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Sweet potato vegan cakes





...gluten free and sweet. It all started when my husband came back from Japan, I alway ask for some edible souvenirs, so this time I got a bottle of Choya Umeshu (sweet plum sake), soba noodles, umeboshi (pickled plums) and nama choco.




I love nama choco, it finished in no time, the kids loved it too since this was a type without liqueur, so maybe one day I should make it, it is so easy and blogger Nami has a good recipe for it here! 




After indulging in this extra cream + extra chocolate treat I decided that it was time for a less sweet and possibly non dairy sweet treat, and I remember that one of my favourite Japanese sweet is the baked sweet potato wagashi. I made something like this before, and I thought that the New Zealand kumara looks like a Japanese potato... but then I ended up with something completely different :-).




First of all kumara are much softer that Japanese sweet potatoes, then I only had an orange kumara at home (the red ones are better because they are white inside). I thought of baking my kumara, as steaming it was going to make it even softer and in the meantime I drunk a bit of Umeshu, and decided to soak a few sultanas in some too. Once my kumara was done I quickly realized that it was going to be far too soft for molding, so I reverted to plan B, i.e. not shaping the sweets by chakin shibori (with a muslin cloth or handkerchief), but simply dropping them on the baking tray with a spoon! For one mashed kumara I added 2 tsp of brown sugar, and then 'dropped' three tablespoons of the mixture on the baking tray. I did the other three adding the sultana soaked in Umeshu, just to make a variation. 



I decided against brushing the top with beaten egg yolk, so that this could be also a vegan recipe, and I baked everything at 180°C for about 15 minutes. To look at them I think that these are among the ugliest sweets I have ever made, but they tasted incredibly good, especially the ones with the sultana. I will make them again, but I will also look for some more 'floury' sweet potatoes (not kumara) so if you know where I can get some in Auckland please let me know!



Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©
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Comments

  1. Couscous & ConsciousnessJune 15, 2012 at 9:26 PM

    What an intriguing sweet treat, Alessandra. I love the idea of the one with the sultanas.

    I love to get food "souvenirs" too when anyone brings me back gifts from overseas - or from anywhere actually!

    Sue xo

    ReplyDelete
  2. RachanaJune 16, 2012 at 1:16 AM

    Thats a very interesting recipe, Alessandra! I loved it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousJune 18, 2012 at 1:39 PM

    Wonderful and unusal recipe - I love sweet potato so this would work for me!
    Mary x

    ReplyDelete
  4. JimJune 22, 2012 at 1:10 PM

    Looks yummy.

    ReplyDelete

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