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  • Prep-time: / Ready In:
  • Makes one 9-inch round cake

You’d never guess that orange sweet potatoes are the secret ingredient behind this lusciously moist vegan chocolate cake. The tasty tubers lend their creamy texture and subtle sweetness to both the cake and the frosting to create an undeniably delicious dessert sans dairy. Nut butter makes the decadent frosting extra smooth while the batter delivers a one-two punch of chocolate goodness thanks to both cocoa powder and vegan chocolate chips, which get tantalizingly gooey as it bakes. This sweet potato cake would be great topped with fresh berries, edible flowers, or a light dusting of powdered sugar—with or without the frosting. So what are you waiting for? Get out a fork and satisfy your sweet tooth!

Tip: Orange sweet potato is ideal for this cake because it is a little sweeter and looser than yellow sweet potato. It’s best to use a blender or food processor (versus a stand mixer) to ensure the sweet potato in the batter and frosting become deliciously smooth.

Adapted from dreenaburton.com

For more chocolate vegan desserts, check out these tasty ideas:

Ingredients

Frosting
  • 1 cup peeled, cooked, and cooled orange sweet potato (see tip in intro)
  • ½ cup coconut sugar
  • ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • ½ cup cashew butter or almond butter
  • 2 tablespoons plant-based milk
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • ¼ teaspoon sea salt
CAKE
  • ¾ cup peeled, cooked, and cooled orange sweet potato
  • ¼ cup pure maple syrup
  • 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 1 cup whole grain spelt flour
  • ⅓ cup coconut sugar
  • ¼ cup miniature or regular nondairy chocolate chips
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt
  • ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 teaspoon regular or sodium-free baking powder
  • 1 scant teaspoon baking soda

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 9-inch round or 8-inch square silicone or other nonstick cake pan with parchment paper.
  2. For frosting, in a blender or food processor combine sweet potato, coconut sugar, unsweetened cocoa powder, cashew butter or almond butter, plant-based milk, vanilla extract, and sea salt. Cover and blend until very smooth, scraping sides as needed. If necessary, add 2 to 3 tablespoons of milk and 1 to 2 tablespoons of coconut sugar to make desired consistency and sweetness. Cover and chill until ready to use.
  3. For cake, in a blender combine sweet potato, maple syrup, vinegar, vanilla, and ½ cup water; cover and blend until completely smooth.
  4. In a large bowl stir together flour, coconut sugar, chocolate chips, and salt. Sift in cocoa powder, baking powder, and baking soda. Add sweet potato mixture to flour mixture. Use 1 tablespoon water to rinse blender to remove any remaining puree and add to flour mixture. Mix just until well incorporated. Transfer batter to prepared pan.
  5. Bake 21 to 23 minutes. Cool in pan on a wire rack. Remove cake from pan and top with frosting.
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Comments (32)

(4.85 from 13 votes)
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LeesaFB2 months ago
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So good! I subbed millet flour for spelt and it worked great. This is now my go-to birthday cake recipe. Yum!!

S.Rogers3 months ago
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Wow this cake is delicious I’ve made it twice and it’s a hit with my husband and friends.

SQ4 months ago
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Amazing! Perfect for a crazy PMS craving for chocolate. It’s my Grandmother’s in law heavenly birthday too so a good day for cake.

Juliette Jacques4 months ago
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This is the best cake I’ve ever tasted! Love the sweet potato moisture- consistency of brownies- -baked it in cupcake pan 2nd time around. Easy to find ingredients at Whole Foods . Really chocolate-y not too seeet!

SB4 months ago
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I’ve made this cake multiple times. Definitely a favorite. I’ve done it in silicone cupcake liners as well. Worked great. I just double the recipe to make it a layer cake. For Christmas, I added some peppermint essential oil to the frosting and crushed a few little candy canes to sprinkle on the top.

SJW4 months ago
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I baked it 22 minutes but the inside is still completely raw and runny!

Carolyn4 months ago
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Would you be able to supply the nutritional breakdown?
I made this today using regular flour and granulated sugar. It is super moist and delicious.

JCB4 months ago
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Can I sub date sugar for coconut sugar?

Courtney Davison4 months ago
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Hi JCB, yes, you can substitute date sugar for the coconut sugar.

