Did I already mention that Korean sweet potatoes (goguma in Korean) are one of my favorite foods to eat in the winter?
When I visited home for Thanksgiving my mom stocked up on gogumas for me to steam in the microwave and roast in the oven. Just to emphasize how much I love these purple vegetables, I made goguma bread! It was the most moist bread I’ve had and just enough sweetness all around from the bread and the whipping cream.
The swiss meringue buttercream on the bread gave me the biggest headache with the icing. I threw away 2 batches until I read a lot on google on how to overcome 1) curdling of the buttercream after adding the butter 2) too liquidy of buttercream. You see, I had an issue with curdling on the first batch, curdling on the second batch and then it being too liquid on the third batch which I managed to save!! According to cakecentral, buttercream breaks when the temperature is not right.
1. If it curdles, it’s actually not abnormal and you should keep whipping. If it doesn’t come together for about 5 minutes, heat up a small scoops for 5-10 seconds in the microwave and add it back into the bowl to make the mixture warmer. Or, you can warm it with a hairdryer.
2. If it’s too liquidy, place the bowl in the fridge about 20 minutes and then whip again!
These two methods should really help because I was so close to throwing in the towel but these tricks helped me out from throwing away the third batch. AND this is all worth it for this goguma bread. The moistness keeps for days! The loaf is not that high so if you want a higher standing bread, I would recommend increasing the recipe by 1.5x. I liked the lower standing bread to have more cream to bread ratio.
Hope you enjoy!
| Servings |
one 9x5 inch loaf
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Ingredients
Korean Sweet Potato Bread (Goguma Bread)
- 8 1/2 Tbsp (120 g) unsalted butter 1 stick and a tiny bit - room temperature
- 3 Tbsp (40 g) light brown sugar
- 5 Tbsp (40 g) confectioners (powered) sugar
- 1/16 tsp salt
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 5 1/2 Tbsp (70 g) mashed Korean sweet potato goguma
- 1 1/4 cup (150 g) cubed uncooked sweet potato
- 2 Tbsp (15 g) flour any type
- 3/4 cup (90 g) cake flour
- 5 1/4 Tbsp (30 g) almond flour
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
Korean Sweet Potato Swiss Meringue Buttercream
- 2 egg whites
- 1 1/2 cup (150 g) granulated sugar
- 14 Tbsp (200 g) unsalted butter 1 stick + 6 more Tbsp ; softened but still cool and not melted
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 5 1/2 Tbsp (70 g) mashed Korean sweet potato
Ingredients
Korean Sweet Potato Bread (Goguma Bread)
Korean Sweet Potato Swiss Meringue Buttercream
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Instructions
Korean Sweet Potato Bread (Goguma Bread)
- For the cubed sweet potatoes - use a potato peeler and take the skin off. Cut into 1 cm cubes. Nothing needs to be done for the sweet potato which will be mashed. Keep skin on! Steam the gogumas in a steamer (or directly in a pot filled with water).
- Once the cubed sweet potatoes are half way cooked (about 5-7 minutes), take these out and set aside to cool. Once cooled, add the 2 Tbsp of flour to it and mix.
- Once the rest of the sweet potato is completely cooked and soft, take the peel off and mash away! Cool! * I like to stick a chopstick through the potato to test it's softness. It should go through completely with no difficulty.
- Beat the butter until soft and creamy. Add in the mashed sweet potatoes. * Make sure the sweet potatoes have cooled, if not it will melt the butter and that is a no-no!
- Add in the light brown sugar, powered sugar, and salt - beat for 2-3 minutes on a stand or hand mixer until all completely incorporated. Slowly add in the eggs a bit at a type while continuing to mix. Add in the vanilla extract. * The batter make look to fall apart but just keep mixing!
- Sift the cake flour, almond flour and baking powder into the mixture. Last, mix in the cubed sweet potatoes and give is a nice easy mix - just until all incorporated. .
- Lightly grease a 9x5 loaf pan (or 8 1/2 x 4 1/2). Bake at 340 for about 50 minutes. Increase to 350 and bake for another 10 minutes. Cool to room temperature until piping the cream on top!
Korean Sweet Potato Swiss Meringue Buttercream
- In the bowl of an electric stand mixer (if you have one), briefly whisk together the egg whites and sugar just until they are combined.
- Create a double boiler - fill a pot with a few inches of water and bring the water to a simmer. Place the mixing bowl on top of the simmering water pot to a create a double boiler. Whisk a few times to ensure that the egg whites don't cook into an omelet! Heat until the egg white mixture is around 150 degrees F. If you don't have a candy thermometer, the mixture should be very hot to touch and the sugar should have all dissolved. * The water should continue to simmer but should not touch the top of the mixing bowl. * I recently left my candy thermometer elsewhere and was able to make this. Just touch the mixture to make the there are no sugar particles.
- Once the egg mixture is hot, mix away with the whisk attachment! Beat on high speed until medium - stiff peaks. This should take around 8-10 minutes. When done, the mixture should also be cooled to room temperature. Swap whisk for the paddle attachment.
- Make sure the butter is softened but not warm. Put the mixer on low speed and add small chunks of butter to the cream mixture. Continue to mix until the cream comes together.
- Mix in the vanilla extract. Mix in the last mashed sweet potato until smooth and incorporated. Place the cream into a piping bag (or ziplock bag) and pipe a design on top of the bread!
Recipe Notes
This recipe is adapted from a Korean recipe which is measured in grams so I highly recommend measuring by weight if possible. I've written out by cups/Tbsp to the best of my ability.
When do you add in the cake flour??
Oh no, sorry about that! You sift it with the almond flour. I’ve added it in. Hope you enjoy!!!