Sweet Potato Chocolate Cake and Soul-Destroying Custard

I just finished a sweet potato chocolate cake for my daughter's birthday. I loosely based it on a recipe from Betty Bake.

First, I roasted sweet potatoes. Mmm! That caramelizes them. Then, I put 1/3 cup dry baking cocoa, 5-6 tablespoons of coconut cream, and a dash of salt into a bowl and microwaved it 10 seconds at a time, whisking between each heating, until it looked smooth.

Then I beat together 3 eggs, a cup of mixed coconut and olive oil, and a cup of brown sugar. When that was fluffy, I added in about a cup of mashed roasted sweet potatoes.

Then I added in the melted chocolate mix. After all three were well mixed, I added in one at a time: about an eighth of a cup more dry baking cocoa, a teaspoon each of baking powder and baking soda, a good dash of salt, a cup of mixed brown and white rice flour, and a half cup of tapioca starch.


The batter was very thick and sticky. Poured it into a prepared 10" pan and baked at 325 for 25 minutes. It turned out really well, a delicious, dense cake a little like a cake brownie.

I tried to make a custard to go with it, but that was a disaster. I'm not sure what went wrong.

I used two quarts of almond milk and six tablespoons of vanilla extract, and heated it to a low boil. I took it off the heat, and slowly added in a whisked mix of 6 eggs, 8 tablespoons of maple syrup, 3 tablespoons of rice flour, 4 tablespoons of tapioca flour. It started to thicken, and I stirred, and everything seemed to be going well. I put it back on the heat on low, and stirred for a few minutes, but it didn't get any thicker. Nothing. I added one more whisked egg. Nothing. I added another whisked egg. Still nothing. I added another tablespoon of tapioca blended with a little dribble of water. Nothing. It was almond vanilla maple egg soup.

Despair.

After consulting Google on "custard problems" and "how to rescue custard" I realized the chemistry was more complex than I'd thought. No saving it. At least it hadn't curdled.Yet.

I dumped two packets of plain gelatin in, whisked hard, and put it in a covered bowl in the fridge. I don't know how to describe it now. It's some sort of gloopy suspension of particles.

Tastes good, I guess.We spooned it over the cake as a sauce.