Vegan Sweet Potato Cake
This vegan sweet potato cake is fluffy and moist, and is topped with soft dairy-free cream cheese frosting. This cozy dessert has the perfect amount of warm spices, and is reminiscent of carrot cake (without the texture of grated carrots). And you’ll need less than 10 ingredients to make the cake!
Simple ingredients you’ll need
The full list of ingredient quantities and instructions are in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Notes about the ingredients
All-purpose flour. For a healthier sweet potato cake, use whole wheat or spelt flour and add an extra dash of milk. I’ve also listed a gluten-free option in the recipe card.
Sweet potato puree. I made my own by boiling a large sweet potato and pureeing the flesh with a stick blender. The Spruce Eats demonstrates this process well.
Light brown sugar has a molasses undertone which complements the sweet potato and warm spices.
Oil balances the natural starches in the sweet potato and makes a soft and tender cake (rather than a chewy one). If you want an oil-free cake, you may be able to substitute it with applesauce but I haven’t tested it.
Pumpkin pie spice or a homemade blend of ground cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves (see notes in the recipe card at the bottom of this post)
Even though this sweet potato cake is eggless, we don’t need special egg replacers. The raising agents make the cake fluffy, and the sweet potato adds richness and moisture. For a chocolate version, check out my chocolate sweet potato cake!
How to make sweet potato cake
One of the best things about this sweet potato cake recipe is that it comes together in one bowl!
First, add all the liquid ingredients to a large bowl and whisk until combined.
If you haven’t pureed your sweet potato yet, add the potato chunks to your mixing bowl, with the rest of the wet ingredients. Then, use a handheld blender to puree the ingredients until smooth.
Next, add all the dry ingredients to the bowl and stir until just combined. You can use a spatula or electric mixer but please avoid overmixing the batter.
It’s okay for your cake batter to have some lumps, as long as they aren’t lumps of flour or wet ingredients. The batter should be quite thick, like a typical banana bread batter.
Baking this sweet potato cake
I baked this cake in a 9-inch (23 cm) square pan. If you want to bake it in an 8-inch (20cm) pan or a round pan, you will need to bake the cake for a little longer.
The cake is delicate when it’s still warm so I highly recommend leaving it in the cake pan to cool, rather than turning it onto a wire rack.
If you want to make a layered sweet potato cake, make the recipe. Divide the batter between 2 x 8 inch (20 cm) round cake pans or 3 x 6 inch (15 cm) round cake pans and bake them for around 30 minutes.
Decorating the cake
This vegan sweet potato cake is delicious without any frosting just like a snack cake! But, to take this cake to the next level, I topped the cake with a soft cream cheese frosting. Its tangy flavor and creamy texture complement the earthy sweet potato and spices.
Alternatively, you can decorate the cake with:
- A two-ingredient glaze such as what I used in my pistachio lemon cake (use plant based milk instead of lemon juice).
- American-style buttercream, such as from my vegan gingerbread cake. You’ll only need to make half the quantity of buttercream to cover this sweet potato cake.
- Whipped coconut cream, to mimic marshmallow cream, yum!
- Coconut yogurt or warm custard 🙂
You can also top the cake with a pecan crumble, such as from my vegan apple cake. Please sprinkle the crumble on the unbaked sweet potato cake, then bake it for around 35 minutes.
More vegan desserts with hidden vegetables
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Easy Vegan Sweet Potato Cake
Ingredients
Wet ingredients for sweet potato cake
- 1 ¼ cups (280g) sweet potato puree, (note 1)
- 1 ½ cups (310g) dairy-free milk
- ½ cup (125g) neutral flavored oil
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar, optional
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, optional
Dry ingredients for sweet potato cake
- 3 cups (375g) all-purpose plain flour, (note 2 for gluten free)
- 1 cup (190g) packed brown sugar, or coconut sugar
- 3 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice, (see note 3 for homemade spice blend)
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- Pinch of salt, optional
Cream cheese frosting (note 4)
- ½ cup (120g) vegan cream cheese, room temperature
- ½ cup (115g) vegan butter, room temperature (note 4)
- 2 cups (200g) cups (200g) powdered sugar / icing sugar, or to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Grease or line a 9-inch (23 cm) or 8-inch (20 cm) square baking pan with parchment paper.
