Sweet Potato Cake with Brown Sugar Frosting

A Fun Take On a Classic Thanksgiving Side

This Thanksgiving season, I wanted to create a dessert that wasn’t your typical pumpkin, apple, or pecan pie.  Don’t get me wrong, I love these desserts.  However, I thought it would be fun to offer you a different alternative in case you were wanting to break away from tradition slightly, if even for an event other than Thanksgiving.

For this new dessert, I was inspired by one of my favorite Thanksgiving side dishes:  a classic sweet potato casserole.  The kind where the mashed sweet potatoes are cooked in brown sugar and topped with either a sweet pecan crumble or toasted marshmallows.  So I went to work and created a cake based off this classic Thanksgiving staple.

The Cake

This cake consists of three layers of sweet potato cake with brown sugar Swiss meringue buttercream and layers of sweet pecan crumble.  If you’re skeptical of sweet potato in a cake, trust me, it’s delicious.  The cake has a similar flavor to a pumpkin cake, only it’s a little denser and a tad sweeter.  The brown sugar buttercream is the perfect complement to the spice in the cake.  The molasses flavor in the dark brown sugar develops a nice depth of flavor, mellowing out the spice nicely.  The pecan streusel is a nice textural addition, offering a slight crunch to the cake.

Fun Side Story

I was babysitting my 20-month old niece when I was making this cake and later, my sister-in-law offered to help stage the cake and take pictures of it.  My niece climbed into a chair near the cake and started to reach for it.  It was clear she wanted a slice, but she couldn’t have any because she was getting over a cold and sugar makes her really hyper (think Energizer bunny).  We were able to distract her from the cake for a bit, but towards the end the poor kid was sobbing, desperately wanting some of the cake.  If you look closely in the picture below, you can see her fingers reaching for the cake.  Towards the last bit, it primarily just turned into a temper tantrum which was hysterical.  It’s funny how much of a big deal kids make things.

Regardless of if you are stickler for tradition or want to try something new this year, I hope you take the opportunity to make this delicious cake.  Trust me, it won’t disappoint.

Blessings on your home and table,                                                                                                                  ~Natalie

Sweet Potato Cake with Brown Sugar Frosting

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Ingredients

  

Sweet Potato Cake

• 2 cups light brown sugar packed
• 1 cup canola oil
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cup sweet potato puree about 2 large sweet potatoes
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Brown Sugar Swiss Meringue Buttercream

• 8 egg whites
• 3 cups dark brown sugar packed
• 2 cups unsalted butter room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Brown Sugar Pecan Crumble

• 1 cup light brown sugar packed
• 1 1/2 cups toasted pecans chopped
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup salted butter melted

Instructions

 

Cake Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350°F.  Grease three 8-inch pans and line with parchment paper.
• To make the sweet potato puree, peel and dice the sweet potatoes.  Bring a pot of water to boiling and place sweet potatoes in boiling water.  Let boil 15 minutes until sweet potatoes are tender.  Drain, and mash with a fork or a potato masher.  Alternately, you can pulse sweet potatoes in a food processor.  Try to get them as smooth as possible.
• In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg.  Set aside for later.
• In a large bowl, whisk together oil and sugar.  Whisk in eggs, vanilla, and sweet potato puree.
• Whisk dry ingredients into wet ingredients.  Evenly disperse the cake batter among the three pans.  Bake for 23 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Let cool completely.

Frosting Instructions

• Place egg whites and brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer.  Place the bowl of a stand mixer over a pot of boiling water.  Whisk constantly until a candy thermometer reads 240°F.  Remove from double boiler and wipe the bottom of the stand mixer.  With the whisk attachment, beat the egg and sugar mixture on high speed until the bowl is cool to the touch.
• Switch to the paddle attachment and add butter in cubes.  If the mixture breaks, continue to beat on high speed until mixture comes back together.  Add in vanilla and salt.

Crumble Instructions

• In a small bowl, combine all the ingredients for the crumble.

Assembly

• Spread a layer of frosting on top of one cake layer and evenly spread a layer of crumble on top of the cake.  Repeat this process twice.
• Frost the sides of the cake and enjoy!

For more cake recipes, check out my hazelnut cake with salted caramel frosting!