Sweet potato pie decorated with powdered sugar

Sweet potatoes are still plentiful in the store even in late November so I couldn't resist making a pie.

I like sweets potatoes anyway they are cooked or baked so I didn't need much encouragement to bake this pie.

The traditional American recipe of baked sweet potatoes topped with marshmallows is not popular in Japan so I had to make this pie to serve my friends here. Recipe fits a 21 cm tart pan.



1. Sift the flour into a bowl. Cut butter into small cubes and mix with the flour using a pastry cutter (use a food processor if you have one). Butter should be well mixed with the flour.
2. Add the egg, sugar, salt & water and mix. Put dough on a smooth surface and knead gently until it is soft and well mixed.
3. Cover in plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour before using.

50 grams almond powder
50 grams powdered sugar
50 grams soft butter
5 grams flour
1 egg
5 grams dark rum
1. Mix the butter and powdered sugar. Add the egg and mix. Add the almond powder, flour & rum. Mix well.

1 sweet potato (baked, peeled & sliced about 300 grams)
1/2 sweet potato thinly sliced (these pieces will be boiled)
30 grams butter
1 tablespoon brown sugar
15 grams honey
10 grams dark rum
2 egg yolks
100 grams cream

Arrange slices in a nice pattern

1. Soften the butter then add the brown sugar, honey, rum & egg yolks. Mix well with a whisk.
2. Boil the sliced sweet potatoes in water (add 1 tablespoon sugar to the water) until they are soft. Do not over  boil  or they will break apart.
3. Add the 300 grams sweet potato to #1. Use a food processor to mix together if possible. Add the cream. To remove the lumps, you can  put the mixture through a sieve.
4. Roll the dough to fit the tart pan and cut off the extra. Fill the inside with sweet potato filling. Cover with almond cream (do not add too much). Arrange the sliced sweet potatoes on top in a nice circle pattern.
5. Bake at 170 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes then reduce to 160 degrees and bake for 40 minutes until browned.



Use another tart pan for a more interesting shape

Serve with coffee!

Chestnut mousse cake decorated with glazed chestnuts

As you can tell from my postings, I like mousse cakes. A creamy mousse combined with cake and a filling makes for a great dessert.

My collection of chestnut recipes is growing -- which gives me a great idea for a cook book :)  Anyway, this is a new recipe I found this year and couldn't wait to try it.

This cake has 3 items to make but if you want to skip the chocolate ganache you could.

A layer of cake is on the bottom, followed by mousse, another layer of cake & chocolate ganache topped with mousse. Recipe is enough for a 18 cm x 5 cm ring.

Chocolate ganache

Pan should not be too deep this pan is  28 cm x 28 cm

Cake
80 grams powdered sugar
100 grams almond powder
30 grams flour
3 eggs
20 grams melted butter
130 grams egg white
60 grams sugar

1. Mix the 3 eggs in a bowl. Sift the powdered sugar, almond powder & flour together. Add to the eggs and mix well with a whisk.
2. Whip the egg whites and then add the sugar in portions until soft peaks form. Add to #1 above. Add the melted butter and mix gently with a spatula.
3. Pour into a baking pan and bake about 15 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius.





1. Cut the cake so that it fits inside the 18 cm ring (put mousse film inside the ring). Fill about 1/3 with the mousse. Add another layer of cake (cut smaller) and the chocolate ganache. Add some pieces of marron around the inside. Fill the rest with the mousse. Put in the refrigerator until it becomes firm - at least an hour or two.

Place a piece of cake on the bottom and put the ring on cake

Cake is ready for the refrigerator to become firm

It is only mid-November but I heard Christmas carols in the store this evening.

There are some great fall recipes that I want to share with everyone before Christmas so I need to get busy with my updates.

Cakes featuring chestnut paste are hugely popular in Japan. The infamous Mont Blanc cake, is another standard in all bakeries here.

This recipe is quite easy - mixing butter, sugar, eggs, flour, etc. The baking pan is unique though. It is in the shape of chestnuts. Not sure how easy this is to find in your country but I bought mine at Cuoca in Tokyo.

Dough should be smooth

The  baking pan I used is in the shape of  a chestnut

This pan is super easy to use. You can directly pour the dough into the pan without using butter or oil sprays.

Fill each mold half way and add a piece of chestnut in the middle & the fill the rest of the way