I was thinking about what to bake for St Patrick's day for a long time - I've done all the stout/Bailey's combo's already and while they're very tasty I wanted to do something different. So what's Irish, can go in a cupcake and I'd not done before?.....the clue is in the video below.
POTATO.
I'd been thinking about making these since they appeared in Sainsbury's magazine when Delia had her How to Cheat show on tv and everyone was getting excited about tinned mince and Aunt Bessie's frozen mash.
God the frozen mash. I went to Asda to buy it and felt shame in doing so. Surely life isn't that hectic that you cannot make mash? Well maybe it is if you have kids etc so maybe I shouldn't judge. What I can judge is the use of frozen mash in cake. And I say NO. I repeat frozen mash has NO PLACE in cake.
The recipe itself was pretty easy to make - melt chocolate and condensed milk together - which seized the first time and the second time wasn't too great either so if you make the recipe be warned. If I was to make it again (which I won't unless someone asks me to) then I'd melt the chocolate separately. Then you mix everything, including the defrosted mash discs and bung it in the oven. The only thing I changed in the recipe was that I halved it, left out the Chinese five spice and added a splosh of vanilla in it's place.
Usually cakes leave a lovely smell throughout the house when they're baking - these did not which immediately set off warning bells with me.
I left them to cool and set about making the frosting. I really didn't like the sound of Delia's 'frosting' - condensed milk, melted chocolate and butter (boak), so I made some of my favourite Bailey's frosting which kept in with the Irish theme and I hoped would help me forget that within these cakes lay potato.
Alas even with a lot of Baileys in the frosting it did not detract from the potato. They were quite chocolate'y but I could still sense potato in there - there was a smell like Smash about them and I just couldn't eat a whole one as each bite left a bit of a taste. I ate the frosting though - why let booze go to waste? Manny ate two cakes and said he quite enjoyed them. He couldn't taste potato but thought they tasted 'peppery'. Numpty.
So if you're feeling adventurous for St Patrick's on Saturday you could make these, or you could instead get some good Irish Stout (there are so many better ones than Guinness) and make Nigella's Guinness and chocolate cake instead - they can easily be made into cupcakes.
I couldn't resist a final photo with the little leprechaun card my (hot dog obsessed) friend from Chicago sent me today as it seemed kinda appropriate. I reckon hot dog cupcakes would taste better than potato.
Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig for Saturday.
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