Sweet Potato Chocolate Cupcakes

I have been making these cup cakes for ages, and until last weekend no one knew they had sweet potato or flaxseed in them.  They are so good, and so much like little mud cakes that unless you know they are packed with lots of goodness you really won't know.

If you want to get some extra nutrition into your family, without them knowing, and still give them a sweet treat, try these little cakes. The secrets are to make sure the sweet potato is very soft and very well mashed, almost a puree, so that it combines completely with the dry ingredients, and to beat the oil/egg/flaxseed mixture for at least 5 minutes, so that it is very thick and fluffy. Do not be tempted to skimp on the time or your cakes will be dry, hard little rocks.

Ingredients: 
1 cup of mashed sweet potato 
1 ¼  cups of spelt flour
¼ cup of unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon bicarb soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon of salt
½ cup of buttermilk 
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup of olive oil
½ cup of raw sugar
1 large egg 
3 tablespoons of flaxseed meal soaked 
2 tablespoons of water

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Prepare patty pans.
2. Prick one medium sweet potato with a fork (a lot) and cook in microwave for 5 minutes turning every minute.
3. Combine dry ingredients into a bowl (flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt
4. Combine buttermilk, vanilla and sweet potato until well blended. If you want to keep the sweet potato a secret, make sure you get rid of any sweet potato chunks no matter how small.
5. In a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer on medium high, beat the oil while slowly adding the sugar. Add the egg, flaxseed meal and water – 1 at a time. Beat for 5 minutes. This is important, don't be tempted to skip this step or even shorten the time.
6. On low speed add the sweet potato mix, then the flour mix.
7. Use a 1/4 cup measure to fill patty pans and bake 15 – 20 minutes. Test after 15 minutes, as these cakes do not take well to being over-cooked.
8. Cool on a cake rack, then ice with your favourite chocolate icing.

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