Sweet Potato Cake is moist with a luscious, homemade, creamy cinnamon cream cheese frosting. It requires only a few simple ingredients and tastes like it came out of a professional bakery.
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Making your own cake at home from scratch is easy and I have quite a few other cake recipes you should try. A few favorites are Old Fashioned Applesauce Cake, Banana Cake with Homemade Brown Butter Frosting, and a classic Carrot Cake.
Why This Recipe Works
Homemade Sweet potato cake is a decadent dessert that is simple enough for weekly dessert but fancy enough for a holiday dessert spread on Thanksgiving or Christmas. This moist cake has a similar texture to a spice cake and the dreamy frosting is very creamy.
Ingredients needed for this cake
- All purpose flour
- Baking powder and baking soda: Your leavening agents.
- Spices: Salt, cinnamon, ground ginger, nutmeg.
- Sugar: dark brown sugar and granulated sugar.
- Large eggs: A binding ingredient common in cakes.
- Oil: vegetable oil or canola oil.
- Sweet potatoes: Leftover sweet potatoes can be used.
- Vanilla extract
- Butter: room temperature
- Cream cheese: room temperature to prevent any lumps.
- Cinnamon: ground cinnamon
- Powdered sugar: Also known as confectioner sugar.
How to make a Delicious Sweet Potato Cake
- Step 1: In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients- flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. Whisk until combined.
- Step 2: In a separate mixing bowl, use a hand mixer to beat the sugars, eggs, vegetable oil, mashed sweet potatoes, and vanilla together until combined.
- Step 3: Pour the dry ingredients into the bowl with the wet ingredients and mix together.
- Step 4: Pour batter in a cake pan that's been sprayed with cooking spray. Bake cake.
- Step 5: In a medium bowl add the butter, cream cheese, cinnamon, and vanilla. Using a hand mixer blend until creamy.
- Step 6: Add in the powdered sugar a little at a time until blended.
- Step 7: Once a toothpick can be inserted into the middle of the cake and comes out clean, the cake is done and should be removed to cool until it's time to frost the cake.
- Step 8: Use an offset spatula to frost the cake. Slice, serve, and enjoy.
Recipe Tips
- If you don't like the stringy fibers from the mashed sweet potatoes, you can pulse it a few times in the food processor to make a smooth sweet potato purée.
- If you have one, you can use a stand mixer to make the cake batter and the frosting instead of an electric mixer and a large mixing bowl.
- You can add chopped pecans, walnuts, or other nuts to the cake pieces when serving.
- The best way to serve this cake is slightly chilled or at room temperature.
Recipe Faq's
Wash sweet potatoes, pat dry with a paper towel, and poke holes in them with a fork.
Place sweet potatoes on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil.
Bake at 400 for 45 minutes or until you can easily poke them with a fork.
Remove from oven to let cool for 10 minutes.
Using a spoon scrape out the center and place in a bowl mash with a fork. You will need two cups of this for the cake batter.
No, they are not the same. Yams have a rough brown skin that resembles tree bark. Sweet potatoes have smooth reddish skin, and orange or white flesh and are sweet in flavor.
If in a pinch, you can use a 15oz can of sweet potatoes. Mix and mash them in a food processor until a puree starts to form. This will work, but the fresh sweet potatoes have the best flavor.
Leftover cake can be covered with plastic wrap or kept in an airtight container for up to 3-4 days. It should be refrigerated because of the cream cheese frosting on top of the cake- not kept at room temperature. But, it's important to remember that the fridge could dry this cake out faster, so enjoying it sooner than later is recommended.
More Cake Recipes
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Sweet Potato Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 ¾ cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- ½ tablespoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 cup brown sugar packed
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 2 cups cooked and mashed sweet potatoes about 3 large sweet potatoes see notes
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
For the Frosting
- 8 tablespoon unsalted butter room temperature
- 1-8 oz pkg cream cheese room temperature
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 4 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray a 9x13 baking pan with non stick cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl add the all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg and whisk until combined.
- In a large bowl using a hand mixer beat the sugars, eggs, vegetable oil, mashed sweet potatoes and vanilla until combined.
- Add in the dry ingredients and mix just until combined.
- Pour the cake batter into the prepared baking pan. Bake for 28-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Let the cake cool completely before frosting.
For The Frosting
- In a medium bowl add the butter, cream cheese, cinnamon and vanilla. Using a hand mixer blend until creamy.
- Add in the powdered sugar a little at a time until blended.
I haven't recipe tested this but I'm sure it would be fine. Make sure you melt the butter.
Hi Wendie,
Do you think the recipe will turn out well if I swap half of the oil for butter?
It did on line 3 of the directions! The full recipe is always at the bottom of the post.
Didn't mention in the wet ingredients to the add the eggs
Really looking forward to trying this cake. Looks delicious.
1 teaspoon of vanilla for the frosting 🙂
I notice frosting direction mentions adding vanilla but recipe doesn't show how much...add individually just to taste preference?
Yay Gordon so happy you loved it 🙂
I made the cake and it was delicious! This recipe is definitely a “keeper”. Great with a cup of coffee!!