Sweet Potato Cake Recipe (2024)

Topped with cinnamon cream cheese frosting and candied pecans and baked with fall spices, sweet potato cake is the perfect fall dessert. This six inch cake is part of my collection of small cake recipes.

What can you do with sweet potatoes? Make a sweet potato cake! Most people roast sweet potatoes as a side dish or make sweet potato fries but you can actually turn your sweet potatoes into dessert too.

You may already be familiar with sweet potato casserole, a creamy soft mash topped with mini marshmallows. It’s often served as a Thanksgiving side dish but let’s face it, it’s kind of a dessert.

How about a sweet potato cake instead? Just like pumpkin puree does for pumpkin cakes, sweet potatoes make this cake extra moist.

Why I Like This Cake

Like my favorite carrot cake recipe, this sweet potato cake is another one of my six inch cakes. I find it to be the perfect size for a small family, as a part of a sampling in a dessert buffet or even a potluck with multiple dessert offerings.

This cake recipe uses whole roasted sweet potatoes. I love using fresh ingredients and they can be roasted ahead of time. I roasted two large sweet potatoes in the oven and then peeled and mashed them up with a hand blender.

I’ve also added cinnamon, cardamom and nutmeg to the cake batter to add some extra flavor. These warm spices are especially enjoyed during the fall season!

This sweet potato cake is paired with a cinnamon cream cheese frosting and garnished with chopped candied pecans.

Substitutions For This Recipe

• If you decide to serve it for a larger gathering, you can double the recipe and use 8 inch pans.
• You can keep it as a two layer cake rather than splitting the two layers to make four.
• You can also choose to use canned sweet potato puree instead of roasting whole sweet potatoes.
• Feel free to adjust the amounts of or even change the spices in the cake. Ginger powder or ground cloves would work well with the flavor.
• Cinnamon tastes divine but other frostings to consider would be a marshmallow frosting or maple frosting.
• To keep it nut free, you can also decorate it with mini marshmallows or drizzle it with a salted caramel sauce.

Yield: 12 slices

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Topped with cinnamon cream cheese frosting and candied pecans and baked with fall spices, sweet potato cake is the perfect fall dessert.

See Also

Soft Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Cookies | Swanky RecipesHomemade Vanilla Pudding Recipe - Butter with a Side of BreadFunfetti Christmas Cake Roll RecipePumpkin Gingerbread Biscotti Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 ⅓ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoon unsalted butter melted, cooled
• 3 tablespoon vegetable oil
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup light-brown sugar packed
• 1 cup sweet potato puree (about 2-3 roasted sweet potatoes)
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions

1. Preset the oven to 350°F. Butter, line with parchment, and flour two 6 inch cake pans.
2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom and salt in a large bowl and set aside.
3. In an electric mixer, paddle the butter, oil, vanilla and sugars until light and fluffy. There should be no clumps of brown sugar.
4. Add the egg and sweet potato puree and mix until incorporated.
5. On low speed, add the dry mixture until just incorporated. Mix the last bit of flour with a spatula to avoid over mixing.
6. Divide the batter evenly between the two cake pans. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick placed in the center comes out clean.
7. Let the cakes cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Then, un-mold and cool completely on racks.
8. Top the cake layers with your favorite frosting or use my cinnamon cream cheese frosting recipe cream cheese frosting recipe. (See notes for 4 layered cake)

Notes

To make a four layer cake, I recommend freezing the two baked layers after completely cooling them. Once frozen, they are easier to slice in half. Use a long serrated knife and a cutting board for support.

You can also frost the cake while it is still frozen. Just be sure to let it thaw before serving.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 12Serving Size: 1 slice
Amount Per Serving:Calories: 196Total Fat: 7gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 39mgSodium: 110mgCarbohydrates: 30gFiber: 1gSugar: 17gProtein: 3g

This nutrition information is only an approximate provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. Information comes from Nutritionix, an automated nutrition calculator.

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