This sweet potato pound cake is a force to be reckoned with, y’all. A cake that’s so tender, warmly spiced, and loaded with flavor. Every single bite is beaming with buttery richness + sweet potato taste. Topped with an insane brown butter glaze!

sliced sweet potato pound cake on large beige plate

I saw a meme the other day that had a funny jab about those who are on #teampumpkin and those who are on #teamsweetpotato. Every holiday season the jokes get funnier and funnier lol. Listen, I ain’t gonna lie; I do love myself some pumpkin-flavored goodies but when it comes to which one ranks higher…I’m screwing pumpkin and marrying sweet potato, all day, everyday. Ha!

Yuh, I said it. There is nothing at all like that good ole sweet potato goodness for me. I love it during the holiday season and all year ’round. Sweet potato is such a rich and respected food item within the Black community, too. Every year I make it a point to add new sweet potato-inspired recipes to my portfolio and omgggggg, y’all. This sweet potato pound cake is insane! Let’s dig in!

…& if you love sweet potato, you cannot miss my sweet potato cinnamon rolls, these sweet potato biscuits, or these sweet potato pancakes, yasss.

sweet potato pound cake on beige platter with white linen on the side

I had a chance to develop some freelance recipes for Bed Bath & Beyond a few months ago and this sweet potato pound cake made the cut. You already know that I had to bring it here and share it with you as well. My love for making baked goods plus my love for sweet potato= this scrumptious goodness!

The Best Sweet Potato Pound Cake 😍

Friends, can we all collectively gather around and get into this here cake for a hot second?! I promise you that while there are many sweet potato pound cakes out there…ain’t none like this one. This cake is packed with sweet potato flavor, super moist + tender, and topped with a brown butter glaze, amen. If you’re looking for a real delectable treat to make, look no further.

What Is A Pound Cake?

A pound cake is an old fashioned, primarily Southern, dessert recipe that features heavy ingredient ratios. For example: one pound of butter, one pound of sugar, one pound of eggs, and one pound of flour. This is a heftier kind of cake due to the weight of ingredients; a true pound cake will have a traditionally dense, buttery flavor, and silky smooth texture. It’s a real delight.

In addition, a pound cake is typically baked in a loaf pan or a classic bundt cake mold. For these images, I used a 10-inch fluted tube cake pan from BB&B. Pound cakes are also cakes that usually do not feature frostings and such like other typical cake recipes. Instead they’re often served as is, with a light dusting of confectioners sugar, with fresh fruit/whipped cream, or a glaze/icing.

slice of sweet potato cake on plate with silver spoon

Ingredients Needed For This Pound Cake

(Note: the full ingredients list, including measurements, is provided in the recipe card directly below.)

  • for the cake: flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, butter, brown sugar, sweet potato puree, eggs, vanilla/almond extract, and buttermilk.
  • brown butter glaze: powdered sugar, butter, milk, vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract.
  • optional goodies: pecans, for topping and vanilla ice cream, for serving.

How To Cook Sweet Potatoes

🍠 ⇢ Let’s chat about sweet potato puree: For any of my sweet potato-forward recipes, I exclusively make homemade sweet potato puree. There are 3 ways to cook your sweet potatoes for making this pound cake:

  • Boiling: This is the method that I almost always go for. A lot of people think boiling sweet potatoes will create waterlogged potatoes but I never have this issue. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Then place your peeled and quartered sweet potatoes in. Boil them until fork-tender. Here’s what I do to make sure there is no water-logging issue >> drain the potatoes completely and then add them back into the same pot and mash them up. The residual heat in the pot will cook off/out any remaining moisture, tadow.
  • Roasting: A bit more time consuming but great! Preheat the oven to 425°F. Rinse and scrub the potatoes clean and pat dry. Then use a fork to prick them all over a few times to aerate. Rub a touch of oil all over the potatoes. Place them onto a baking sheet lined with foil. Bake them for 35-45 minutes or until fork-tender. Once cooled, slice open and spoon the flesh out.
  • Microwaving: Rinse and scrub the potatoes clean and pat dry. Then use a fork to prick them all over a few times to ventilate. Place the sweet potatoes on a microwave-safe plate/paper towel and microwave for 5 minutes, then turn them over and microwave once more for another 5 minutes. Check and make sure that they’re fork-tender. Note: larger potatoes will need to cook for longer, 1 minute more. Be mindful not to overcook!

⇢ Pro-tip: While any cooking method above will do the trick, there’s one more thing. Real, mashed sweet potato will contain their stringy fibers and such. Thus, I always recommend giving it a quick pulse in a food processor to achieve a nice, silky smooth puree! This will make sure your cake has the best texture.

Homemade sweet potato puree is the best for this sweet potato pound cake, peeps! Personally, I find canned sweet potato puree to contain a high amount of moisture/hydration– but of course, this can depend on the brand used.

How To Make Sweet Potato Pound Cake

(Note: please see the recipe card directly below for the complete written instructions.)

