High Altitude Sweet Potato Bundt Cake

This high altitude sweet potato bundt cake is made with nutty brown butter and roasted sweet potatoes, frosted with vanilla bean cream cheese buttercream. Make this fall bundt cake for the holidays, and enjoy with coffee or tea for dessert or breakfast!

Looking for more fall recipes? You’ll love my sweet potato casserole with brown sugar streusel, sweet potato crumb muffins, and chai tea spice cake with honey biscoff buttercream.

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Why You’ll Love This Cake

Perfect for Fall. With warm spices, roasted sweet potatoes, vanilla bean and rich browned butter, this delicious bundt cake is just want I want to cozy up with on a chilly day.

Easy and Versatile. The cake batter is simple to make with just a bowl and whisk. If you want to save time and skip roasting sweet potatoes, you can even use canned pumpkin instead.

Stays Moist and Soft for Days. This is one of those cakes that’s just as good leftover as it is when it’s freshly baked.

High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.

See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.

Ingredients

Cake

• Sweet Potatoes. Choose 2 medium-to-large sweet potatoes (or more if they’re on the small side). After roasting the potatoes and removing the peel, you’ll need 15 ounces of roasted sweet potato.
• Olive Oil. A little olive oil rubbed onto the sweet potatoes keeps them moist while roasting.
• Butter. Use unsalted butter, or omit the extra salt in the recipe if you use salted butter. You’ll be browning the butter first, which makes it so aromatic with a rich, nutty flavor.
• Sugar. A combination of granulated sugar and dark brown sugar adds sweetness and moisture.
• Eggs. Gives the cake structure and richness.
• Milk. Adds moisture.
• Flour. Use all-purpose flour to give the cake structure and strength.
• Baking Soda. Leavening agent to make the cake rise.
• Salt. Balances the sweetness.
• Spices. A blend of cinnamon, ginger, cloves and nutmeg, as well as vanilla extract, complements the sweet potato and adds wonderful flavor.

TIP: After roasting and pureeing the sweet potatoes, if you find you don’t have quite enough (15 ounces), you can make up for the rest with canned pumpkin or even unsweetened applesauce.

Frosting

• Cream Cheese. I prefer to use full-fat cream cheese for the best flavor and texture.
• Butter or Vegetable Shortening. For a thicker, more stable frosting that I could pipe onto the cake, I added shortening. This helps to stabilize the cream cheese, which is very soft. If you don’t mind a slightly softer frosting that you can just spread onto the cake, use butter.
• Meringue Powder. Gives the frosting stability and improves the texture.
• Vanilla. Use pure vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste for the best flavor.
• Salt. Balances the sweetness.
• Powdered sugar. Sweetens and thickens the frosting.
• Milk or Cream. If your frosting is a bit too stiff, add a very small amount of milk or cream to thin it out for spreading or piping.

Instructions

Roast the sweet potatoes.

• Preheat the oven to 425 F.
• Wash the sweet potatoes, but don’t peel them. Rub the peel with the olive oil, then wrap the potatoes in aluminum foil and place them on a baking sheet.
• Roast the sweet potatoes for 90 minutes, until very soft.
• Set aside until cool enough to handle, then remove and discard the peel.
• Puree the roasted sweet potatoes in a food processor until very smooth. Weigh out 15 ounces for the cake, and save the rest for another recipe.
• You can make the sweet potatoes up to 2 days in advance, keeping them in the refrigerator until needed.

TIP: Be sure to read my post on sweet potato casserole, where I discuss the difference between sweet potatoes and yams, and which you should buy.

Make the cake.

• Preheat the oven to 350 F and position a rack in the center of the oven. Thoroughly grease a standard 12-cup bundt pan with non-stick baking spray.
• In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Continue to cook the butter, swirling the pan occasionally, until the surface of the butter begins to foam and nutty, golden brown solids have formed at the bottom of the pan. Remove the pan from the heat, and scrape the butter and browned bits into a large mixing bowl. Let cool for 5 minutes.
• To the bowl of browned butter, add the pureed sweet potato, granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs, milk and vanilla extract, and whisk until smooth.
• In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt and spices. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and whisk until just combined. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

• Bake the cake for about 45 minutes. The top will have a deep, golden-brown crust with a cracked surface. When the cake is done, a cake tester or sharp knife inserted should come out clean, or with moist crumbs clinging to it. Don’t over-bake.
• Cool the cake in the pan for exactly 15 minutes, then turn the cake out onto a cooling rack. Cool the cake completely before frosting.

Frosting

• In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the cream cheese and shortening/butter for several minutes until smooth.
• Add the powdered sugar, meringue powder, vanilla bean paste and salt. Whip the frosting for several minutes, scraping the bowl down several times, until thick and fluffy. If the frosting is too stiff, add the milk, 1 tablespoon at a time.
• Spread or pipe the frosting onto the cooled cake.

Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!

Frequently Asked Questions

What size bundt pan did you use?

I used a standard 12-cup bundt pan. You could also bake the cake in two smaller bundt pans or loaf pans.

Can I use canned pumpkin instead of roasted sweet potatoes?

Yes, canned pumpkin and roasted/pureed sweet potatoes are pretty much interchangeable in cakes and baked goods. It’s for this reason that I developed this bundt cake recipe to use 15 ounces of roasted sweet potato, which you can replace with a 15-ounce can of pumpkin.

Does this cake need to be refrigerated?

Store the leftover cake in an airtight container for up to 3 days.  If you’re going to eat the cake within a day, it’s fine sitting at room temperature. Since there’s cream cheese in the frosting, you should refrigerate the cake overnight, but let it come completely to room temperature for serving.

What piping tip did you use?

I used tip 1M to pipe the frosting. I started by piping the longest swoops down the sides of the cake, then the shorter swoops. Lastly, I just piped a little frosting around the top of the cake to make it pretty. When frosting is piped directly onto an unfrosted cake, it tends to not stick very well. Be sure to hold the tip close to the cake to really get the frosting to adhere to the sides, or it can fall off.

Can I make this cake if I don’t live at high altitude?

I develop all of my recipes for Denver’s high altitude of 5,280 feet. If you don’t live at high altitude, you can certainly make the cake with a few minor adjustments, such as decreasing the flour a little and increasing the leavening slightly. I suggest reading this article on adjusting recipes for high altitude baking.

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