Regan Daley's Sweet Potato Bundt Cake with Rum-Plumped Raisins and a Spiked Sugar Glaze

I'm not a fancy cook. But you knew that already, right? Baked beans make my heart sing, a plate of spaghetti with tomato sauce (made right) can turn a bad day good again, a simple salad is - mostly - all I need for dinner. But despite this near-constant refrain of loving rustic, homespun food, some people still think that because I cook a lot and because I know my way around a kitchen, I must be the kind of food snob who is only content in the finest of restaurants and could never be happy with a simple, homemade meal.

Nothing is further from the truth.

It's not that I turn my nose up at a nice restaurant, on the contrary - a night out at a place where you're fed well and entertained can be a very special night, indeed. It's just that, in my soul, I am a home cook. In every sense of the word. I like to putter around my kitchen after work, when the sun's gone down and it's dark outside. Inside, it's warm and light from the lamps over the dinner table, the stove, the sink. There are my dirty dishes, the scent of something cooking hangs in the air, I've got a rhythm going with my knife and my cutting board and the pot of boiling water, while the clean plates clatter into place on the table. It all makes sense to me. This is the way I get good, simple food on my plate, and that's the stuff that makes me happy.

Further away from the kitchen, my collection of cookbooks reflects the kind of cook I am. While a few of them are the kind of high-gloss beauties everyone likes to page through and ogle, almost all of my books are the kind you want to pull out and get dirty with spatters of sauce and oil. They feature food I actually want to cook. I don't have room in my bookshelves for cookbooks featuring food that is usually served in a restaurant. I'd never have the patience or the appetite for an architectural, three-page cooking adventure like the ones featured in those tomes. And it's not that I turn my nose up at folks who like to cook like that at home - no way. It's just not what I want for dinner.

My point in all of this? (Yes! I haven't entirely lost my train of thought) is to say that, despite all of that stuff I just spouted to you, sometimes, every once in a while, this hunger for simplicity goes a little too far. I've noticed that I've become mostly allergic to food titles that are longer than five or six words: my eyes glaze over and I lose interest immediately. (Mostly, I think that's self-preservation.) But once in a while, that allergy keeps me from finding a recipe that might have a long title and a few extra steps, but is so absolutely fantastic that I was a total fool for not noticing it earlier.

Case in point? This bundt cake. In the NY Times two years ago, Alex Witchel wrote about the man behind the Bundt pan, excerpting a recipe from Regan Daley's amazing book on sweet baking that has been in my kitchen for many years now. (Strangely enough, however, despite it having served me well as a bed-time read, the only thing I'd ever actually made from its pages had nothing to do with baking at all: the tea-steeped pears and prunes. And by the way, that recipe? Worth the price of the book. Swear to God.) Witchel's choice - boiled, mashed sweet potatoes folded into a spice cake batter that was moistened by buttermilk and studded with soft, boozy raisins - sure, sounded alright, but was a little too fussy for my taste, too much of a hassle. And that title! Sweet Potato Bundt Cake wasn't enough, huh, there had to be Rum-Plumped Raisins and a Spiked Sugar Glaze, too. Oh no, it was all too complicated for me.

(Ridiculous, I know.)

Will you trust me, then, if I tell you that this recipe is not only hardly complicated, but very much WORTH the small trouble you will go to to make it? That it's staggeringly delicious and tender and moist and most certainly a crowd-pleaser, even a raisin-hating crowd? Please say yes.

Don't be put off by the raisins in rum or the fancy glaze - they aren't half as hard to make as it looks. In fact, it all comes together rather easily. You soak a handful of golden raisins in rum (raisin-haters, I used to be one of you and I tell you honestly that these raisins are perfection here. I know you might think I'm nuts, and after all, who am I, the cilantro-hater, to try and convince you that your hatred here is misplaced, but really! They are the least offensive raisins I ever did cross. In fact, I found them entirely delightful), boil up some sweet potatoes and mash them, add the orange puree to a delicately spiced cake batter, pour the whole thing into a Bundt pan and bake it until the cake tower triumphantly out of its tin.

