Sweet Potato Spice Cake

This incredibly moist and rich Sweet Potato Spice Cake is full of cozy spices and covered with a layer of decadent orange flavored cream cheese frosting. It’s make-ahead friendly and perfect for Fall gatherings or weekend baking!

How do you jam two sweet potatoes into dessert and impress your entire family all at the same time? With this spice cake, that’s how 😉

Sweet potato has a knack for making baking goods extra moist, just like in my Sweet Potato Brownie Bites. In this cake, it works just the same way. The mashed sweet potato creates a super tender texture that’s oh so moist. It’s dense, but springy at the same time.

This cake has all the best Fall spices, balanced with a tangy, zesty orange flavored cream cheese frosting. It’s sure to impress sweet potato lovers and non-sweet potato lovers both. Make any part of this recipe the night before to cut down on prep, if that’s your thing!

What are the ingredients in this Sweet Potato Spice Cake?

If you’re a home baker or avid cook, you probably already have a few of the ingredients you need to make this delightful Fall cake recipe. All you’d need in addition to those common baking ingredients is sweet potatoes, an orange, and the frosting ingredients.

Here’s a list of everything I used in this cake, plus a little more information about each one:

• sweet potatoes – Two smaller to medium sweet potatoes makes the perfect amount of mashed sweet potato for this cake. You can use leftover sweet potatoes from another meal, or bake up a couple specifically for this recipe, as written in the recipe.
• brown sugar – Using only brown sugar in this cake helps give it a wonderful deep flavor that goes well with the spices.
• vegetable oil – Along with the sweet potato, this is what makes the cake incredibly moist.
• eggs – Required to give the cake rise and make it more springy!
• all-purpose flour – While a huge portion of this cake is made out of sweet potato, a little flour is still necessary to hold everything together and get a nice crumb texture.
• baking powder & baking soda – These are our leaveners that help the cake rise and stay fluffy. Make sure neither of these are expired, as that could negatively affect the cake.
• ground cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg & cloves – For a spice cake, you need spices!
• kosher salt – To bring everything together and balance out the sweetness, a touch of salt is necessary.
• orange – Using real orange zest gives this cake an amazing flavor that makes a perfect match for all the spices.
• cream cheese & butter – A blend of cream cheese and butter gives the frosting a decadent and creamy texture.
• powdered sugar – Sifting the powdered sugar helps keep any lumps away. You can use a fine-mesh sieve to do this!
• pecans – To finish it off and add a touch of texture, crushed pecans are sprinkled over the top. You can buy pre-chopped nuts or chop them yourself.

How do you make this Sweet Potato Spice Cake?

This cake recipe may look like it has a lot of steps, but it’s quite simple to put together and is sure to impress. Much of the time for this recipe is letting things cook or cool.

The first thing to do is cook the sweet potatoes so you can easily mash them. You can steam or bake your sweet potatoes in any way you prefer, but here’s how I did it.

Preheat the oven to 400F and line a small baking tray with foil. Use a fork to poke a few holes in the sweet potatoes so steam can escape. Out of habit, I like to oil the potatoes before baking but this is not required for the way we’re using them.

Place the sweet potatoes on the baking tray and bake for about 45 minutes, or until juices are bubbling from the holes and you can easily pierce the sweet potatoes with a fork. Cut each one open to the steam can escape to speed up the cooling process.

Once you can handle the potatoes, carefully remove the skins and place the cooked potatoes into a bowl. Use a fork or potato masher to briefly mash the potatoes so that you can measure out 1 1/2 cups for the cake batter.

Once the sweet potatoes are done, reduce the oven temperature to 325F. Grease an 8×8 inch deep square metal baking dish with butter or prep it with cooking spray. Line the bottom with a square of baking parchment so nothing sticks. 

Start with the wet ingredients for the batter. In a large bowl, use a hand mixer to combine the mashed sweet potato, brown sugar, vegetable oil and eggs. Set aside for now.

In another small bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, the spices and the salt. Pour the dry mixture into the wet, and whisk until just combined. Whisk in 3/4 of the orange zest, saving about 1/4 of it for the cream cheese frosting.

Scrape the batter into the prepared baking tin and level the top with a rubber spatula. Drop the tin down on the countertop several times to knock out any large air bubbles.

Bake for 45-55 minutes until the center does not jiggle and a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. If you’re unsure, I’d give it an extra 3-4 minutes.

After you take it out, leave the cake to cool for about 15 minutes until the baking tin is cool enough to handle. The cake should have pulled back from the tin a little around the edges. Run a knife around the edge of the cake to release it from the tin before transferring it to a wire rack to cool completely.

While the cake cools, use a hand mixer to beat together the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Gradually add the powdered sugar until you have a spreadable frosting, and then beat in the remaining orange zest.

Once the cake is completely cooled, remove the paper and transfer to a serving dish. Using an offset spatula, spread and swirl the frosting across the top of the cake. Sprinkle over the chopped pecans, then cut and serve.

Best tips for making this Sweet Potato Spice Cake:

Here are my best tips for successfully making this spice cake in your own kitchen:

• Bake it all the way – continue baking if the center jiggles at all, or if a toothpick stuck in the center comes out covered with any batter whatsoever.
• Do not use a glass dish – it takes significantly longer to heat up and will need to be cooked longer. It can result in over cooked edges and undercooked centers.
• Use a hand mixer – it blends the sweet potato into the batter better and makes the whole recipe a bit easier.

Prep ahead options:

If you’d like to cut down prep time on the day of serving, there are several ways this cake could be made partially ahead of time, if not completely! Here are my tips for make-ahead options:

1. Full recipe prep: You can make this cake start to finish up to 1-2 days before serving. Keep covered in the fridge for max freshness.
2. Sweet potato prep: You can cook and mash the sweet potato 24 hours before making the cake. Keep it in the fridge until you’re ready to use it.
3. Cake &/or frosting prep: You can prep the cake and frosting separately, then refrigerate for 24 hours or freeze for up to 3 months before assembling.

How to store Sweet Potato Spice Cake:

Store leftover cake covered on the counter for 1-2 days, or in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

How to freeze Sweet Potato Spice Cake:

You can prep the cake and frosting separately to freeze, or freeze individual pieces after frosting (instructions for freezing any cake here!). In either case, wrap tightly with plastic wrap or aluminum foil or a combination of both. For best quality, freeze for up to 3-4 months.

Recipe developed by Rachel Phipps.