This vegan sweet potato cake is incredibly fluffy and moist, loaded with spices and is topped with an irresistible dairy free cream cheese frosting. You can make this easy and cozy dessert with less than 10 ingredients!
Why this is the BEST sweet potato cake!
FLAVOR + TEXTURE: This cake is moist, fluffy and packed with sweet potato. It's similar in texture and flavor to carrot cake, but without grated carrots! The cake is packed with spices and is like a much-needed warm hug on a cold day.
DIFFICULTY: You only need one bowl to make the cake and it's an easy single layer! No awkward stacking or worrying that the cake will collapse.
FROSTING: This cake has a dreamy melt-in-your-mouth cream cheese frosting! Since this is a single-layer cake, we can use a soft frosting (which tends to get squished in cakes with multiple layers).
8 ingredient sweet potato cake!
That's right - you'll only need 8 ingredients to make the cake component! You will need:
Notes about the ingredients
Plain all-purpose flour. If you're after a healthy sweet potato cake, use whole wheat or spelt flour. I've also listed a gluten-free option in the recipe card.
Sweet potato puree. I made my own by simply boiling sweet potatoes and pureeing the golden flesh with a stick blender. The Spruce Eats demonstrates this process well. Canned sweet potato puree or pumpkin puree will also work!
Brown or coconut sugar because they have a natural caramel profile which complements the sweet potato.
Oil for moisture! It also balances out the natural starches in the sweet potato and makes a soft and tender cake (rather than a chewy one). If you're oil-free, you may be able to substitute it with applesauce but I haven't tried it myself.
Pumpkin pie spice. I made my own blend using ground cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves.
This is an eggless sweet potato cake but we don't actually need any egg replacers :). There's enough starch and structure in the sweet potato puree to hold the cake together.
A complete list of ingredients, quantities and instructions are in the gray recipe card at the bottom of this post.
How to make sweet potato cake
This sweet potato cake recipe comes together in just one bowl!
To make the cake batter, add all the liquid ingredients to a large bowl and whisk until combined.
Tip: If your sweet potato hasn't been pureed yet, add your chopped cooked sweet potato with the non-dairy milk and oil to your mixing bowl. Then use a stick blender to puree the ingredients until smooth.
Next, add all the dry ingredients to the bowl and mix until just combined. You may use a spatula or electric mixer to stir the ingredients but make sure you don't over mix the batter!
Some lumps in the batter are fine, 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 sweet potato cake
Baking the cake in a square pan takes less time than baking it in a round pan or loaf tin! I used a 9-inch (23 cm) square pan but an 8-inch (20 cm) or regular pan with a similar capacity will also work well.
The cake is delicate when it's still warm so I'd highly recommend leaving it in the cake pan to cool, rather than turning it onto a wire rack.
Alternatively, if you would like a layered sweet potato cake, simply bake the cake in 2 x 8 inch (20 cm) round cake pans or 3 x 6 inch (15 cm) round cake pans. The cakes may dome a little so make sure you cut off the domes before you stack them. Or use some cake strips!
Frosting and decorating the cake
This vegan sweet potato cake is excellent with a simple cream cheese frosting and some crushed walnuts or pecans. Its tangy flavor and creamy texture complement the earthy sweet potato and spices in the cake.
The sweet potato cake is also wonderful with no frosting as a snack cake.
Alternatively, you can also decorate the cake with:
- A simple dusting of powdered sugar
- A two-ingredient glaze such as what I used in my pistachio lemon cake (use plant based milk instead of lemon juice).
- A pecan crumble from my vegan apple cake or wholesome oat crumble from my apple berry muffins. For a crumb topping, I'd recommend crumbling the mixture on the unbaked sweet potato cake then baking it for around 35 minutes.
- 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 🙂
More cozy vegan cake and dessert recipes
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Easy Vegan Sweet Potato Cake
Ingredients
Wet ingredients for sweet potato cake
- 1 ¼ cups (250g) sweet potato puree, canned or homemade (see 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 (160g) 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) 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
- For homemade sweet potato puree, simply boil or roast 1 large sweet potato or 2 small sweet potatoes, and puree the flesh. I prefer boiling the sweet potato as it's much quicker! You can also use canned pumpkin puree instead of sweet potato.
- For a gluten free vegan sweet potato cake, substitute the flour with a good quality 1:1 gluten free flour. OR use 1 ½ cups (150g) almond flour and 1 ½ cups (240g) gluten free all-purpose flour.
- Or use 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, ½ teaspoons ground nutmeg and ½ 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 ½ 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!
Nutrition
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.
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
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.
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 🤩
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