While it cools, you boil together cream, butter and brown sugar into a caramel of sorts that gets pumped up with the residual rum from the raisins. This creamy concoction is spooned over the cooling cake (the glaze is far too thick to sink into the holes you're supposed to stab into the cake, but it hardly matters) and drips appealing down the sides. Appealing is the operative word here - I haven't made something this pretty in ages.

You're supposed to let the cake cool entirely, but I was far too impatient, so my first slice was still warm. The crumb was soft and tender, the booziness of the rum tripping very faintly along my tongue, while an intermittent raisin here and there popped open in a welcome burst of juicy flavor. The glaze was quite difficult not to eat entirely by the spoonful. In fact, if you were serving this as a dessert to guests, I'd suggest making a double recipe of the sauce and passing it in a pitcher so the people at your dinner table can pour a glossy little puddle of caramel sauce over their slices.

I will graciously share this cake with Ben and my roommates, but then it's getting swaddled in an airtight cocoon of aluminum foil and plastic wrap and Ziploc freezer bags and going straight into the freezer. I've got to make sure this thing lasts. Who knows when I'll have the patience and foresight to make something like this again?

Sweet Potato Bundt Cake with Rum-Plumped Raisins and a Spiked Sugar Glaze
Serves 12

Cake:
¾ cup golden raisins
1/3 cup dark rum, plus more if needed
3 cups flour, plus more for the pan
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus extra for salting the water
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
3 large sweet potatoes
4 large eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
¾ cup buttermilk

Glaze:
½ cup packed dark brown sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons whipping cream
1 tablespoon reserved rum from cake recipe

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 10-inch fluted Bundt pan.

2. In a nonreactive bowl, soak raisins in the rum for at least 30 minutes. Sift together the flour, baking powder, soda, salt and spices.

3. Peel sweet potatoes, cut them into chunks, place in salted water, bring to a simmer and cook until tender when pierced with a knife. Drain and let dry for a few minutes, then mash coarsely. Measure 2 cups of sweet potatoes and reserve.

4. In a mixer fitted with a whisk, beat the eggs to break them up, then add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the vegetable oil and vanilla. Drain the raisins, reserving the liquid. Add ¤ cup of the rum to the batter. Add the sweet potatoes and mix until thoroughly combined.

5. Add the flour mixture to the batter in three additions, alternating with the buttermilk (start and finish with the flour). Fold in raisins. Pour the batter into the Bundt pan and bake for 80 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes and then invert onto a wire rack.

6. While the cake is cooling, make the glaze: Mix the sugar, butter and cream in a heavy saucepan. Bring to boil over medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Continue to boil until the mixture thickens somewhat, 3 minutes, stirring often. Remove from heat and add about 1 tablespoon of reserved rum (add fresh rum, if needed).

7. Set the cake and cooling rack over a baking sheet. With a toothpick, punch holes all over the cake. Pour 1/3 of the glaze over the cake. Wait 15 minutes, then pour the remaining glaze on top. You must glaze the cake while it's hot. Allow cake to cool completely.

Comments

[Zarah Maria]

I'm with you Luisa - I do have a couple of those "tomes" and love them for their insights on technique etc. - but I have hardly ever made an entire recipe from any of them. My Nigella Lawson/Jamie Oliver/Nigel Slater/Camilla Plum (Danish, very down-to-earth writer) books, on the other hand, are on the verge of being abused. And that's the way I like it.

Now, pass a piece of cake. Please?:-)

[lindy]

Gorgeous. As you know, I'm a home cook, too. And I just love a bundt cake. A really delicious bundt cake is a thing of beauy. And it is a home cook's thing of beauty, too-a personal gift to those you serve it to.
It is simultaneously a work of art and something you don't get in a restaurant. Sophisticated, while homey.
I love the relative modernity of the evolved bundt pan...and what people have done with it. Shows that good home cooking is not just a matter of preserving ancient family recipes!
This one looks great.

[Hildi]

So well written - I especially like the description of puttering around in the kitchen. Life's all about simple pleasures.

I have Regan Daley's book, but haven't tried anything from it, this should give me plenty of incentive:)

[Lydia]

Wonderful post, Luisa. I don't make recipes with fussy titles, either. I've just moved all of my cookbooks (well, almost all....) into a wall-sized bookcase, and I realize that all of the books I use and love are about home cooking, whether in American home kitchens or kitchens around the world. Now, time to pull out my collection of Bundt pans and try this recipe!

