Recipe of the Week....Sweet Potato Pound Cake

I hope you all had a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving! We drove to Edmond to spend Thanksgiving day with Mike's sister, Lea Ann, and her family and had a terrific time! Lea Ann and her hubby John are incredible cooks and hosts...they always make everyone that visits their beautiful home feel so welcome and loved. (Thanks, John & Lea Ann for your hospitality...love you guys!!)

One of the dishes that I took to John & Lea Ann's was a sweet potato pound cake. I found the recipe in the November issue of Country Living, a magazine that I just love!! I thought I'd try it out on the Thanksgiving crowd to see if it passed the taste test for my blog....and, since I'm posting the recipe, you know that it did pass the test - ha! ha!

Ingredients:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups leftover mashed sweet potatoes (or a 40 oz. can of sweet potatoes, drained and mashed, which is what I used)
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup chopped pecans

Method:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease two 9" loaf pans with baking spray. In a medium bowl sift next six ingredients. (NOTE: I was in a hurry and didn't sift and it turned out fine!)

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium, cream butter, sugars, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Blend in mashed sweet potatoes, then eggs, one at a time. With a mixer on low, add flour mixture in thirds; combine just enough to blend.

Spoon batter evenly into prepared pans. Sprinkle pecans over batter. Bake until cakes test clean when a skewer is inserted into centers, 70 to 80 minutes. Cool in pans on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Remove from pans and continue to cool completely on wire rack. Slice and enjoy!!!  YIELD: 2 loaves

Here are a couple of suggestions that came from my "taste testers":

Megan, (my niece), and her sweet boyfriend, JT said: "It tastes good, but we like more spices, so you could add more cinnamon and nutmeg".

Roberta, (my brother-in-law John's mom), said: "Use more nuts...add them to the batter too".

And there you have it...a great recipe to re-use leftover sweet potatoes! Have a fun and safe "Black Friday" shopping day, but don't get too carried away and end up having to pay for your purchases all year long - ha! ha!

Blessings,