To make the cake
- Add all the wet ingredients to a large mixing bowl and mix until there are no lumps. Add all the dry ingredients to the bowl and mix until there are no pockets of flour or wet ingredients. Be careful to not overmix the batter!
- Pour the batter into your cake tin. Bake for 30 minutes or until you can insert a skewer or toothpick in the middle and it comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool in the tin.
To make the frosting
- Add all ingredients to a mixing bowl and cream the ingredients until smooth.
- When the cake has fully cooled, spread the frosting on the cake. Cut the cake as desired and serve!
- Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 days or in the freezer for up to 1 month.
Notes
- Make sweet potato puree: Peel 1 very large sweet potato and cut into chunks. Boil or steam the sweet potato until tender and puree until smooth. I haven’t tested this recipe with canned sweet potato puree or canned pumpkin puree.
- Gluten-free version: This recipe works well with King Arthur’s gluten-free measure for measure flour. The batter is much thicker and I recommend baking it for 35-40 minutes. Alternatively, use 1 1/2 cups (150g) almond flour and 1 1/2 cups (240g) gluten free all-purpose flour.
- Or use 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg and 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves. For an extra kick, you may add 1 teaspoon of ground ginger.
- If you only have access to spreadable vegan margarine, use only 1/2 cup (110g). Your frosting may be a little softer. More icing sugar will create a firmer frosting whereas less icing sugar will create a softer frosting. For frosting/decoration alternatives, check out the blog post above!
This post was originally published in 2019 and updated for simplicity in 2021.
This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you.
The recipe was easy to follow. I substituted the oil and used unsweetened
applesauce. The cake smelled great baking. However, the finished product
for me was dense, tough and chewy. Where did I go wrong? Possibly if I
sifted the flour? I did have to bake it about 7 minutes longer for toothpick to
come out clean.
Hi Sarah, I’m sorry this happened to your cake! From experience this can happen if you use applesauce instead of oil, and if you accidentally overmixed the batter. So, the oil doesn’t only add moisture but it shortens the gluten in the flour and can make a cake more bready and chewy – some people don’t mind this but it’s not to everyone’s tastes. And overmixing the batter can knock out some of their air, and overworks the flour/gluten. Hope that helps!
This is one of the very best vegan cake recipes – I make it every month!
Hi Monica, aw what a compliment! I’m so happy that you make this cake regularly. Thanks for letting me know 🙂
We aren’t a vegan family, just a family who keeps vegan ingredients and ran out of eggs and milk. This cake is amazing, half of it is gone already and I haven’t even made the icing yet. Bravo.
Hi Labeille, I’m so happy that you and your family enjoyed this cake!!! Thanks so much for your kind feedback 🙂
The ingredient picture really helps and it looks like a recipe I can realistically try.
“Vegan cream cheese” isn’t really a thing where I am plus most vegan substitutes are really expensive. Can you suggest a simple, dairy free formula for making a similar style icing from scratch?
Hi Sorcha, glad that you find the ingredients picture helpful. With the icing, you can use a simple vegan buttercream but add lemon juice to it (to mimic the cream cheese flavor). If you use the buttercream from my lemon cake recipe, you’ll need around 75% of the recipe to cover this cake.
Hi Anthea! I have tried the recipe and it is really delicious. It’s easy to make and I’ve tried several cake recipes from you now, all turned out perfect! I wanted to make the strawberry muffins today, but unfortunately the store was out of strawberries. Thank you for sharing your recipes and super sweet that you are so animal friendly!! Greetings from the Netherlands
Hi Gina! I’m so happy that you enjoyed this sweet potato cake and several others from my website! Thank you so much for your ongoing support and for doing your best for the animals ❤️.