[ann]

Man Luisa, first the baked beans, now the sweet potatoes... And to think (I think) that I once lightly joshed you about being a dill-hater. You've exposed my foodphobias I've kind of placed at the back of my "I'm such an adventrous eater" closet.
Le sigh...
This does look good though. Maybe I'll pass it on to my baker-friend, ask her to make it and then not tell me what's in it. Yeah, that's a good plan!

[Jessica G]

For any of you who have Regan's book and haven't baked your way through it yet, I promise you won't be disappointed! This is the one cookbook I've nearly baked my way through - cover to cover, no joke.

My favorites are the Oatmeal Stout Cake, the Cornmeal Cake with Poached Apricots, the Chocolate Cherry Toffee Cookies.... Oh heck, they are all the best. I'm not surprised to learn that the Sweet Potato Cake is delicious as well!

[Luisa]

Zarah Maria - I'd love to share this cake with you! I think you'd love it. I feel like I've sort of come to associate gorgeous-looking cakes with your site, after your love affair with Lisa Yockelson's book.

Lindy - indeed! I couldn't agree with you more.

Hildi - thank you. It's so nice to discover that working in the kitchen can bring such great pleasure. Sometimes we get too distracted to realize little things like that. If you have the book, first make the tea-steeped prunes, then make this cake. And if I get around to trying anything else, I'll let you know!

Lydia - I thought you might agree with me on this ;) I feel like our evolved restaurant culture (which is a good thing) has contributed to those long, fussy titles. Oh well, good to know that there is much to be learned on ignoring the titles and going straight for the good recipe!

Ann - hee. I think that's a very good plan! And at the end of the day, this cake is so huge that the raisins are pretty easy to pick out and fling away. Even with little holes where they used to be, this is GOOD eating.

Jessica - wow, I am seriously impressed. Going through the cookbook last night, I realized just how many recipes are crammed in there! I'm so glad it's in my library. Thanks for listing your favorites - that cornmeal cake really jumped out at me.

[Leah]

All I saw was "Sweet Potato" and my heart jumped with glee. I can't wait to make this one.

You know what inspired me most about this post, Luisa? I'm always reading recipes and blogs (like yours), telling myself "I must make this... and this... and this" and then for whatever reason, I don't make time on a regular basis. I'll go through bursts during which I'll bake and cook like crazy, but there's no steady rhythm to it. Or I'll throw together a sauce here and a dish there. We all get busy, sure, but this is more a matter of poor planning and (oh, here it comes) rotten time management. I love the image of the dark evening, the kitchen light spilling out, cookbooks splayed open and scents cozying up against one another, in a sort of aromatic orchestra. So thanks for the inspiration!

Now, speaking of a tomato sauce done right... when do we get another Luisa original?

[ann]

oh, no, it's not the raisins (I love those) it's the spuds... The very thought of sweet potatoes and yams make my toes curl in my brain feel fuzzy. I just can't... Cannot approach them sanely. Weird, right?

[Luisa]

Leah - my pleasure! I'm so glad this inspired you. That's a great feeling. As for my favorite tomato sauces - that's a whole post in and of itself... I'll get to thinking about that!

Ann - Oh! VERY weird ;) No, I'm not going to pass judgement on anyone's food phobia's (though I would love to know where this one comes from), but really, I swear up and down that this cake doesn't taste like spiced sweet potatoes. The mash just does great things towards sweetening and moistening the final product. If you mash the spuds well, you won't even have a shred of the stuff showing up on your fork.

[Melissa]

This was such a great post, Luisa! I found myself nodding in agreement with almost everything you said. I'm perfectly happy to ogle those restaurant recipes along with everyone else, but when it comes time to cook myself, I can't tell you how much they DON'T appeal to me. Sweet potato bundt cake, on the other hand, most definitely does. This one is going on the list!

p.s. Funnily enough, the only recipe I've cooked from Ragen Daley's book is the tea-steeped prunes too! Mmmmm...

[C]

Logistical question - does it have to be cake flour, or is AP ok?

[Luisa]

Melissa - great minds think alike ;)

C - cake flour gives the cake its tender, delicate crumb. If you don't have any, use 1 cup of AP flour minus 2 tablespoons for every cup of cake flour called for.

