This spiced sweet potato cake with caramel cream cheese frosting is a moist and tender layer cake studded with soft bites of sweet potato and crunchy walnuts.
If you love this classic homemade sweet potato cake, try my chocolate sweet potato cake for a chocolate lover’s version!
My grandmother’s carrot cake is one of my favorite cakes, and if you love carrot cake as much as I do, I think you’ll absolutely love this sweet potato cake. This easy dessert recipe is loaded with warm spices like cinnamon and nutmeg, with tender shredded sweet potatoes and chunky walnuts throughout the soft cake.
Many sweet potato cake recipes cook the sweet potatoes first, but I prefer to freshly grate them. The natural starches and moisture in sweet potatoes give this sweet potato cake an exceptionally soft, moist crumb. It’s so full of flavor! You’ll be tempted to devour the whole cake even before it’s frosted.
Why This Sweet Potato Cake Recipe Is Worth Making
- Moist, tender, spiced cake layers filled with bits of tender sweet potato, crunchy chopped walnuts, and scented with cinnamon spice.
- No boiling, roasting, or mashing. It saves time, and it also gives this cake a texture more similar to a traditional carrot cake. It’s still very moist and flavorful.
- Salted caramel cream cheese frosting paired with sweet potato cake is a match made in heaven. You can choose to add a splash of bourbon for a grown-up twist.
- This is an easy cake recipe for the holidays, but it’s just as delicious year-round. This decadent layered sweet potato cake is timeless!
Ingredient Notes
Below are some quick notes on the key ingredients you’ll need to make this moist sweet potato cake from scratch. Be sure to scroll to the recipe card for the full ingredients list, amounts, and recipe details.
- Sweet Potatoes – You’ll need to peel and grate the fresh, uncooked sweet potatoes.
- Vegetable Oil – There’s a whole cup of oil in this cake, which makes it nice and tender and helps the crumb stay ultra-moist.
- Bourbon – Add a splash of bourbon to the batter to echo the flavors of the frosting. You can substitute bourbon with vanilla extract or simply leave it out altogether.
- Spices – Ground cinnamon and nutmeg for a touch of warm spice. You can also use pumpkin pie spice.
- Walnuts – Roughly chopped walnuts or pecans. Nuts are optional, but I love the texture that they add.
- Frosting – The frosting I chose for this cake is a cream cheese frosting, jazzed up with salted caramel sauce and bourbon. (The cozy flavors taste as amazing with this sweet potato cake as they do with my salted caramel butterscotch cake and pumpkin cupcakes!).
Shredding Sweet Potato For Cake
The easiest way to grate sweet potatoes for baking is to use a food processor. Peel the potatoes, chop them, and then blitz them a few times until they’re evenly shredded. Of course, you can also use the large holes on a box grater and a bit of elbow grease.
- How many sweet potatoes will I need? You’ll need about 2 medium-sized sweet potatoes to make 3 cups when shredded for this cake.
- Do I need to drain the grated sweet potato? No, unlike draining zucchini for baking, you don’t need to press out the excess moisture from the sweet potato.
How to Make Sweet Potato Cake
You’ll find the complete cake recipe in the recipe card below the post, but here’s a short overview of the steps! Start by preparing two thick, fluffy cake layers:
- Mix the wet ingredients. Once you’ve peeled and shredded your sweet potatoes, set them aside. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, then beat in the sugar, followed by the oil and a splash of bourbon.
- Add the dry ingredients. Next, whisk together the dry ingredients. Gradually incorporate the dry mixture into the wet batter. Lastly, fold in the walnuts and grated sweet potatoes.
- Bake. Next, divide the batter evenly between two greased and lined 8-inch round baking pans. Bake the cakes at 350ºF for 25-30 minutes. Afterward, the cake layers will need to cool completely before you can frost them.
Making the Salted Caramel Frosting
The caramel frosting is a variation of my cream cheese frosting recipe (which would also go great with this cake), with the consistency of traditional buttercream. It pairs so well with the spices in this sweet potato cake! You can make it with store-bought or homemade salted caramel sauce. It’s quick and easy to make:
- Whip the butter. Start by whipping cold, cubed butter until it’s light and fluffy. This can take a few minutes.
- Combine. Next, beat in cream cheese, followed by powdered sugar, a couple of cups at a time. Alternate adding the vanilla, heavy cream, bourbon, and caramel sauce to the frosting in between the powdered sugar, until you reach your desired consistency.
