Sweet Potato Cake with Cashew Frosting

A fan-favorite fall dessert recipe featuring warm spices, roasted sweet potato, and a decadent maple cashew frosting, this Sweet Potato Cake is a must-try! This cake can easily be made gluten-free and is naturally dairy-free. Just one taste and your fall baking repertoire will never be the same again!

This recipe was originally published on October 4, 2019. It was updated with new photos and information on June 17, 2023.

Though I know everyone's all about pumpkin spice everything in the fall, I'm just as excited about sweet potato! All summer I look forward to roasted sweet potatoes and they're finally in season!

I used my pumpkin bread recipe as the base for the sweet potato cake layers because it's my favorite quick bread after my banana bread! Once I adjusted it for sweet potato, I added warm spices and frosted it with a sumptuous vegan maple cashew frosting!

The frosting has a coconut oil and cashew butter base and is sweetened with maple syrup, not powdered sugar. It melts faster than regular frosting, so you need to keep this in the refrigerator, but so worth it!

Why You'll Love This Sweet Potato Cake Recipe

With solid 5-star reviews, this sweet potato cake is a keeper! Here are a few reasons why we love it around here so much:

• Great for New Bakers. With no complicated steps and an easy frosting technique, this cake is doable for even the most novice bakers.
• Beautiful & Impressive. If you're on the hunt for an effortlessly beautiful dessert recipe, look no further! This healthy yet still gorgeous cake will catch everyone's attention.
• Allergy-Friendly. All of my food allergy friends can rejoice on this one! Layered sweet potato cake is naturally dairy-free and very easily made gluten-free.
• Features Fall Flavors. With featured warm & nutty flavors, this cake sings fall for those of us who are looking for an alternative (even if it's just occasional!) to pumpkin spice.

Sweet Potato Cake Ingredients

• Sweet Potato Purée - Choose a more moist sweet potato, like a classic sweet potato or a yam. You just don't want to use Japanese sweet potato, as it is starchier and will be too dry to use in the recipe.
• Flour - Gluten-free measure-for-measure flour is my preferred, though all-purpose or cake flour also works in this recipe.
• Brown sugar - This sugar adds toffee-like depth to the healthy sweet potato cake.
• Granulated Sugar - White sugar adds the rest of the sweetness to the cake, without making it overly sweet.
• Large Egg - Bind the cake together and help it to evenly rise.
• Oil - A neutral-flavored oil that adds moisture.
• Non-Dairy Milk - Although I prefer unsweetened almond milk, you can also use vanilla flavored dairy-free milk.
• Spices - A custom spice blend takes this cake to another level. This cake features cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, allspice, and fresh orange zest (optional).
• Baking Soda & Baking Powder - These leavening agents help the cake batter to rise, making it light and giving it a tender crumb.
• Salt - Just a touch of salt accentuates the sweetness of the cake.

Additional Cashew Frosting Ingredients

• Cashew Butter - This can be found at most major grocery stores. If you can't find it in the peanut butter aisle, look for it in the health food section of the store.
• Refined Coconut Oil - This type of coconut oil goes through additional processing to remove the strong coconut flavor, allowing the other frosting flavors to shine.
• Coconut Cream - Not to be confused with coconut milk, coconut cream adds richness and mouthfeel to the frosting.
• Maple Syrup - This natural sweetener adds caramel-like dimensions to the frosting.

Substitutions

For best results with this recipe, you will want to make minimal substitutions and follow the recipe exactly. Here are a few of my approved substitutions, however, if you want to venture out or don't have the listed ingredients:

• Squash: Roasted and puréed butternut squash or sweet baking pumpkin can substitute for the sweet potato. The texture of the cake may be slightly different, though the flavor will still be fabulous.
• Oil: Although my favorite is avocado oil, you can use light olive oil (not extra virgin), grapeseed oil, or any other neutral-flavored oil you have on hand.
• Milk: Feel free to use other nut milks like cashew milk, soy milk, or regular whole milk if you can handle dairy!

How to Make Sweet Potato Cake

Though the end result is striking and impressive, there really is no need to be intimidated by this cake. Here's how to make it:

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease and line a loaf pan with parchment paper and set aside.

Step 2: In a bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, spices, and orange zest if using.