[Susan]

Who says you don't like architecture? The Bundt Cake is a greater contribution to mankind than anything Howard Rourke could conjure up. I say "Yes" to this, and will build my own over the weekend despite not being any too fond of raisins.

[Patricia Scarpin]

Beautiful post and fantastic cake, Luisa.

I feel the same way - as much as fine restaurants interest me, what I really love is to cook at home.

[Susan from Food "Blogga"]

Your creation really elevates the bundt cake! It's just beautiful!

And I've got several of Regan Daley's recipes I've been wanting to try. Thanks for the inspiration!

[Victoria Carr]

Okay, I am going to try this right away. I sure hope everyone knows about Goslings Black Seal rum because I'm sure it will be the perfect rum to use! Your writing is perfect. This is my favorite food blog. I'm addicted.

[Prac]

I have a question I've been wanting to ask someone, and maybe you will know the answer.

What exactly separates "fine dining" food from other food? Or, what makes certain dishes more "refined"... or something like that. I guess I'm wondering what makes "food snobs" think certain food is on a higher level than others. All I am capable of detecting is how yummy the food tastes to me. :)

[Luisa]

Susan - go, you! Tell me if you don't think the raisins end up being perfectly acceptable here.

Patricia - thank you!

Susan - Something tells me that book's going to get much more of a workout, at least in my house ;)

Victoria - Oh my goodness - thank you! Those are kind words indeed. I've never tried that rum, but since I'm running low on my staple bottle, maybe it's time to try out Goslings.

Prac - I have a feeling other people can answer this better than I can...

[Niall Harbison]

firstly great site! I actually work for a billioniare(one of top 10 richest in world). I have only recently started using blogs for recipes and have found quite a few interesting ones here. I find that recipes are more original on blogs and that regular food websites just churn out large volume of mediocre recipes. I used this one while cooking for my boss on his yacht last week and he loved it! when he asked where i had learnt this i didn't have the guts to tell him it wasn't mine and just said it was from my repitoire! Sorry!! Feel kinda bad! Maybe steal a recipe from my site and cook it for someone and tell them it's an old one of your own!! keep up the good work on the site BTW, very impressive!

[Julie]

This looks wonderful. I haven't cooked enough things from Regan Daley's book but I've been happy with what I have made, and this bundt cake is now on my list of things to try.

I love your description of puttering around the kitchen. I think you've perfectly captured that pleasurable feeling.

[pinknest]

i am a fan of all things bundt. thanks for sharing!

[Bakerina]

Oh, Regan Daley is a prize. I make her apricot cornmeal cake every summer, during the twelve minutes that fresh apricots are at the greenmarket, and her oatmeal-stout cake has been my standard birthday cake for years. I can't believe I let this particular cake escape my radar -- well, we'll just have to fix *that*. :)

Yours, incidentally, is so stunning that I would fall to the ground, weeping, if only there were a spot on the floor uncovered by cookbooks and yarn on which to fall.

[kw]

In the Sweet Kitchen is one of my favorite cookbooks of all time. Her All in One Pan Chocolate cake is so easy I have memorized it after having made it so many times. You should give it a try, her description in the book is long and drawn out but really all it is so simple you literally make it in the pan you bake it in and it is delicious.

[Susan]

The cake's officially gone after spending its relatively short life protected from marauders under the armored bundt pan it was baked in - no one knew it was there. The raisins were more than "perfectly acceptable"; they were downright innocuous. Thanks for pointing up this easy, satisfying recipe.

[Luisa]

Niall - I should get a cut of your bonus or something!

Julie - thank you. It never ceases to make me happy, that kitchen puttering.

Pinknest - you're welcome! I hope you like the cake - it's a beauty of a Bundt (groan).

Jen - I'm thrilled to know your favorites from her book. That apricot cornmeal one looks totally bewitching. The oatmeal stout sounds more "interesting", but with your endorsement, I will have to try it out.

kw - thanks for the tip! I'm all for simplicity and ease of clean-up. And you can never have too many recipes for chocolate cake, right?

Susan - Oh, I'm so glad you agree about those raisins! And the cake. So, did the marauders get their piece?

[Susan]

Oh, yes, everyone got their cut eventually. It seemed so greedy not to share. : }