Gluten Free Casually: Lemon Mashed Potato Cake

Lemon Mashed Potato Cake. Okay, the true geek in me comes out in this recipe. I was watching a sci-fy show on BBC and the characters were eating a lemon mashed potato cake and talking about how wonderful it tasted. Curious, I jumped on the computer to research this unusual cake especially since the characters were bragging about how moist it was. To my excitement, I realized that it was already a gluten free cake without me having to alter it at all! I also had all the ingredients. I just had to try it. The original recipe was written in grams rather than cups so I got out my handy little scale and weighed all my ingredients and then put into measuring cups so I could write it out for everyone else.

It is indeed a very moist cake. I have tried it both with baked potatoes that I peeled, cooled & and mashed without milk or butter and I have tried it with instant mashed potatoes - cooked according to box instructions. Although both are tasty...I prefer the fresh potato version over the one made with instant mashed potatoes. The texture with instant mashed potatoes has more of a baked cheesecake texture while the one made with fresh potatoes has more of a sponge cake texture. I have also made it with oranges instead of lemons. I am betting lime flavor would also be quite tasty. I will be experimenting with this basic recipe a little more in the future! This is an awesome way to use up leftover mashed potatoes as long as you don't have garlic or spices in them!

Lemon Mashed Potato Cake Recipe:

200 grams of butter, softened but not melted, approximately 14 tablespoons
200 grams of raw sugar, approximately 1 cup
4 eggs
175 grams of finely ground almonds, approximately 1 3/4 cup. (mine was ground into a flour texture) If you want to make it nut free, you can substitute either brown rice flour or if you don't have a gluten allergy then by all means use regular flour
250 grams of mashed potatoes (preferably without any milk or if you are using leftover mashed potatoes make sure it doesn't have spicy seasonings in them!)
zest of 3 lemons (can substitute limes or oranges)
2 tsp. baking powder (I used gluten free)

Drizzle:

4 tbs. sugar
juice of 1 lemon (or substitute lime or orange)
1 tsp. lemon zest

Preheat oven to 355 degrees. Butter (or use cooking spray) to coat a spring-form pan or round cake pan. Beat the sugar and butter together until light and fluffy. Gradually add eggs, one at a time. Fold in ground almonds, cold mashed potatoes, lemon zest and baking powder.

Spoon into prepared pan and make sure it is pretty level. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until top is golden and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes before removing to cooling rack. Mix sugar and lemon juice glaze together then spoon over cake letting it drip down the sides. Let cake cool completely before slicing.

You can see the difference below in the photos of the one made with regular potatoes and the one I made using instant mashed potatoes prepared according to box instructions. Both were tasty!