Step 3: In a separate bowl, whisk together the oil, granulated sugar, and brown sugar, making sure you have no hard clumps of brown sugar. Whisk in the egg, sweet potato purée, vanilla, and milk.

Step 4: Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until just combined. If using gluten-free flour, let the batter rest for 30 minutes to let the flour hydrate.

Step 5: Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Step 6: Remove the cake from the oven. Let the cake cool in the pan until cool enough to touch, about 30 minutes to an hour. Then take it out and place on a wire rack to cool completely.

Cake Baking Tips

• Measure the flour by weighing it. The best way to measure flour is by weighing it. Scooping the flour with the measuring cup can increase the flour by up to 20%, making the cakes dense and heavy. If you don't have a kitchen scale, another good option is to spoon and level the flour when measuring.
• How to make sweet potato purée. Though canned sweet potato purée works for this recipe, roasted sweet potato purée adds an extra level of flavor to the cake. To roast sweet potatoes, wrap them tightly in aluminum foil and roast for 60 to 70 minutes in an oven preheated to 425°F (220°C).
• Use parchment paper. The last thing you want is the cake getting stuck in the pan! Grease your pan and line it with parchment paper before pouring the batter in.

How to Make Cashew Frosting

Though this dairy-free buttercream frosting takes a little time to chill, it's otherwise very simple to make. Here's how:

Step 1: In a bowl, mix together all the ingredients until smooth.

Step 2: Cover the bowl and chill the mixture in the freezer for 30 minutes. Remove the bowl from the freezer, whip it up with a hand mixer or whisk. If it still seems loose, put it back into the freezer to chill.

How to Frost & Assemble Sweet Potato Layer Cake

Spread as much or as little of the frosting on the surface of the sweet potato loaf. You can use an offset spatula, butterknife, or the back of a spoon to create texture, or use a piping bag to make it decorative.

Cake Frosting Tips

• Store the frosting in the fridge until frosting the cake. Since the frosting doesn't contain powdered sugar or butter, it will more easily "melt" as it comes to room temperature. For this reason, the cashew frosting will stay the most stable in the fridge before frosting the cake.
• Use an offset spatula to easily frost the cake. Though some people prefer using a straight spatula, the offset spatula seems to work better for me when decorating cakes with frosting.
• Store the cake in the refrigerator before serving. This will also prevent the cashew frosting from melting off of the cake.

Recipe Variations

Though this healthy sweet potato dessert cake is fantastic made as-is, you can make it your own with any of the following variations:

• Chocolate Chips: Stir ½ cup mini chocolate chips into the cake batter to satisfy any of the chocoholics in your life!
• Candied Cashews, Walnuts, or Pecans: Take this beautiful cake to another level by topping it with candied nuts. The sweet crunch is always a hit!
• Raisins: Similar to adding raisins to carrot cake batter, stirring ½ cup of the dried fruit into this batter studs it with a natural sweetness and chew.

Serving Suggestions

I love serving this healthy sweet potato cake recipe with hot coffee or chai and a scoop of dairy-free vanilla ice cream (though of course, traditional ice cream works, too)!

Dietary Adaptations

• Gluten-Free: This recipe can very easily be made sans gluten. To make gluten-free sweet potato cake, just substitute a gluten-free 1-to-1 flour blend for the all-purpose flour and follow the recipe directions as listed.

Storage Directions

• Store: Leftover sweet potato dessert cake keeps covered in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
• Freeze: The frosted cake can also be wrapped in plastic wrap and frozen in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months. Defrost the cake at room temperature for 3-4 hours, or until thawed through.

Recipe FAQs

More Fall Dessert Recipes

• This dairy-free pumpkin pie is hands down my favorite Thanksgiving dessert! So easy, so silky, and no one will know it's dairy-free. If you're vegan, make my vegan pumpkin pie recipe instead.
• If you're more of a loaf cake person, make this gluten-free pumpkin bread! So moist and perfectly spiced.
• These pumpkin blondies are moist, fudgy, and full of melty chocolate chips.
• Pumpkin cheesecake brownies are the perfect blend of pumpkin cheesecake and fudge brownies! The swirly top makes it very impressive too.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you loved this recipe for Sweet Potato Cake as much as I do. For more mouth-watering dairy-free, gluten-free, and/or vegan dessert inspiration, make sure to follow me on Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram. You can also get all of my newest content delivered straight to your inbox by signing up for my email newsletter — I promise not to spam you!