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Giant Potato Cake

Recipe

Serves: 20 | Prep time: 1 hour | Cooking time: 3 hours

Side

Ingredients

For the Potato Cake

  • 2kg Maris Piper Potatoes
  • 200ml Milk
  • 200ml Double Cream
  • 5 cloves of Garlic, minced
  • 2 tsp Cornflour, dissolved in a little water
  • 2 sprigs of Rosemary, stems removed and finely chopped
  • 2 sprigs of Thyme, stems removed and finely chopped
  • 260g Gruyère

For the frosting and piping

  • 1.5kg Mashed Potato, homemade or store-bought
  • 1 Egg Yolk
  • 2 tbsp Cream
  • 6 tbsp Butter, melted
  • Salt and Pepper, to season

For the drizzle

  • 250ml Hot Chicken Gravy, fairly thick

To decorate

  • 6 sprigs Rosemary
  • 18 sprigs Thyme

You will need a 6-inch and an 8-inch cake tin lined with baking paper, a piping bag fitted with a large star tip and a piping back fitted with a standard size star/shell tip.

    

Method

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 160oC/140oC Fan/Gas Mark 2.
  2. Mix the cream, milk and 1 tbsp butter in a large pan with the herbs. Stir in the garlic and allow this to heat but not boil. Then, allow to cool and add the cornflour and mix.
  3. Peel and finely slice the potatoes. Layer them in each tin, packing tightly and adding a little of the cream mixture and grated cheese in each layer.
  4. Bake these on the middle shelf, covered with foil for 2.5 hours. Remove the smaller tin but allow the larger tin a further 30 minutes. Remove once the potatoes are tender and golden.
  5. Whilst the dauphinoise potatoes are cooking, mix together 500g mash, an egg yolk, 1 tbsp cream and 1tbsp melted butter. Mix until smooth.
  6. Pipe 12 small swirls (as if decorating 12 small cupcakes) onto parchment paper. Pipe some smaller rows of shell shapes using the small nozzle. Bake the shells for 5 minutes at 200oC and the swirls for approximately 15 minutes until they have lovely golden edges.
  7. Allow the cakes to cool slightly until they are cool enough to touch.
  8. Take the remaining mashed potato and heat it in the microwave for 4 minutes. Add the remaining butter and mix until smooth.
  9. Using a palette knife, carefully cover the cakes with a thin layer of mashed potato. Smooth the edges and top to get a frosting style finish on the cakes.
  10. Stack the cakes and place the piped swirls on the top, with the rows of shells around the base of each tier. Decorate with herbs and carefully drizzle over the hot gravy.