Assembling and Frosting the Cake Layers
Finally, you’re ready to stack your sweet potato cake. If your cakes have domed during baking, level them using a cake leveler or a serrated knife before assembling them. My tutorial on how to make a layer cake has lots of helpful tips.
- Start with the first layer. Drop a dollop of frosting onto your plate or cake board. Place the first cake layer over top. Using a piping bag, pipe a thick layer of caramel frosting over the cake, then even it out with an offset spatula.
- Add the second layer. Gently place the second cake layer over top of the first. I recommend inverting the cake so that the bottom creates a smooth, level surface for frosting.
- Add a crumb coat. Use the frosting to create a crumb coat around the outside edge of the cake, then place the whole cake into the freezer to chill for 5-10 minutes.
- Frost the cake. Take the cake out and use the remaining frosting to frost the sides and top of the cake. See below for more easy decorating tips!
Decorating a Sweet Potato Cake
The frosting recipe makes more than enough, so you’ll have plenty left to decorate with! If you’re new to decorating cakes, check out my tutorials on how to use piping tips and how to use a piping bag for lots of tips and tricks.
As for this sweet potato layer cake, you can decorate it any way you’d like using additional salted caramel sauce, or a garnish of nuts. Or, use a variety of piping tips to decorate the cake like you see in the photos:
- Roses. First, pipe the large roses using a 1M tip, and the large rosettes with the Ateco 866 French star tip.
- Smaller details. Fill in any gaps using the smaller Wilton 199 and Wilton 21 star tips.
I use a similar technique on my buttercream flower cake, so if you’re looking for a more in-depth tutorial, check out that post.
Recipe Tips
This sweet potato cake is a wonderful recipe for beginners and long-time bakers alike. Keep these tips in mind:
- Don’t overmix the cake batter. Overmixing the batter is a leading cause of dense cake layers that won’t rise properly in the oven. Make sure to only mix the ingredients until they’re just combined.
- Skip the bourbon. If you’d prefer to substitute the alcohol in the cake and in the frosting, replace the bourbon in this recipe with vanilla extract instead. Another option is to leave it out altogether. In this case, you may need to use additional heavy cream in the frosting to get it to the right consistency.
- Adjust the thickness of the frosting. This frosting is stiffer than traditional cream cheese frosting. If you feel that your frosting is too thin, add additional powdered sugar to help thicken it. Otherwise, add more heavy cream, one spoonful at a time, to thin out the frosting that’s too thick.
- If your frosting is still on the softer side, stick it in the fridge for 20 minutes or so to help stiffen it up for decorating.
- Add a crumb coating to the cake prior to frosting it. This helps pick up any loose crumbs and gives you a nice, even surface to frost. Once your crumb cake is applied, stick the whole cake into the freezer for 5-10 minutes max, or in the fridge for 15 minutes. It’s just long enough for the frosting to get cold.
- When using multiple piping tips, I like to place my frosting in a large piping bag, and then use a smaller piping bag that I can use with the various piping tips, and swap them out as I decorate.
-
FAQ
Sweet potato cake tastes similar to a carrot cake or spice cake. It has rich, cozy spices and a mild, sweet flavor, reminiscent of sweet potato casserole.
Yes! You can bake this sweet potato cake recipe in a 9×13-inch pan for a single-layer cake. The oven temperature stays the same, but the cake will be a bit thinner, so you may need to decrease the baking time by a few minutes.
Not for this recipe. Grating the sweet potatoes like you’d grate carrots for a carrot cake means there’s no need to boil or roast them first.
Make-Ahead and Storage
- Store at room temperature. The unfrosted sweet potato cake layers can be baked in advance and kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.
- Refrigerate the frosting. You can also prepare the frosting ahead of time and store it covered in an airtight container the fridge until you’re ready to assemble and frost the cake.
- Store the frosted cake. Once frosted and decorated, this sweet potato cake is fine to keep covered at room temperature for up to 3 days. If you live in a warm or humid environment, then I would recommend refrigerating this cake due to the frosting. This cake will last up to 5 days in the fridge.
-
Freeze. I don’t recommend freezing a frosted cake, but you can freeze the individual cake layers once they’re baked and cooled. To freeze cake layers, wrap them tightly in plastic wrap or store them airtight, and keep them frozen for up to 2 months. Thaw the cake in the fridge before frosting.
More Homemade Cake Recipes
Sweet Potato Cake
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 12-15 slices
- Category: Cake
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
Description
This spiced sweet potato cake with caramel cream cheese frosting is a moist and tender layer cake studded with soft bites of sweet potato and crunchy walnuts.
