This TikTok Potato Cake Is the Wild Energy We Deserve Right Now

So far, 2021 has been… not so great. But some signs point toward a year full of growth, ingenuity, and selfless public service: Enter this TikTok potato cake. If you were expecting a sweet cake, perhaps fortified with potato starch or a sweet potato glaze, I am so sorry, for this is a savory potato cake made with nothing but the finest spuds. If you want to make your own potato cake (of course you do), TikTok user Zacharias Hayes-Thro, a.k.a @zhthot, the baker behind the show-stopping nightshade creation, laid it all out in his viral step-by-step video.

First, take to the internet and be absolutely shocked when a search for a savory potato cake recipe that is not a latke and is shaped like an actual cake renders very few results. Next, decide you’re going to improvise, and create your base layer, which is made up of [checks notes] slices of baked potato. Top this first layer with mashed potatoes, then alternate layers until your cake is tall and beautiful. The genius baker notes that he “did it tall enough to look like an actual cake,” which feels very important since this is an actual cake. Please note, this is not a single layer cake, so don’t even think about serving it with less than three layers. Once the cake is fully layered and frosted (with more of those supple mashed potatoes), chill it overnight, giving ample time for the potatoes to get nice and hard. The next morning, after pinching yourself and realizing this is not a dream, and you really do have a beautiful mashed potato cake waiting in the fridge, it’s time to decorate your new child. Pipe on little mashed potato flowers “to make it look all professional,” garnish with ornamental tater tots and potato wedges, and carefully decorate the sides with crisped hashbrowns. Congratulations, you are perfect.

The result of all this hard work? “When I tasted it, oh fricking lord, it tasted like potatoes,” @zhthot says in his video. Don’t believe him? I guess you’ll have to make your own potato cake, perhaps with a couple adjustments...