March 03, 2022Cooking Corner

A perfectly moist sweet potato vegan cake

One of our favorite root vegetables of the season is now reinvented into a delicious recipe: a perfectly moist sweet potato cake.
As we always mention, cooking with seasons has too many benefits for our health as they are packed with nutrients and for the environment as less energy is needed to transport, refrigerate and store local and seasonal food.
This vegan sweet potato cake is fluffy and moist so get a spatula, a bowl and some motivation!

What you need

Wet ingredients for sweet potato cake

- 1 ¼ cups (250g) sweet potato puree. I made it myself by boiling the sweet potato and once tender, I removed the skin and smashed the flesh with a fork

- 1 ½ cups (310g) almond milk 

- ½ cup (125g) coconut oil 

- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar optional

- 1 tsp vanilla extract, optional

Dry ingredients for sweet potato cake

- 3 cups (375g) whole wheat flour

- 1 cup (160g) brown sugar or coconut sugar

- 3 tsp pumpkin spice 

- 3 tsp baking powder

- ½ tsp baking soda

Cashew mapple frosting 

- (227g) cashew butter

- ½ cup (120ml) refined coconut oil 

- ½ cup (120ml) coconut cream

- ¼ cup (60ml) maple syrup

- ½ teaspoon vanilla paste

- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Line or grease with coconut oil a 20 cm or 23 cm (8 inch or 9 inch) square baking tin.

Step by step

Add all the wet ingredients to a mixing bowl and mix until there are no lumps. Add all the dry ingredients (sift them first if they are very lumpy) to the bowl and mix until there are no pockets of flour or wet ingredients. 

Pour the batter into your cake tin. Bake for 30 minutes or until you can insert a skewer in the middle and it comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool in the tin.

To make the frosting  

In a bowl, mix together all the ingredients until smooth. Cover the bowl and chill the mixture in the freezer for 30 minutes. Take it out, whisk, and put it back into the freezer to chill. Take it out after another 30 minutes to whisk, and then stick it in the refrigerator until you're ready to frost your cake layers.

Spread the frosting over the cake. Store in the fridge to prevent the frosting from melting.

Why you should cook with the ingredients of the season?

As we always mention, cooking with seasons has too many benefits for our health but also for the environment:
1. Freshly picked fruits and vegetables taste better and have more nutrients than ones that have been stored for months. 
2. Food that has travelled across the world to get to your plate needs more energy to transport, refrigerate and store it and often, more packaging is needed to keep it fresh. By eating local, seasonal foods you can help reduce the environmental costs associated with your food.
3. When you buy locally produced food, the money you spend stays in your country to support farmers and communities.
With the the benefits of eating seasonally and this easy recipe, did we convince you to give it a try? ;)