Thanks to Suzanna, who picks up from the Homestead for sharing this recipe. The recipe was from The Sweet Melissa Baking Book by Melissa Murphy. The original recipe said to use canned sweet potatoes – I adapted it to use fresh ones. I think it could also be good using apple sauce instead of the oil. I didn’t try the glaze (I was too hungry to wait) but it was delicious anyway!
Ingredients:
- 3 large roast sweet potatoes
- 2 cups sugar
- 2/3 cup of vegetable or canola oil
- 2 large eggs
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ¾ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground cloves
- ½ tsp freshly ground nutmeg
- a pinch of salt
- 2/3 cup of pecan nuts, coarsely chopped
Ingredients for the Cinnamon-Rum-Orange Glaze:
- ¼ cup fresh orange juice
- ¼ cup rum
- 2 cinnamon sticks
Method:
Preheat oven to 175ºC. Butter and flour a 10-cup bundt pan.
In the bowl of an electric mixer mash the sweet potatoes until smooth (this will make about 2 cups). Add the sugar and oil and mix to combine. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and salt. Add the flour mixture into the sweet potato mixture in three batches, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Do no over mix. Stir in the pecans.
Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan. Spin the pan to level the batter. Bake for about 1 hour and 10 minutes, or until a wooden skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove to a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes before inverting onto the rack for glazing.
For the glaze. Combine the orange juice, rum, sugar, and cinnamon sticks in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer over low heat and reduce by half. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool slightly before glazing. Using a pastry brush, brush the glaze generously over the still-warm bread. Wait for 10 minutes, and glaze again.
