I’m used to desserts containing potatoes, since one of the typical desserts of my home province, Quebec, contains them. Before I tell you about my magic recipe for potato cake, let me first introduce you to this Quebec dessert.

Are you familiar with potato candies?

The name may seem surprising, but potato candies are delicious, quick, and easy to make. All you need is 3 ingredients:

• Mashed potatoes (about ¼ cup)
• Icing sugar (about 3 cups)
• Peanut butter to taste

The quantities of icing sugar may vary, as it must be mixed with the potatoes, adding the icing sugar slowly. The aim is to obtain a malleable dough and to achieve this, I’ve often had to add more sugar than the amount specified in the original recipe. A little vanilla can also be added to the dough for a little extra flavor, but this is optional.

Once the dough is made, simply roll it out with a rolling pin to a thickness of about ½ centimeter, then add a layer of peanut butter about 1/2 centimeter (but you could use more, depending on how much you like peanut butter). Roll up and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

All that’s left to do is cut the roll sushi-style, and you’ve got your potato candy! It’s that simple!

Potato cake?

One day, I wanted to bake a cake but didn’t know what flavor to make it in, having run out of ingredients. No chocolate chips, no fruit (strawberries, blueberries, bananas) or raisins. A vanilla or cocoa cake being a bit boring and seeing a sweet potato in the fridge, I thought to myself:

If there’s no such thing as potato candy, there must be such a thing as potato cake.

Again, the recipe is very simple and, bonus point, it means no messy mixing bowls, as it can be made entirely in the mixer.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup boiled potatoes (these can be white or sweet potatoes. I’ve also experimented by replacing the potatoes with chickpeas, and black or white beans).
• 1 can condensed milk (can be replaced by regular milk)
• ½ cup sugar
• ½ cup cornstarch (also works with flour)
• 4 eggs
• ½ cup butter

Once the potatoes have been boiled, put them in the blender with all the other ingredients. This will result in a rather liquid-looking mixture, but that’s to be expected. After buttering a 9" square pan, put the mixture in and bake for 1h at 350 Fahrenheit.

The result is a cake with a somewhat spongy texture, a sort of cross between a flan and a cake. The flavor is light; not too sweet, but just enough.

I often make this recipe because of its simplicity and the fact that you can easily change some of the ingredients.

I will continue experimenting with this affordable root vegetable to see if I can create other delicious treats, and I will share my findings with you. I always like to experiment with cooking unusual ingredients.

The limits of cooking are our creativity!