I have been searching for a smash cake recipe with no eggs and this comes close, as my grandson loves sweet potatoes. However she does not give him added sugars of any kind. How could I modify this recipe if I remove the sugar?
Hi Lisa, I haven’t tried this recipe if you remove the sugar however, I suspect the texture will be similar to my vegan savory muffins. You won’t need to modify the recipe but the cake will taste almost savory. I hope that helps.
I suggest banana cake. No need for eggs and naturally sweet.
This was so darn good. It was most definitely beautifully soft, moist and so yummy and a big hit with everyone.
I used whole meal spelt flour and coconut sugar and made up the spices as per the notes. Then chose the apple crumble on top and it didn’t disappoint.
My partner absolutely loved it on its own, and he didn’t once mention that it was a bit too “earthy” as he describes some of the super dooper healthy treats I make.
I was really happy with it … But I really enjoyed it with a dollop of coconut yoghurt (mango or passion fruit) on the side at dessert time.
Definitely be making it again and can’t wait to check out some other recipes 🤩
I’m so thrilled that you loved this cake, Gina! I love that you were able to customize it to your tastes and that your partner loved it as well. I hope you enjoy anything else that you get to make from my website! Thank you so much for your support and for your kind feedback ❤️
Very easy!!! A LOT of tip very useful!! I am italian and here there isn’t Canned pure of anything 😓 so I did it and mix potato with soy milk and oil and it was perfect!
Toasted some pecan to cover The frosting for more crunchy
I’m so glad you found the post useful and the recipe easy! And that’s great that the cake worked with your potato mixture. Thanks so much for your feedback Mari :).
I tried this recipe out, loved the frosting, but the cake came out spongy & undercooked. What did I do wrong?. Overall taste was really good
Glad you enjoyed the frosting! The cake is very fluffy but it sounds like you needed to cook it for longer. If the outside was already cooked but the inside wasn’t, it could be that your oven was too hot (many ovens are hotter than they say). In that case, I’d recommend turning down the oven and covering the cake with aluminium foil or a tray. Hope that helps!
Made this today for Thanksgiving dessert. Everyone loved it, especially my picky 15yr old & 6yr old nephews. Definitely will be making this for Christmas and event
Aw isn’t it the best when picky teens and kids enjoy our cooking?! Thanks so much for your feedback!
Another great success! I slightly modified the recipe since I didn’t have everything available and it still turned out absolutely fabulous – moist, fluffy with just the right amount of crumb.
Firstly, I only made half the recipe in a loaf tin. I used wholemeal spelt flour, which meant I needed to use less flour – it absorbs more liquid than all-purpose. So I used 150g instead. Then, I used liquid sweetener (without measuring). Most importantly, I made my own sweet potato puree.
A quick hack, start boiling the potato before you do anything else for the recipe! By the time I had everything set up I only needed to mash the potato – don’t even need to blend it – and mix it in with the rest of the ingredients.
For frosting, I only used cream cheese + liquid sweetener. BAM, done!
Aw, I always love hearing about your baking adventures! I’m so glad your modifications worked. And thanks so much for the tip about the potatoes too! Thanks a million for your support last year Vai – I appreciate it so so much. Here’s to a better 2022 xx
I made the cake this week and it was so yummy. Lighter than I’d expect and had such a wonderful aroma. I added a little extra sweet potato because I had it and didn’t want it to go to waste. It meant I needed to add about 15 more minutes to the cooking time but it was still lovely and not overcooked on the outside.
Aw I’m so happy to hear that Orla! Yes, it’s so much fluffier than I expected too haha. Glad it worked with extra sweet potato too. Thanks for your lovely feedback 🙂 x
This was soo good!! I didn’t bake it in the oven for long enough so it came out rather… uncooked, but it was still delicious. Everyone in my family loved it
I’m soo glad to hear that you enjoyed it even though it was underbaked! Thanks Alice!
This is my kind of cake! I am looking forward to warm cinnamon spiced things in the fall :)!
Thanks so much Amy! I adore cinnamon too. I could add it to alll of my baked treats xoxo