this cake marry very well together!! I love your cake and the pictures!

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  17. steph- whisk/spoonNovember 20, 2008 at 1:19 PM

    looks wonderful! so tall, and the chocolate frosting is dark and divine!

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  18. JacqueNovember 20, 2008 at 4:08 PM

    Mmmm, your tower of cake looks fantastic! The piping on top looks like Hershey's kisses :)

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  19. AnneNovember 20, 2008 at 6:30 PM

    Wow- that looks great! I love the texture and color of the cake. It's making me hungry! :)

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  20. MeganNovember 20, 2008 at 7:26 PM

    Wow - that cake looks perfect!

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  21. StephNovember 20, 2008 at 7:54 PM

    Even with the slight slant, that looks like the perfect slice of cake. By the way, I'm making the chocolate peanut butter cake for a christmas party (next month) and I can't wait! It's all thanks to your beautiful cake that helped me decide what I'm bringing.. hopefully it will look half as nice as yours, I'm kind of worried about the chocolate ganache part.

    These cakes from sky high do look like you could get a workout just from lifting them!

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  22. LizNovember 20, 2008 at 10:48 PM

    Ah yes, the famed "vegetable cake." Gotta get those 10 servings a day, right?

    Your cake looks awesome, I just may have to try this recipe this fall!

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  23. CarolineNovember 21, 2008 at 12:32 AM

    Your cake looks great, love the little dots piped on top (looks like Hershey Kisses).

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  24. DeborahNovember 21, 2008 at 4:02 AM

    Beautiful job! Mine was tilting from the frosting as well, but it all worked out in the end!

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  25. LindaNovember 21, 2008 at 5:38 AM

    Your cake turned out beautifully! This cake qualifying as a veggie? I like how you and your co-workers think!

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  26. ericaNovember 21, 2008 at 8:31 AM

    That does it - I'm buying this book for my library!

    And if there's ever an opening in your library for a Reference Librarian, please let me know because you have the luckiest co-workers in the world!

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  27. SihanNovember 21, 2008 at 9:27 AM

    oh my gosh.. i didn't realise that coz i added japanese sweet potato instead of the normal ones, i was lacking that orange hue. THe cake looks gorgeous too. and despite it leaning, it must have tasted great!

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  28. SophieNovember 21, 2008 at 8:17 PM

    Your cake came out beautifully! I like the photo with the little sweet potato :).

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  29. DiNovember 22, 2008 at 6:09 PM

    Your cake looks lovely! That cookbook sounds really interesting--I'll have to look for it next time I'm at Borders.

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  30. GigiNovember 22, 2008 at 6:26 PM

    gorgeous tall cake! i love all the photos of the cake. well done.

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  31. Coco Cake LandNovember 23, 2008 at 12:32 PM

    yowza!!

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  32. DiNovember 25, 2008 at 6:34 PM

    Okay, I just had to share... I was browsing at Half Price Books today and found a copy of Sky High Cakes for only $15! Of course, I had to buy it. Now I'm thinking about trying to join the Cake Slice Bakers, too.

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  33. AnonymousNovember 27, 2008 at 11:59 PM

    nice job!

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  34. eatme_deliciousNovember 30, 2008 at 11:56 PM

    Yumm I love the process photos of you icing the cake.

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