Spiced Sweet Potato Cake

If you’re a fan of carrot cake or pumpkin muffins or pie, this cake is for you. Roasted sweet potatoes are naturally sweet and moist and they pair beautifully with warm spices. The simple glaze that’s drizzled on top adds a lovely citrus note that works so well with the cake. I developed this recipe for Passover, so it also happens to be gluten-free and dairy-free.

I bake this in a little 8 cup bundt pan that I have, but you can also bake it in a loaf pan. I just love the shape of the bundt pan.

Cake Ingredients:

  • 700 grams / 1 1/2 lbs. sweet potatoes (2 small — you need 400 grams / 14 oz. cooked, and these lose weight as they cook, so err on the side of roasting larger ones, rather than being short)
  • 170 grams / 6 oz brown sugar (3/4 cup, packed)
  • 56 grams / 2 oz. granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup oil (canola, cottonseed, safflower, or any light oil)
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp. ground cloves
  • 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
  • 185 grams / 6 1/2 oz potato starch (1 cup)

Glaze Ingredients:

  • 1 cup icing sugar
  • 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 1 Tbsp. orange juice
  • water if needed

Preheat the oven to 400°F / 205°C.

Wash the potatoes and poke them a few times with a fork or paring knife and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Roast the potatoes for 1 1/2 hours or until fully cooked and soft (when you insert a knife it will go in with no resistance). Sweet potatoes can vary greatly in size — larger potatoes may take an addition half hour or more and smaller sweet potatoes may be done in an hour. Just check them every 15 minutes after the first hour and remove them when soft. Set aside and let cool. Once they’re cooled, cut in half and scoop the flesh out, place in a bowl and mash. You need 1 1/2 cups of mashed sweet potato (or 400 grams / 14 oz).

Reduce the oven to 350°F / 175°C.

In a bowl, mix the sugars, oil, eggs and vanilla together with a mixing spoon. Add the cooled, mashed sweet potato and mix in (you may still be able to see small pieces of sweet potato — that’s okay). Add the baking powder, baking soda and all of the spices and mix through. Then sift the potato starch in (I use a fine-mesh strainer) and mix everything together, making sure the potato starch is completely incorporated.

Oil the inside of your bundt or loaf pan — you can use spray or brush it on, making sure you give it a good, even layer. Pour the batter into the pan and place on the middle rack of the oven.

Bake for 20 minutes, turn the pan, and bake another 20 minutes, or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Let cool completely, then turn out onto a serving dish.

Make the glaze. Combine the icing sugar, vanilla and orange juice in a small bowl and use a spoon to mix well. The glaze should be thick enough that it won’t all run off the cake when you drizzle it on — but if it’s too thick, thin it out with a little water.

Use a spoon or piping bag to drizzle the glaze over the cake. Once the icing has dried a bit, you can wrap the cake loosely with plastic wrap. If you won’t be eating this within a day or two, freeze.

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