This Sweet Potato Pound Cake Recipe, made with silky smooth sweet potatoes, is perfect moist and tender with a spiced brown butter glaze.
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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
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Ingredients
For the Cake
- 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 3 cups all-purpose flour measured then sifted
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 5 large eggs room temperature
- 3/4 cup sour cream room temperature
- 3/4 cup mashed sweet potato see note below about roasting the sweet potato for this recipe
- 1 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
For the Glaze
- 5 tbsp unsalted butter melted and browned until tiny specs form
- 2 tbsp honey
- 1 cup confectioner's sugar
- 2 tbsp milk
- 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
Instructions
For the Cake
- Prepare a 10-12 cup bundt pan by liberally greasing with butter and dusting with flour or by spraying with baking spray that has flour. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, and nutmeg until well combined. Set aside.
- Preheat to 350°F. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter and granulated sugar on high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Or you can beat the butter and sugar with a hand mixer in a large bowl.
- Add the eggs one at a time, ensuring that each egg is incorporated before adding the next. You may want to stop the mixer after each addition and scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a spatula to ensure everything is well incorporated.
- Add the sour cream, sweet potato, and vanilla and beat on medium speed until incorporated (the batter will look curdled, but no worries—it’s all good).
- Reduce the mixer speed to low, carefully add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients by pouring in half of the dry ingredients, and mix until just combined. At this point you may need to scrape down the sides of the bowl to completely mix in the flour. Add the second half of the dry ingredients and mix until combined. The batter will be thick.
- Scoop the batter into the prepared bundt pan and, using a small offset spatula, smooth out the top. Bake for 50 minutes then check to see if it is done by inserting a toothpick in the center to see if it comes out clean. If not, put it back in the oven and bake for another 5-10 minutes. Check again using a toothpick.
- Transfer bundt pan to a wire rack and let cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Then invert the cake onto the rack or a plate. Let cool completely before glazing.
For the Glaze
- Start working on the glaze once the cake has completely cooled. In a 2 quart saucepan, melt butter over medium heat and wait until butter begins to brown. Watch the butter closely because it can burn fast. The melted butter should start to brown pretty quickly. Remove from heat.
- Whisk in the honey until combined and slowly add the powdered sugar in 3 increments. Mixture will thicken quickly. Whisk in the milk to loosen the mixture and continue mixing until combined. Whisk in the cinnamon until smooth.
- Let the glaze sit for 10 minutes to cool down a bit and slightly thicken. Drizzle glaze over cooled cake, slice and serve.
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When you say sifted cake flour does that mean to siftcthe flour first in this case and then measure out the amount needed for the recipe after?
You got it!
Love your simply, but tasty cake recipes. What is the solution for no sticking in a braided Bundt cake pan?, thank you.
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.