Ingredients
For the cake
- 3 cups Grated sweet potatoes, raw (about 2 medium sized)
- 4 Large eggs
- 2 cups (380g) Granulated sugar
- 1 cup (236ml) Vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon (30ml) Bourbon (optional)
- 2 1/4 cups (270g) All-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons (5g) Ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons (8.5g) Baking soda
- 1 teaspoon (5g) Salt
- 1/4 teaspoon Nutmeg
- 1 cup (116g) Walnuts, chopped (optional)
For the frosting
- 1 1/2 cups (339g) Unsalted butter, cold
- 8 ounces (226g) Full-fat cream cheese, cold
- 7 cups (911g) Powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon (15ml) Pure vanilla extract
- 1–2 tablespoons (15-30ml) Bourbon (optional)
- 2 teaspoons (10ml) Heavy whipping cream or milk
- 3 heaping tablespoons (65g) Salted caramel sauce (store-bought)
- 1/8–1/4 teaspoon salt (optional)
Instructions
For the cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350°. Prepare two 8-inch round baking pans, line the bottom with parchment paper and grease the sides, lightly dust with flour.
- Peel the sweet potatoes and use a grater or food processor to shred the sweet potatoes. Set aside.
- Beat the eggs until light and fluffy. Add the sugar and beat on low speed until smooth. Then add the oil and bourbon and continue beating on low speed until well mixed.
- In a medium bowl, combine the remaining dry ingredients. Slowly add the dry ingredients to wet ingredients and beat until incorporated. Fold in walnuts and sweet potatoes.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pans, dividing evenly. Bake for approximately 25-30 minutes. Use a toothpick or knife to check the center of the cake. If your toothpick comes out clean, the cake is done. Allow the cake to cool completely.
For the frosting:
- Cut the butter into pieces, about 1 tablespoon size. Using the paddle attachment, whip butter for 3-5 minutes until the butter if fluffy and spreadable, scraping down the bowl occasionally until the butter is light and fluffy.
- Then add the cream cheese and cream together with the butter for 2-3 minutes until they are whipped and free of lumps, scape down the bowl occasionally.
- Slowly add confectionary sugar, 2-3 cups at a time, alternating with the liquid (vanilla extract, heavy cream, bourbon, salted caramel) and beat until desired consistency is reached. Add salt if desired.
To assemble the cake:
- Level off the cakes by removing any domes. Place a dollop of frosting on your cake board and place the bottom layer of cake centered on the cake board.
- Pipe a layer of frosting in circles working outside edge to the middle. Spread evenly with an offset spatula. Add the second layer of cake, inverted. Apply a crumb coat the cake and put in the freezer for 5-10 minutes. Remove from freezer and add remaining frosting to the side and top of the cake. Decorate and serve.
Notes
- Storage and make ahead: The cake layers can be made up to 2 days in advance. Cool completely and wrap tightly in plastic wrap or store in an airtight container. Once frosted, store in an airtight container in the refrigerator such as a cake carrier. Serve at room temperature for best results.
- Alcohol substitutions: If you don’t want to use bourbon, just omit it from the cake and the frosting. If additional liquid is needed for the frosting to reach your desired consistency, add additional heavy cream.
- Frosting consistency: This frosting should be thick but easily spreadable, it won’t be quite as soft as a cream cheese frosting. If your frosting seems too thin, add additional powdered sugar. Or if your frosting is too thick, add additional cream. The secret to the best frosting is to really whip the butter before adding any additional ingredients. If your frosting because too soft when applying and decorating the cake, stick it in the fridge for 20-30 minutes
- Decorating this cake: This cake is decorated using a variety of piping tips including 1M, French tip: Ateco 866 and Wilton 199. Open star tip 21.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice
- Calories: 846
- Sugar: 85g
- Sodium: 422g
- Fat: 45g
- Saturated Fat: 27g
- Carbohydrates: 107g
- Fiber: 2g
- Protein: 6g
- Cholesterol: 114mg
Oh my, my family said this is their new favorite cake. It is so moist. I didn’t have caramel for the frosting so I just used Dulce de Leche syrup and put some kosher salt in it. It was so good.
That sounds delicious!
Excellent. Moist, tender and delicious.
I love that, thank you so much!
This cake is the best. It is moist and my neighbors gave it rave reviews. The frostting is to die for.
I think the best way to eat this frosting is with a Tablespoon. Thank you so much for sharing your recipe.
I plan to view your other recipes too.
Love that, thank you so much!!