This sweet potato coffee cake is a vegan cinnamon swirl coffee cake boosted with earthy sweet potato. The soft, tender sweet potato cake is swirled with a gooey cinnamon sugar middle and topped with crunchy brown sugar streusel. Plenty of mashed sweet potato gives this cake a delicate, pillowy crumb that you’ll love. If you’re looking for vegan coffee cake recipes, sweet potato recipes, vegan dessert recipes, or vegan breakfast recipes, this is the perfect recipe to try!
And, if you’re looking for more coffee cake recipes, try this vegan blackberry coffee cake or this cranberry walnut coffee cake.
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What You’ll Need For This Sweet Potato Coffee Cake
Tools You’ll Need
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How To Make A Sweet Potato Coffee Cake
Preheat oven to 350°F/175 C. Grease or line an 8” x 8”/20cm x 20cm baking pan with parchment.
In a small bowl combine the sugar, flour, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Stir to distribute everything evenly.
Pour in the oil and water. Use a fork to stir vigorously until everything is wet and forms crumbles.
Combine the sugar, cinnamon, and coconut oil into a paste. Keeping the paste slightly warm will make it easier to spread evenly.
In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Stir to evenly distribute everything. Having the dry ingredients combined before adding to the wet ingredients reduces the amount of stirring needed which keeps a light and delicate cake.
In a large bowl, combine the sweet potato puree (see notes), sugar, and oil. Use a hand mixer or whisk to blend until smooth. If lumps of sweet potato remain, use an immersion blender or regular blender to make the batter completely smooth.
Add in the oat milk, vinegar, and vanilla extract. Blend until smooth and well emulsified.
Add in the flour mixture. Stir until just smooth. Do not over mix.
Pour half the batter into prepared baking pan and shake to level, pushing all the way to the corners as needed.
Crumble/spread the cinnamon swirl paste over the surface of the batter.
Pour the remaining batter in an even layer.
Sprinkle the streusel over the top of the batter.
Bake for 40-45 minutes until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
Allow to cool in the pan for at least 10 minutes before removing and allow to cool completely.
Store at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 1 month.
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Important Recipe Notes
Oil choice: Any unsaturated oil will work in this recipe. The best choices are very neutral flavored oils like canola, sunflower, or vegetable. Coconut oil should not be used as it will react with the sweet potato and resolidify, creating uneven pockets of moisture. Melted coconut oil works well for flavor in the swirl and streusel, but is not critical.
Sweet Potato: Peel and cook sweet potato chunks, covered in simmering water until very soft. Drain well and mash. Alternatively, bake sweet potato until soft. Allow to cool and scoop out flesh.
Sweet Potato Varieties: The recipe is demonstrated with orange fleshed sweet potatoes/yams but will also work with pale/yellow fleshed sweet potatoes.
Milk options: Best choices for non-dairy milk are oat, almond, or soy. Coconut milk contains too much fat and will result in a dense crumb.
Make it pecan: Add 1/2 cup chopped pecan pieces to the layer with swirl (sprinkle between the layers of batter.) Add up to 1/4 cup chopped pecans to the streusel dry ingredients.
Vegan Dessert Recipes
Cranberry Crisp Bars– These vegan cranberry crisp bars are the holiday dessert recipe you never knew you needed! A golden oat crust layered with sweet and tangy cranberry filling and topped with a crispy crumble — they are completely plant based and absolutely irresistible from the very first bite.
Sweet Potato Pecan Bundt Cake– This vegan sweet potato pecan bundt cake is the most stunning and delicious fall dessert you will make all season! Moist, warmly spiced, and packed with rich sweet potato flavor then topped with crunchy pecans and a gorgeous glaze — it is completely plant based and showstopping from the very first slice.
Sweet Potato Swirl Coffee Cake
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Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cup/270g all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp/3g salt
- 2 tsp/8g baking powder
- 1 tsp/5g baking soda
- 1/2 tsp/1g ground cloves
- 1/2 tsp/1g ground cinnamon
- 1 cup/260g sweet potato puree
- 3/4 cup/150g light brown sugar
- 1/3 cup/78ml neutral oil canola, vegetable, or sunflower
- 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp/210ml oat milk or other non-dairy milk
- 1 tsp/5ml vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp/15ml apple cider vinegar
- ¼ cup/50g light brown sugar
- 6 tbsp/45g all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp/2g ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp/ ½ g ground cloves
- Pinch salt optional
- 2 tbsp/30ml neutral oil or melted coconut oil
- 2 tsp/10ml water
- 1/3 cup/78g light brown sugar
- 1 tbsp/6g ground cinnamon
- 2 tbsp/30ml coconut oil melted (or neutral oil)
Method
- Preheat oven to 350°F/175 C. Grease or line an 8” x 8”/20cm x 20cm baking pan with parchment.
- In a small bowl combine the sugar, flour, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Stir to distribute everything evenly.
- Pour in the oil and water. Use a fork to stir vigorously until everything is wet and forms crumbles.
- Combine the sugar, cinnamon, and coconut oil into a paste. Keeping the paste slightly warm will make it easier to spread evenly.
- In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Stir to evenly distribute everything. Having the dry ingredients combined before adding to the wet ingredients reduces the amount of stirring needed which keeps a light and delicate cake.
- In a large bowl, combine the sweet potato puree, sugar, and oil. Use a hand mixer or whisk to blend until smooth. If lumps of sweet potato remain, use an immersion blender or regular blender to make the batter completely smooth.
- Add in the oat milk, vinegar, and vanilla extract. Blend until smooth and well emulsified.
- Add in the flour mixture. Stir until just smooth. Do not over mix.
- Pour half the batter into prepared baking pan and shake to level, pushing all the way to the corners as needed.
- Crumble/spread the cinnamon swirl paste over the surface of the batter.
- Pour the remaining batter in an even layer.
- Sprinkle the streusel over the top of the batter.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
- Allow to cool in the pan for at least 10 minutes before removing and allow to cool completely.
- Store at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 1 month.
