SHORTCUTS: The perfect dessert for your valentine

If you want to learn how to turn shriveled potatoes into something dense, moist, chocolaty and sweet, read on.

It all started with a forgotten bag of sweet potatoes.

You know, one of those items that get shoved to the back of your overcrowded refrigerator?

(The Internet informs me that refrigerating sweet potatoes makes them tough and tasteless; didn't apply in this case.)

I began by scrubbing the dimpled tubers with a vegetable brush then cooking them in the microwave until they were soft and squeezable. When cool enough to handle, I cut them in half and scraped the fibrous pulp into a measuring cup. (Store excess pulp in the freezer for another baking day).

While the potatoes were steaming in the microwave, the spicy smell of their natural sweetness permeated my kitchen like warm gingerbread. Inspired by the wafting aroma, a pinch of cinnamon became a key ingredient in this mysterious recipe.

I blended a box of devil's food cake mix with the required amount of water and some sweet potato pulp. (Mix by hand, making sure no visible trace of the vivid orange flesh remains in the chocolate batter.) I considered doing this step in the blender but chose to maintain the integrity of the pulp. It paid off in the end. The high moisture content and fibrous quality of the potatoes, gave this rich, dense dessert a moist, porous texture.

Salvaging a partial tub of leftover store-bought icing, I stirred in a few tablespoons of malted milk powder to add another layer of chocolaty goodness.

My husband gave this cake 11 points on a scale of 10!

Consider serving this decadent dessert to wow your loved one this Valentine's Day. (Photo shows cake cut-out with a large heart-shaped cookie cutter sprayed with no-stick cooking spray.)

CHOCOLATE TATER CAKE (no eggs, no oil)

1 (18.25-oz.) box devil's food cake mix

1 1/3 cups water

15 oz. cooked sweet potato pulp, lightly packed (about 2 potatoes)

½ teaspoon cinnamon

½ tub creamy vanilla frosting

3 T. Carnation Chocolate Malted Milk Powder (or instant cocoa)

Cooking spray

n Preheat oven to 350° degrees for metal or glass pans; 325°degrees for dark or coated pans. Spray pans with cooking spray; (2-8-inch round cake pans or one 9 x 13-inch).

n In a large bowl, blend dry mix, water, cooked sweet potato pulp and cinnamon by hand; mix until well blended. Pour batter into cake pans.

n Bake for 30-35 minutes, add 3-5 minutes to bake time for dark or coated pans. Cake is done when sides pull away from pan or toothpick inserted in center comes out clean; cake will be moist.

n Place pans on cooling rack for 15 minutes. Remove cake rounds from pans, cool completely before frost-ing. Frost tops; then stack to layer or, for 9 x 13-inch cake, frost top only.

(Editor's note: If you don't have canned pumpkin on hand, I tested this same recipe substitut-ing 2 ripe bananas, 1 tablespoon vanilla plus 1 tablespoon of brown sugar for the sweet potatoes and cin-namon -- another success story!)

Mary Ann Kauchak's third cookbook, "SHORTCUTS, TOO" is available at Mom's Apple Pie in Occoquan. She can be reached at makauchak@comcast.