This Sweet Potato Pound Cake Recipe, made with silky smooth sweet potatoes, is perfect moist and tender with a spiced brown butter glaze.
Sweet potatoes were an extremely important food throughout my childhood. My mom made sweet potato pie for every Thanksgiving, and now that I’m an adult, I have fallen in love with the super tasty spud.
I eat a baked sweet potato for dessert on a regular, especially during the fall months. So, I’m no stranger to sweet potato dessert. This Sweet Potato Pound Cake recipe comes from my love of eating sweet potatoes as a dessert.
I didn’t grow up with this recipe, but this recipe is inspired by all the Southern desserts I was raised on (Caramel Cake, 7 Up Pound Cake, Cream Cheese Pound Cake). I developed this sweet potato pound cake recipe using the pound cake recipes I grew up on as an inspiration while creating something new: one of the best Southern desserts I’ve ever made!
Ingredients
Because pound cake was the first recipe I ever learned to bake, this sweet potato pound cake recipe is quite a special one for me. It brings together my fondness of pound cake and also my love and history with sweet potatoes, which were such a big part of my upbringing.
This Sweet Potato Cake Recipe has some incredible ingredients which give it such a fantastic taste:
- Both Granulated Sugar AND Brown Sugar
- Roasted Sweet Potato
- Cake Flour
I mostly use granulated sugar for baking cakes but for this cake, I wanted to add brown sugar too because it adds such a nice depth of flavor with the addition of molasses.
How to Roast A Sweet Potato
I personally love to prick, lightly oil then wrap a large sweet potato in foil and bake for about an hour at 400 degrees. You will want to test to make sure that the sweet potato is perfectly tender and soft before removing. If it is ready, then you are good to go!
How to Make Sweet Potato Pound Cake
- Preheat and Prep: Set your oven to 350 degrees and ready your loaf pan with non-stick spray.
- Mix the Base: In your mixer, combine butter, sugars, and sweet potato. Whip them until fluffy and smooth (around 4-5 minutes).
- Eggs, then Dry Ingredients: Add eggs one by one, followed by a slow addition of the dry ingredients (cake flour, raising agents, spices).
- Vanilla and Mix: Pour in vanilla extract, beat until smooth.
- Bake: Transfer batter to loaf pan, bake for 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let it cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then on a wire rack.
- Make the Glaze: Melt butter until golden, whisk in powdered sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and milk until smooth.
- Glaze and Serve: Once the cake is cool, drizzle the glaze over the top, and it’s ready to serve.
If you want more pound cake recipes, click HERE
Sweet Potato Pound Cake Recipe
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup mashed roasted sweet potato
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
For the Spiced Browned Butter Glaze:
- 1/2 stick butter unsalted
- 1 1/4 cup powdered sugar sifted
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- To the bowl of your mixer, add butter, both sugars and sweet potato. Cream ingredients on high until fluffy and smooth, about 4-5 minutes.
- Add eggs one at a time into the mixture.
- Next turn mixer speed to slow and slowly add in cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ground cinnamon and nutmeg, beating after each addition.
- Lastly, add in vanilla extract and beat on slow speed until mixture is smooth.
- Spray loaf pan with non-stick baking spray and pour cake batter into pan.
- Begin checking the cake to see if it is done after 35 minutes. Bake for 40-50 minutes, some ovens may take longer. The cake is done when a toothpick or cake tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove cake from oven and allow it to cool for 10 minutes in the pan. After ten minutes, gently remove cake from its pan and place it on a wire rack to cool completely.
- For the glaze, add butter to a small saucepan and carefully melt over medium low heat on your stovetop. Continue to watch until the butter turns a golden brown color and the smell is sort of nutty. Once butter gets to this point, quickly remove and whisk in powdered sugar, vanilla extract, ground cinnamon and milk until mixture is smooth and pourable.
- Drizzle glaze over completely cooled cake and serve.
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This sounds amazing! Have you even made this in cupcake form, or do you think it would turn out well?
I love this poundcake! It’s amazing, I make it at least twice a month. The people I work with fight over it when I bring it for holiday potlucks..I love creating havoc over something so yummy! Great recipe. Thanks for sharing!
Is there a quicker way to make the sweet potato?
You can boil them if you prefer, you just need them to be soft and mashed.
Hello, I made it today and we love it ! Like Tasha, our cake was a bit deflated but it was really delicious. I was very happy to discover this recipe. Thank you very much.