This chocolate sweet potato cake is a rich and fudgy chocolate cake recipe made extra moist with shredded sweet potatoes. It’s frosted inside and out with tangy chocolate cream cheese frosting, and completely irresistible!

Sweet potato is such an underrated ingredient in desserts. Try this homemade sweet potato ice cream, next. And if you’re looking for another indulgent dessert, check out my buttermilk chocolate cake.

A slice of frosted chocolate sweet potato cake on a white plate with the rest of the cake on a cake stand in the background.

Fudgy Chocolate Sweet Potato Cake

I’m already pretty crazy about my original sweet potato cake, and this one’s for chocolate lovers! It’s a soft and fudgy chocolate cake filled with tender shredded sweet potatoes, and frosted with indulgent chocolate cream cheese frosting. It’s an easy recipe to make from scratch, even if you’re new to baking and frosting layer cakes. If the idea of baking sweet potatoes into dessert sounds a bit strange to you, trust me. Those who tried this recipe during testing had no idea there was sweet potato in there. Just look at how moist and chocolatey this cake turned out!

Why I Love This Sweet Potato Cake Recipe

Rich and chocolatey. I based this sweet potato cake on my chocolate zucchini cake recipe, swapping shredded zucchini for sweet potato instead. This cake is fudgy and rich, and husband-approved.
Subtle sweet potato sweetness. The sweet potatoes are finely shredded and cooked nicely into the cake. It adds a hint of sweetness as the sweet potato caramelizes in the heat and goes together wonderfully with the chocolate.
Extra moist. Most of my cake and cupcake recipes use vegetable oil in place of butter. Combined with sour cream, it yields an ultra-moist, yet fluffy and tender chocolate cake that stays that way for days.

Side view of a frosted chocolate sweet potato cake with slices missing on a white cake stand.

Ingredient Notes

These are the key ingredients for this chocolate sweet potato cake, along with some notes. Scroll down to the recipe card for a printable ingredients list with the full recipe measurements and details.

Sweet Potatoes – Freshly grated using a box grater or similar. Alternatively, what I like to do for my carrot cake is throw chunks of sweet potato into a food processor and pulse it into smaller pieces that way.
Oil – Choose a mild vegetable oil, like canola oil. You could use olive oil (as long as it’s not a robust-flavored oil) for a slightly more savory note.
Sour Cream – This can also be substituted with plain or Greek yogurt.
Cocoa Powder – Since this recipe uses both baking soda and baking powder, I opted for Dutch-processed cocoa powder, which gives this cake a rich and fudgy flavor. I use it in both the cake and the frosting. You can use natural unsweetened cocoa powder as well (learn about the different types of cocoa powder in my tutorial).
Brewed Coffee – To enhance the chocolate flavor in cakes. You shouldn’t taste the coffee unless you are sensitive to it. You can use any variety, decaf or regular. If you don’t have any coffee, milk is the best alternative.
Frosting – I frost this cake with my easy chocolate cream cheese frosting. Full-fat cream cheese is always recommended. Both the butter and cream cheese for the frosting should be cold, straight from the fridge. Heavy cream in the frosting can be swapped for milk if needed.

How to Make a Sweet Potato Chocolate Cake

Making a soft, moist, and fudgy chocolate sweet potato cake takes just a few easy steps. I’ve included step-by-step photos here, and you’ll find the printable recipe directions in the recipe card after the post.

Mix the wet ingredients. Mix together the sugar, eggs, oil, sour cream, and vanilla. Peel and grate the sweet potato into small pieces and add to the batter.
Add the dry ingredients. Combine and sift the dry ingredients into a bowl. Give that a whisk, then add the dry ingredients to the wet batter and mix, streaming in the hot coffee as you go.
Bake. Divide the cake batter evenly between two greased and lined round cake pans. Bake at 350ºF for 30-35 minutes. Afterward, allow the cakes to cool before you frost them.

Wet sweet potato cake ingredients combined in a glass mixing bowl. — Mix the wet ingredients.

Dry ingredients added to wet cake batter in a glass mixing bowl. — Mix the wet ingredients.

Prepare the frosting. First, cube the cold butter and beat for few minutes until it’s soft and whipped. Then add the cream cheese and beat till combined. Next, incorporate the cocoa powder and vanilla. Once that’s smooth, add powdered sugar a couple of cups time, beating in between until the frosting is whipped and fluffy. Only add the heavy whipping cream if needed to thin out the frosting.
Assemble and frost the cake. Once the cakes are cooled, level the cake layers and assemble your chocolate sweet potato cake. I have a full tutorial on how to make a layer cake if needed. Afterward, frost the outside of the cake and use any leftover frosting to decorate (see below for more ideas).

Close up overhead view of a purple spatula holding a scoop of cream cheese frosting above the rest of the frosting in a mixing bowl. — Beat cold butter until it’s fluffy.

Julianne’s Recipe Tips

Peel the sweet potatoes. Don’t forget to remove the sweet potatoes’ skins before you shred them for the cake.
Grease and line the baking pans. I like to line the bottom of my round cake pans with parchment paper and then grease AND flour the sides of the pans. It’s extra insurance against sticking, so the cakes pop right out.
Use bake-even stripes for evenly baked cake layers. For nearly all my recipes, I use my bake even stripes to produce evenly baked, flatter cakes which makes the layers slightly taller as well.
How to tell it’s done baking. When a toothpick stuck into the center of your chocolate sweet potato cake comes out clean, the cake is done. If it’s still streaked with batter, the cake needs a bit more time in the oven.
Cold ingredients for the frosting makes a difference. The recipe calls for cold butter and cold cream cheese. Before combining them together, the butter should be whipped and spreadable, a similar spreadable consistency to the cream cheese. The cold ingredients prevents the frosting from being too soft to handle.

Overhead view of a frosted chocolate sweet potato cake decorated with piped frosting rosettes.

More Ways to Decorate

I love finishing this cake with swirls of leftover chocolate cream cheese frosting. If you’re still getting the hang of frosting cakes, I have in-depth tutorials on how to use a piping bag and how to use piping tips that walk you through it. I also have a guide on how to decorate cupcakes, and many of those tips apply to cake decorating, too!

There are countless ways to decorate this chocolate sweet potato cake, here are some of my go-to’s:

Add garnishes. Top the cake with a sprinkle of shaved chocolate, chocolate chips, or crushed nuts, like pecans. You could also add your favorite sprinkles.
Add a drip. Use pourable chocolate ganache to make a chocolate drip cake.
Different frosting. If cream cheese frosting isn’t your thing, you can absolutely frost this sweet potato cake with any frosting you prefer. Try my classic chocolate buttercream frosting, this whipped ganache frosting, or brown butter frosting.
Drizzle with caramel. Give the top of the frosted cake a drizzle with homemade salted caramel sauce or hot fudge sauce.

A partially eaten slice of frosted chocolate sweet potato cake on a white plate.

How to Store

To store. Store the frosted sweet potato chocolate cake airtight at room temperature for up to 2 days, or in the fridge for up to 1 week. If you do keep it in the fridge, I recommend taking it out ahead of serving to bring it back to room temperature.
Freeze. You can freeze the frosted or unfrosted cake. To freeze the assembled layer cake, store it airtight and keep it frozen for up to 1 month. Thaw the cake in the fridge before serving. Store the unfrosted cake layers double-wrapped in plastic wrap and thaw them in the fridge before decorating.

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