Chocolate Mashed Potato Cake recipe takes leftover mashed potatoes and turns them into a moist chocolate cake with rich chocolate frosting!
Once a holiday is over, I have a fridge full of leftovers.
I have a love/hate relationship with leftovers. It’s nice not having to cook again for a day or so, but then I get a little tired of eating the same thing again.
That’s why it’s nice to have recipes that repurpose those leftovers into new dishes. Last week, I shared a recipe for slow cooker scalloped potatoes with ham that is a great way to make use of leftover ham.
Today, I have this Chocolate Mashed Potato Cake recipe that uses leftover mashed potatoes in a whole new way. I love baking with mashed potatoes! I use them in my Amish dinner rolls to make the rolls lighter and fluffier.
The mashed potatoes work the same magic in this cake. The cake is really moist, and the potatoes also help to give it a fluffier texture. I cut a fair amount of sugar from the original recipe, but we didn’t notice that it was gone.
If you like your desserts really sweet, I’d suggest adding an additional 1/4-1/2 cup of granulated sugar and doubling the frosting portion. As it is, there’s a thin layer of frosting, which is perfect for me, but many people like a thicker layer of frosting.
This is a chocolate cake that my daughter asks for a lot. She even chose this cake as her birthday cake one year. I hope you’ll enjoy it just as much as we do!
More chocolate cake recipes!
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Chocolate Mashed Potato Cake
Ingredients
Chocolate Mashed Potato Cake
- 1 3/4 cups cake flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup butter (at cool room temperature)
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs (at room temperature)
- 1 cup buttermilk (low-fat ok. At room temperature)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate (melted and cooled slightly)
- 3/4 cup plain mashed potatoes (warm*)
Chocolate Frosting**
- 6 tablespoons butter (softened)
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 1/2 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate (melted and cooled slightly)
- 2 tablespoons milk, half-and-half, or heavy cream
Instructions
To make the cake
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and flour a 9x13-inch baking dish. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar together until combined.
- Beat in eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla until well-combined.
- Add mashed potatoes and melted chocolate. Mix until incorporated.
- Stir in flour mixture until just incorporated.
- Pour batter into prepared baking pan, smoothing as needed.
- Bake for 35-50 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Let cake cool to room temperature before frosting.
To make the frosting
- Beat butter and powdered sugar together until well-combined.
- Mix in chocolate and milk until completely incorporated.
- Spread over cooled cake.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Adapted from Desserts From the Famous Loveless Cafe.
Carol Sutton says
How long will this cake keep
Kate says
Since it’s so moist, it’s best eaten in the first 2 days.
Ahmed says
Can I use white chocolate instead of the dark chocolate and add some orange zest to make an orange white chocolate cake? Or it will feel like mashed potatoes?
Kate says
Sorry, but I’m not sure how it would be with white chocolate. I don’t think it would taste like mashed potatoes, but I’m just not sure how white chocolate would taste with this cake.
Gemma says
Totally gorgeous..My sister’s birthday is tomorrow and I need help because I want to know if I want to make the cake for a 9″inch cake tin..should I make 1/2 of the recipe or 2/3 or 3/4 the recipe??
Kate says
Thanks! I haven’t tried cutting the recipe in half, but it half of the recipe *should* work in a 9-inch round cake pan. Good luck! =)
Nada Ahmed says
I made it yesterday and it came out incredibly moist and it was a melt in mouth cake but I noticed that it needed some cocoa powder to be richer in flavor and because I like chocolate cakes without any added frosting or even drizzle so can I add some cocoa powder and omit some flour?? Please tell me the right way to do so?
Thanks in advance
Kate says
Thank you! You can try adding cocoa powder in place of some of the frosting. Unfortunately, it isn’t an exact exchange, and you need more cocoa powder to replace the same amount of flour. For instance, if you’re replacing 1/4 cup of flour, you will usually need around 1/3 cup of cocoa powder. Hope that helps! =)
nada says
can I use vegetable oil instead of butter ?
Kate says
You can! You’ll only need 1/3 cup of vegetable oil if you use that instead of the butter.
Nada says
Thanks for your help, I will give it a try and tell you but I am sure it will be gorgeous but I want to ask you if I do use the creaming method even if I use butter or just mix all the wet ingredients together then pour wet ingredients into the dry ones??
Thanks in advance
Chelsea says
I was skeptical about this cake. I didn’t know if it would take like chocolate mashed potatoes. lol But it is one of the best cakes I’ve ever made! I made extra frosting and it was so good! Thanks for the recipe. It’s a keeper!
Kate says
Thankfully, the potatoes just make the cake light and fluffy.=) Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for taking the time to come back and leave a comment!