Sweet Potato Cake with Pecan Praline Icing
Serves: 12
Hands On Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour and 5 minutes
Ingredients
Sweet Potato Cake
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cup cooked and mashed sweet potatoes
2/3 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
Pecan Praline Icing
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 to 3/4 cup chopped pecans
Instructions
To make the sweet potato cake: Heat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugars, cinnamon, baking powder and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk together the sweet potatoes, buttermilk, vegetable oil, eggs and vanilla. Stir the sweet potato mixture into the flour mixture until thoroughly combined.
Transfer to a 10-inch cast iron skillet and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Let cool completely
To make the icing: In a large saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. When the butter is foamy, stir in the brown sugar and cream. Continue to cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture comes to a boil. Remove from the heat and whisk in the powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth. Stir in the pecans. Let cool for about 5 minutes and then pour over the cooled cake. Serve.
About the recipe
This sweet potato cake with pecan praline icing from the blog Biscuits and Burlap is the perfect fall dessert. Cooking it in a cast iron skillet makes it even better.
Three medium-sized roasted sweet potatoes will yield about 2 cups of mashed puree; measure out 1 3/4 cups from that puree. You can substitute any warm spice you’d like for the cinnamon; allspice, ginger, cloves and/or pumpkin pie spice would all taste great. We prefer dark brown sugar in this recipe, but you can also use light, or a combination of the two. If you don’t have a cast iron skillet, you can bake this cake in a 9- by 13-inch baking dish. It will cook more quickly in this dish, so watch the cake carefully.