Anne Byrn’s Special Take on Ms. Collin’s Sweet Potato Cake Recipe

A message from Anne Byrn:

Sweet potatoes make some of the most glorious cakes because they have it all—color, flavor, and moisture to keep a cake fresh days after it’s baked. This gorgeous cake comes from the late Elizabeth Cate Collins—whom I only knew as Ms. Collins—who raised her family in the Nashville house before us and grew sweet potatoes in the back garden. Each year after the harvest, she would bake a sweet potato cake to send to a son in Berkeley, California, for his birthday. A taste of home, the cake was shipped frozen and arrived redolent of spice and seemingly fresh from her oven. In fact, she was so adept at baking and shipping cake that in her 2023 obituary it read, “She was one of the best local customers for FedEx and UPS, whose agents viewed her as a friend.”

Ingredients:

• 3 medium (1 to 1 1/4 pounds) unpeeled sweet potatoes 
• Vegetable shortening and flour for prepping the pan 
• 1/2 cup (2 ounces/57 grams) roughly chopped pecans 
• 2 cups (240 grams) all-purpose flour 
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda 
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg 
• 1 teaspoon baking powder 
• 1 teaspoon salt 
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves 
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger 
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil 
• 1 3/4 cups (350 grams) granulated sugar 
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 
• 4 large eggs 
• 1 teaspoon confectioners’ sugar for dusting (optional) 

Directions:

-Serves 10 to 12

-Prep: 35 to 40 minutes

-Bake: 50 to 55 minutes

1. Wash the sweet potatoes and pat dry. Place them in a large saucepan and nearly cover with water. Place the pan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and let simmer until tender, about 25 minutes. Test for doneness by piercing them with a fork, which should easily slide through. Drain and, when cool enough to handle, peel the potatoes and mash. You’ll need about 2 cups mashed sweet potatoes. Set aside. 
2. Heat the oven to 325ºF, with a rack in the middle. Grease and flour a 10- to 12-cup Bundt pan. 
3. Place the pecans in a small pan in the oven to toast while the oven heats, 4 to 5 minutes. When the pecans are cool enough to handle, finely chop and set aside. 
4. Place the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, salt, cloves, and ginger in a large bowl and whisk to combine well. 
5. Place the oil and sugar in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer on medium-low speed until they are well combined, about 1 minute. Add the vanilla and eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition, a total of 2 minutes. The mixture should be thick and smooth. Stop the mixer, add the sweet potatoes, and blend to combine. Add the flour mixture and beat on low until just combined and smooth, about 1 minute. Fold in the toasted pecans. 
6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until the cake springs back when lightly pressed in the center, 50 to 55 minutes. Remove to a wire rack to cool in the pan for 20 minutes. Run a knife around the edges of the pan, give it a few good shakes to loosen the cake, then invert the cake onto a serving plate. If desired, spoon the confectioners’ sugar into a sieve and dust it generously over the top of the cake. Let the cake cool for 45 minutes, then slice and serve. 

Freezing Cakes Instructions:

1. Layers, don’t let them thaw all the way. They will be easier to stack and frost if still a little froze
2. Unfrosted, cakes freeze well, up to 6 months if well wrapped and stored in a deep chest freezer.
3. First, let the cake cool completely.
4. Wrap it first in plastic or parchment, and then in foil.
5. If possible, place in a zipper-top bag and seal.
6. Write the name of the cake and the date on the bag before freezing.
7. To thaw, remove the cake from the bag and open the packaging to let the cake breathe and the moisture escape.
8. If you are frosting the layers, don’t let them thaw all the way.  They will be easier to stack and frost if still a little frozen.  

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