Deacon's Mashed Potato Cake is a classic example of the creativity and inventiveness of Amish cooking and baking. I mean, geez, leftover mashed potatoes in a cake? (I know, the Amish didn't invent this, but it's still creative). Usually leftover mashed potatoes are just re-heated and reserved or fried into patties. So the fact that they could instead find their way into a cake is intriguing.

Chocolate cake recipes are a dime-a-dozen in Amish settlements, but this particular recipe really does stand out. The flavor is full, rich, smooth...you get a cake that is unique, not dry, crumbly, or overpowering in the other direction. This is a good, good cake!

Deacon's Mashed Potato Cake is a recipe sent to me by an Amish woman in Holmes County, Ohio. Not sure why she named it "Deacon's" unless it is a favorite at after-church gatherings.

Mashed potatoes are a staple of large Amish gatherings and since most don't have microwaves to zap leftovers they often look for other ways to use leftovers since reheating them in the oven would tend to dry them out. One of the most common ways to use up mashed potatoes would be, as I said, to be frying them into patties. But this cake would be a sweet way to use them. I mean sometimes Amish weddings or gatherings will have HUGE amounts of leftover mashed potatoes, so that would be a lot of patties to fry up. So being able to use some - even a measly cup - is something. This cake recipe does only call for a cup of mashed potatoes, so it's not like you are going to be using a whole bowl. That said, I do think you could use a 1 1 /2 and still come up with a great cake. Or make two cakes!

A lot of Amish cooks don't like using boxed cake mixes, so this Deacon's Mashed Potato Cake provides a way to make a super chocolate cake and you know what all the ingredients are in it. As far as frosting goes, this cake is so moist that it doesn't NEED frosting, but, geez, I can't imagine making a chocolate cake and not adding some sort of frosting to it. So your choice!