Sweet Potato Pound Cake (spiced, with maple glaze)
This sweet potato pound cake recipe yields a dense but moist crumb with a maple syrup glaze. It's sweet with the unmistakable warmth of sweet potato flavor and Fall spices. It's just plain wonderful. It keeps well for several days and can be frozen.
Servings 10 servings
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 cup white granulated sugar
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 4 eggs at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups sweet potato puree use homemade sweet potato puree or buy canned sweet potato puree
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- OR 4 teaspoons apple pie spice instead of the three spices above
- ⅓ cup buttermilk at room temperature
For the glaze:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoons maple syrup or more if needed
Instructions
For the cake:
- Preheat oven to 350ºF (180°C).
- Grease (use shortening) and flour a large 10 or 12-cup bundt pan.
- In a bowl sift together flour, baking powder, soda, spices, and salt.
- Cream softened butter in a large bowl adding both sugars gradually, and beat for 2-3 minutes, until thick and fluffy.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition until well incorporated.
- Add vanilla, the sweet potato puree, and mix well.
- Add the sifted flour mixture in two additions alternating with the buttermilk, beating only until well mixed. It's important that you don't overbeat the sweet potato mixture at this point.
- Pour batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.
- Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. If the top is browning too quickly before it's done, loosely cover the cake with a large piece of aluminum foil so the top doesn't continue to brown while the inside bakes fully.
- Let cool for about 15 minutes in the pan on a wire rack. Grab the pan with kitchen towels and starts shaking it a little, until the cake moves and you make sure the bottom and sides are not stuck.
- Invert onto a wire rack, and cool completely before frosting.
- Pour the maple glaze and let it drip down the sides. If sprinkling chopped pecans or ground cinnamon to decorate, do so before the glaze sets.
For the glaze:
- In a medium bowl, mix powdered sugar with the maple syrup until smooth and creamy. It should be like thick honey. Add more syrup if needed.
- Use on the bundt cake or refrigerate until needed in an airtight container or the bowl tightly covered with plastic wrap.
Notes
Baking time: consider that all ovens and pans are different, even if they look similar. The baking time in my recipes is as accurate as possible, but it might take you more or less time. You can use a thermometer to check that your oven is at the right temperature. I recommend keeping track of how your oven works and what tiny details you might need to adjust.
Pan size: fill the pan to no more than ¾ of its capacity at most. That is my golden rule regarding cake batters in general, and especially relevant with bundt cakes that tend to be dense, similar to pound cakes.
Flavorings: adapt the amount and type of spices to your palate. Use any homemade or store-bought mix you like, or use fewer spices than those specified in the recipe. Make this flavorful sweet potato cake your own!
Freezing: this moist bundt cake freezes well for a month; ensure it's well-wrapped. I use plastic wrap first and then aluminum foil. Defrost in the refrigerator (it takes a while, so I recommend doing it the day before) or at room temperature.
