I have a recipe that calls for potato starch, the cake turned out really good, but what is the purpose for the potato starch? What does it do to a cake? I only used it because the recipe called for it, but I have no clue what it's for.

I've never seen it used in cakes before but it's used in yeasted bread recipes often. In bread it acts as a dough conditioner and helps with moistness. It gives the bread a nice even crumb, feeds the yeast and keeps it moist. Maybe the conditioning properties effect the crumb and moistness in cake as well?

The cake did turn out very moist, it was a chocolate pound cake. The crust was crunchy from the Sugar in the Raw which was added. I never used this in a cake either.

The recipe only called for a TBS or 2 of potato starch, along with the flour. If it adds moistness, I wonder if I could add a little to other cake recipes?

Warren Brown (Cake Love in D.C./Food Network) uses potato starch in his cakes. He says it gives it better flavor and helps with moisture (I think).

I have made a few cakes from CakeLove and also a BC recipe from that book that all called for potato starch. I have not liked the texture of the cakes...too chewy. Don't know if it is from the potato starch or not. The BC that I made was a complete disaster. It tasted like sweet mashed potatoes. Had to throw the entire batch out. In his book he says not to substitute corn starch for the potato starch, but I am tempted to try it as I do not like the taste the potato starch leaves behind.

Only like 1 or 2 tablespoons of the potato starch were used in the cakes. The BC was 2 tablespoons. Not only did the BC taste like mashed potatos, but it had a very similar consistency to mashed potatos as well. I don't know what the purpose of the starch was in the BC. I might try that recipe again and omit any starch completely and see if it works. I've never added starch to a BC recipe before, so when I was making it I thought it was quite strange.

I never heard of potato starch until I found this chocolate poundcake recipe. I will go to the Food Network to check out some of Warren Brown's recipe's. Thank you for your response.

I didn't know he had a book out...need to check it out!

Well this looks like an old thread but I just checked out Waren Browns book, Cake Love, from the Library. I have read it cover to cover and have tried a few recipes. I tried some cake recipes using the potato starch, I thought. But I had actually bought potato flour. The flour was very fine and powdery. Since I didn't see anything labeled potato starch I thought this must be the same thing. Well it's not! After making three cakes. I knew this was wrong. The cake batter did taste like mashed potatos. Tootie, I wonder if you were using the potato flour (like I did instead of the potato starch)? After reading several peoples comments about potato starch and potato flour (on the web) I finally found out I could buy potato starch at an Asian market. (I found one close by and bought some). The potato starch is definately more the texture or corn starch. (But don't use corn starch). Anyway I'm going to try the recipes over, using the correct ingredient. Also Tootie, I did make the (vanilla) italian meringue bc from the book it does not call for the potato starch. The rest of his bc recipes do call for a couple T. of the potato starch but he says they are more of a pastry cream-based buttercream (those recipies also call for egg yolks not egg whites like the italian bc). I did make the coconut ("pastry" bc) using the yolks and (correct) potato starch. It was FABULOUS! No tasting like potatos there. So anyone else who has looked at his recipes and wants to try them I would suggest that you make sure you follow them exactly. Make sure you are buying potato starch not potato flour. Look at the consistence and you will know for sure! I'll report back after I have tried the cake recipes a second time using the potato starch not the potato flour!

...that word above should say consistency. Make sure you check the consisteny. That way you will know if it is starch or flour!

cocobean, i got your PM, but I'll answer you here.

No, I did not use potato flour. I've never even heard of potato flour. I did use potato starch. I had to look hard to find it and finally found it at a health food store. And yes, I followed the instructions in his book to the T. I'm good that way.

I've tried a couple of the BC icings in there that use the potato starch and they've always had that slight hint of potato taste to me. Didn't like the texture at all either. It could be a personal preference thing though. Some may not like the taste or texture and others may love it.

I've made a several of his cake recipes and most have turned out very well though. I also have made his lemon curd and it is delicious.

Anyway, regarding the bad BC experiences I've had, I used the exact ingredients he called for and followed the directions meticulously and still didn't like the outcome. I've since found some BC recipes I use on a consistent basis that workk wonderfully for me. Thanks for trying to problem solve for me though. I'm glad you've had success with them.

tootie, thought you might have made the same mistake I did with the potato flour (since you could taste the potato flavor). Guess it was just my mistake.