  1. Combine the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg- then set aside.
  2. Cream the butter/sugar. Using a mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
  3. Add in the mashed sweet potato and eggs. Empty the mashed sweet potato in and continue beating the mixture, then add in the eggs one at a time.
  4. Pour in the flavorings. Add the vanilla + almond extract.
  5. Alternate the flour/buttermilk. Add the flour mixture and buttermilk into the wet ingredients in stages.
  6. Pour the batter into the pan. Empty the cake batter into the bundt pan.
  7. Bake away! Bake the cake and then let it cool.
  8. Prepare the glaze. Make the brown butter glaze.
  9. Pour the glaze onto the cake. Then allow the glaze to set.
  10. Serve. Garnish, slice, and serve immediately, enjoy!
sweet potato pound cake on beige plate with small plate of cake on the side

The Best Brown Butter Glaze

Sheesh, this sweet potato pound cake is great on its own but when paired with my brown butter glaze, yum! Sweet potato, brown sugar, and butter are besties together and the flavors are unreal. That brown butter nuttiness soaks into the moist sweet potato cake and creates such a dreamy symphony, peeps.

Pound Cake Tips + Tricks

Since pound cakes require a bit more tlc and attention…here are my top tips + tricks to make sure that your pound cake comes out flawlessly ♡

⇢ Grease/butter the pan– You’ll want to generously grease/butter your bundt pan mold very well. Like even when you think you’ve done it good, go back and double grease every single nook and cranny, and crevice. We want a flawless cake release in the end.

⇢ Room temperature ingredients– The butter and eggs within this recipe need to be at room temperature. You need softened butter to cream together with the sugar. And the eggs need to be room temp to blend well within the batter and not coagulate. I like to leave these out on the counter the night before baking or a few hours before.

⇢ Beat the butter/sugar well– You’ll want to cream these ingredients together very well until they achieve a light and fluffy texture, about 3-4 minutes.

⇢ Careful when beating the eggs– Over beating the eggs can cause cracks within the cake’s finished texture. Always beat until each egg just combines and dissolves within the batter.

⇢ Alternating the flour/buttermilk– This method has to do with gluten development. When you add the flour in stages with the buttermilk, the process allows the flour to bind with the fat (butter) and prevents the formation of gluten when the buttermilk is added in >> gluten in a cake is no bueno.

⇢ Let the cake rest– When done baking, allow the cake to cool in the bundt pan for at least 10 minutes before inverting it out onto a plate.

slice of sweet potato cake on white plate with vanilla ice cream on top

I just know y’all are going to love this sweet potato pound cake, can’t wait to hear what you think. We like serving this one with a big ole scoop of vanilla ice cream. That combined with this luscious cake and brown butter glaze, whew.

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sliced sweet potato pound cake on large beige plate

The Best Sweet Potato Pound Cake

★★★★★ 5 from 27 reviews
  • Author: Quin Liburd
  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Cook Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
  • Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
  • Yield: 12 1x
  • Category: Dessert & Sweets
  • Method: Baking
  • Cuisine: Southern
Print Recipe

Description

This sweet potato pound cake is a force to be reckoned with, y’all. A cake that’s so tender, warmly spiced, and loaded with flavor. Every single bite is beaming with buttery richness + sweet potato taste. Topped with an insane brown butter glaze!

Ingredients

Scale

For the sweet potato pound cake:

  • 3 cups all purpose flour, sifted if lumpy
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
  • 1 cup sweet potato purée
  • 6 large eggs, room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon almond extract
  • 1 cup whole buttermilk
  • chopped pecans, for garnish- optional
  • vanilla ice cream, for serving- optional

For the brown butter glaze:

  • 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter
  • 3 tablespoons whole milk (or milk of choice)
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

For the sweet potato pound cake:

  1. Preheat the oven to 325°F and generously spray a 10-cup bundt pan with baking spray or grease with butter and then set aside.
  2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg together. Whisk the dry ingredients super well to combine and then set the bowl aside.
  3. Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or using a handheld electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes. Add in the sweet potato purée and continue beating to fully combine. Add in the eggs, one by one, beating until just combined after each addition. Then add in the vanilla and almond extract. 
  4. Next, add in the flour mixture a little at a time in stages alternating with the buttermilk (ex: a little flour mixture, then a little buttermilk). Begin and end with the flour until all of the flour/buttermilk is combined within the cake batter until just combined- careful not to over mix.
  5. Empty the cake batter into the prepared bundt pan and use a spoon to evenly smooth the top of the cake batter nicely. 
  6. Bake the cake for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Then carefully invert the cake onto a wire rack to continue cooling. While the cake cools, prepare the glaze.

For the brown butter glaze:

  1. In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Allow the butter to melt, undisturbed, to brown- the entire process takes about 5-6 minutes. You should hear the butter bubbling as it cooks. Then the butter will turn golden brown and have a nutty aroma with brown bits on the bottom- careful not to walk away as it can go from perfectly browned to burned in seconds! Once achieved, remove the saucepan from heat and set aside to cool down.
  2. In a large bowl, combine the powdered sugar and lightly cooled brown butter together and stir to combine. Pour in the milk along with the vanilla paste/extract and continue mixing until everything is well incorporated. 

For the cake assembly:

  1. Place the cake onto a large plate or cake vessel (with enough space/height to hold in the glaze to keep from spilling over) and drizzle the glaze over the pound cake. Let the glaze sit on the cake for a few minutes to set.
  2. Garnish the cake with chopped pecans, if desired. Then slice the sweet potato pound cake into wedges and serve warm with ice cream, if you’d like. Enjoy!

Notes

  1. For best recipe success, please read the blog post & notes in its entirety with video tutorial before beginning.
  2. Storing: Keep cake leftovers stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week, serve at room temperature.

Keywords: sweet potato pound cake, sweet potato cake, sweet potato desserts, southern cakes, pound cake recipe