Sweet potato cake

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas 4 and butter a 23cm round cake pan. In a large bowl, cream the softened butter with the vanilla seeds (reserve the pod for making the sauce), brown sugar, nutmeg, mace and salt.

2. Add the eggs and mix in until well blended, then add the sweet potatoes and yoghurt, and mix well.

3. Combine the baking powder and the flour and add to the mixture a little at a time, until all of the mix is incorporated and the results are smooth.

4. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the tip of a knife inserted into it comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin.

5. While the cake is cooking, make the orange sauce: In a frying pan, heat the orange juice with the reserved vanilla bean, orange zest, honey and nutmeg. Bring to the boil and simmer for 3-5 minutes, or until it is a thick syrup. Add the orange segments, mix them well to coat and remove the vanilla bean.

6. Turn the cake out of the tin and dust with icing sugar to serve, spooning the warm sauce on top.