SECTION A:

1. Sweet Potato, cubed -200g
2. Figs (fresh or preserve), cubed – 250g
3. Bicarbonate of Soda – 1 teaspoon
4. Water – 250ml

SECTION B:

1. Cake Flour – 200g
2. Baking Powder – 2 teaspoons
3. Salt – ¼ teaspoon
4. Butter (room temperature) – 125g
5. Castor Sugar – 200g
6. Free Range Egg – 1
7. Vanilla Extract / Essence – 1 teaspoon

SECTION C

1. La Petite France Condensed Milk – 350ml
2. Pinch of good quality Salt

METHOD :

1. Gently cook the sweet potato and fig cubes with the water and baking soda until the sweet potato is still slightly firm, but cooked through. You want to cook it all gently so that the water is not completely evaporated. You need to end up with a wet mass where the figs are broken down but most of the sweet potato is still visible as cubes.
2. Set aside in the fridge and allow cooling completely.
3. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees celcius.
4. In a mixer, beat the butter, sugar, vanilla and egg until light and creamy.
5. Add the ‘sieved’ flour, baking powder and salt and gently mix until all incorporated.
6. I like to sieve the dry ingredients, in this case the flour, salt and baking powder. The reason is really to loosen the dry ingredients and allow them to mix well together, increasing the chances of a successful rise and overall cake in the end. Pretty straight forward actually, and like all things when baking, it always pays to give the recipe the focus it deserves, then you will be rewarded – this is one of those kinds of recipes.
7. Now mix your cooled sweet potato and fig mass into the batter until all incorporated.
8. You’ll find your sweet potato cubes break up into the batter now and the entire mass should not be runny but not completely stiff either, also pretty light in colour. That’s why you want to cook the figs and sweet potato gently in the first stage of the recipe.
9. Pour your batter into a prepared baking tin – we use a 9 inch (23cm) ring.
10. Bake at 180 degrees for about 40 minutes
11. Whilst it’s baking, pour your condensed milk into a small pan and gently warm it up, add a little salt to it, just a bit for a flavour twist on the syrup.
12. Once baked, remove from oven for a moment, and pour the condensed milk over the cake.
13. Place back into the oven for a couple of minutes.
14. Remove and allow to cool completely.

We decorate this cake with deep fried sweet potato crisps (peeled) and whipped cream with some caramel treat added to stiffen and flavour the cream. It’s a proper treat!