Easy 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!

Course Breakfast, Dessert

Cuisine American, Vegan

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 30

Total Time 45

Servings serves

Calories 212

Author Anthea

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!

Nutrition