Sweet Potato Cake is dense and heavy but full of flavor for an extremely moist layer cake that's topped with luscious buttercream and candied pecans this decadent dessert is perfect for fall.
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I love this time of year and all the fruits and vegetables that are available. Now if only the weather would cool down to acceptable fall temperatures this year, all would be great! A girl can dream! I know you can get sweet potatoes all year long, but something just seems right about a sweet potato cake close to Thanksgiving.
This cake is dense and heavy but full of flavor and extremely moist. I made my own sweet potato puree. It's super easy and worth the time. All I did was bake a few sweet potatoes, skin on. Then once they are cool from the oven, remove the skins, and put them in the food processor and puree the potato until it is smooth. You probably only need two medium sized potatoes for this recipe. I had no idea when I started and cooked six. You guessed it, there is more sweet potato recipes coming down the pipeline. We were eating sweet potato puree for days. It was a nice treat!
You may be tempted to go to the store and buy a can of sweet potatoes. You could do this, but make sure it isn't the stuff with syrup. Sweet potatoes are already sweet, you don't need syrup. I ended up making the puree because I couldn't find a can of sweet potato puree, and all the cans of sweet potatoes had the syrup.
Ingredients in Sweet Potato Cake
- AP flour
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Cinnamon
- Butter
- Granulated sugar
- Light brown sugar
- Eggs
- Vanilla bean paste
- Sweet potato puree
- Marshmallow creme
- Confectioners sugar
- Milk
- Pecan halves
How to Make Sweet Potato Layer Cake
- Prepare the cake batter and divide between three round cake pans.
- Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool completely, then trim the tops until they are even.
- Make the buttercream and frost the cake layers.
- Sprinkle with candied pecans before cutting and serving.
The buttercream is a light and fluffy one. The addition of the marshmallow creme made it a tiny bit sweet. I know you are thinking, how could you tell after 4 cups of powdered sugar... But you can. You could easily decorate this with regular buttercream and use no marshmallow creme if you would prefer. There was enough frosting to decorate the cake traditionally, but I'm still going with the naked cakes. I just like the look, and isn't this recipe really about the cake. So I try to give the cake its moment in the spotlight!
The candied pecans are a great addition for texture. They are easy to make; just be careful with the boiling sugar. If you don't want to candy the pecans, you could just cut them up and sprinkle chopped pecans on top for decoration.
The recipe makes three layers of cake, which is a perfect amount. We thought about turning this into a bundt cake and a few cupcakes but just liked the bites of frosting in the sweet potato layer cake.
Give the recipe a try. I hope you like it as much as we do. If you are looking for other sweet potato cake recipes we whipped up a great bundt cake also for the holidays. Happy Holidays!
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Sweet Potato Cake
Ingredients
- 3 cups AP flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 1 ⅓ tablespoons cinnamon
- 1 ½ cups unsalted butter melted and browned, bits included
- 1 ¾ cups granulated sugar
- 1 ¼ cups packed light brown sugar
- 6 eggs lightly beaten
- 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
- 22 ounces sweet potato puree fresh not canned sweet potatoes
Buttercream
- 1 ½ cups unsalted butter softened
- 14 ounces marshmallow creme
- 4 cups confectioners sugar
- 2 tablespoons milk
Candied Pecans
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 cup pecan halves
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter and lightly flour three 8" round pans. Line with parchment paper.
- Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook, swirling occasionally until the butter turns bubbly and brown. Remove from heat and let cool.
- Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer with the paddle attachment, combine browned butter, sugar, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla bean paste. Stir until combined.
- Add in the dry ingredients in two batches.
- Add the sweet potato puree and mix well.
- Divide the batter evenly into the three round pans.
- Bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes and remove to wire rack
Buttercream
- In bowl of stand mixer, beat butter and marshmallow creme on medium speed with paddle attachment for about 2 minutes or until creamy.
- Add in confectioners sugar slowly mixing and scraping bowl as needed.
- Add milk and continue mixing on medium speed for 3-5 minutes or until fluffy.
Candied Pecans
- Combine brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, water in a skillet and cook over medium heat for a minute or two, until the sugar dissolves and mixture is bubbling.
- Add the pecans and continue to cook for 3 more minutes. Stirring to coat them with the glaze.
- Remove from heat and spread pecans out onto parchment paper to cool. Break apart once cooled and chop into small pieces.
Cake Assembly
- Once the cakes have cooled, trim the tops so they are even.
- Place one layer onto a serving tray and top with frosting. Place second layer on top and cover with frosting. Place third layer on and cover top and sides with frosting. Sprinkle candied pecans on top.
Notes
Nutrition
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Natalie says
Such a delicious cake. I'm excited to make this for my family.
serena says
Enjoy Natalie 🙂
Mama Maggie's Kitchen says
This dish looks SO deliciously good. I wish I could eat that right now!
serena says
Thanks!
Amanda Dixon says
Such a delicious cake! It was so moist and full of fall flavor.
serena says
Thanks Amanda!
Linda says
This sweet potato cake is delicious and that marshmallow frosting makes this cake extra special
serena says
Thanks so much Linda!
Andréa Janssen says
What a great idea. Looks delicious!
serena says
Thanks!
Adriana says
What a yummy and lovely recipe!
serena says
Thanks!
Freya says
Such a great idea for thanksgiving, or anytime! I love that the sweet potato tastes so delicate but keeps the cake really moist!
serena says
The moistness is one of my favorite reasons for making this cake. So delish!
Nor says
This cake looks so delicious! Can’t wait to try it out! Thank you for sharing!
serena says
Enjoy 🙂
Kylie says
This is absolutely delicious!
serena says
Thanks!
Tatiana says
Really delicious cake, so moist and flavorful. And the buttercream frosting yum!
serena says
So glad you enjoyed!
Cathy M says
I have got to try this! This is the time of year when sweet potatoes shine, and this is definitely a shining moment!
serena says
Thanks so much! Enjoy 🙂
Keki Cannon says
this is a great recipe! I have heard of pie but cake is even better considering none of my kids like the pie version, I am sure they will eat this one up.
serena says
It's a pretty tasty cake and the frosting works well with it.
Carolyn says
This looks delicious and how fun that it uses sweet potatoes. My kids would love to call this their serving of vegetables.
serena says
I have family members that are excited to call this their daily vegetable serving also 🙂
Yasmin Ali says
I absolutely in love with this idea! Definitely want to try this out and see if it works for me!
serena says
Enjoy 🙂
Jeanine says
Wow that looks incredible. This may be a great way to get my picky kids to eat some sweet potato. It looks delicious!
serena says
LOL! Yes, I think this may do the trick.