Thank you,

Courtney
Editor, Forks Over Knives

LouAnn4 months ago
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Could I sub date paste for the coconut sugar??

Courtney Davison4 months ago
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Hi LouAnn,

In general, it’s always good to substitute dry sweetener for dry sweetener. Date sugar would probably make a better substitute here than date paste, since date paste would add moisture. If you do try using date paste, please let us know how it goes!

Thank you,

Courtney
Editor, Forks Over Knives

Hera Lauritsen5 months ago
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This cake is AMAZING!!! So moist and delicious!

Gina5 months ago
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Great texture, but has an odd taste. Not quite sweet enough for me. I had to add way more liquid to the frosting to get it to blend.

lkht6 months ago
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The cake is moist and somewhat heavy. It has a nice chocolatey flavor. Next time I may add a little cinnamon and a few grains of cayenne. The frosting was somewhat disappointing. I used almond butter and almond milk. The consistency was glossy and thick, but the taste was off-putting. Perhaps the combo of almond and sweet potato? At any rate, I will not use the frosting, and will enjoy the cake with a sprinkling of powdered sugar and raspberries.

db6 months ago
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1/2 cup of water. Not mentioned in the ingredients list.

Ella ODonnell2 months ago
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I used walnut butter and chocolate almond malk for the frosting…it is delicious!

db6 months ago
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This cake is incredible. I used Robin Hood gluten free flour, and lowered the sugar a tiny bit in the cake and frosting by a tablespoon each.

Delicious. I skipped the 2 tblsp of almond milk in the frosting, and it turned out like ganache in the food processor. The frosting alone would make a great pudding dessert for two. Sooo good. Really rich and luxurious cake. Don’t overmix the cake batter not to get rid of the air in the sifted flour.

Lin6 months ago
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Is there a diabetic version of this recipe? Suggestions? Thanks

Gladys Caddy6 months ago
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Can whole wheat pastry flour be used instead of spelt flour? Also is there any liquid in the making of the cake? Thank you.

Sandra1 week ago
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There is water in the recipe .5 cup in the instructions but was left off of the ingredient list

Courtney Davison5 months ago
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Hi Gladys,

We checked with Dreena Burton, the chef behind this recipe, for her advice on substituting whole wheat pastry flour for spelt. She says that her general substitution for spelt to whole wheat pastry is to use slightly less. So for a 1 cup measure of spelt, she’d use 1 cup of whole wheat pastry flour minus about 1 to 1.5 Tbsp. A scant 1 cup measure also works.

Regarding whether there’s liquid in the recipe, the cooked sweet potato, maple syrup, and balsamic vinegar provide enough moisture.

Hope this is helpful.

Thank you,

Courtney Davison
Editor, Forks Over Knives

Lisl Bove6 months ago
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This recipe is delicious! Very moist. Almost like a brownie. I have already made it twice!

Mal5 months ago
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Os it possible to use butternut instead of sweet potato?

Christy6 months ago
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This was too good! I subbed Japanese sweet potatoes because I already had some baked & ready to go.

The directions have 1/2 cup of water for the batter, but it’s not listed in the ingredients. Just FYI.

Will definitely make again & again.

Vonda6 months ago
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I will add. I didn’t have the flour so used regular flour. But not eating GF.

Vonda6 months ago
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Made the cake as cupcakes. It doesn’t need frosting. Very good.

Liz3 weeks ago
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I made this as it was written. An absolutely gorgeous chocolate cake that everyone loved! I grated dark chocolate over the top so it looked even fancier. Definitely a make again, I think I will have fun and experiment with throwing a shot of espresso in the batter and/or some cinnamon or even better, cayenne in the icing. What a brilliant dessert, thank-you!

Sheri Huff6 months ago
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How long did you bake the cupcakes? Regular or mini size?

Silvia ferro6 months ago
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Is there a gluten free flour you’d recommend instead of spelt flour?

Verena4 months ago
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Used a scant cup of rice flour iso spelt flour and doubled the amount of water to rinse the blender in step 4 – turned out just perfect!! Thx for this great recipe for a fluffy chocolate cake!!!

Forks Over Knives6 months ago
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Hi Silvia,
We recommend Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free All Purpose Baking Flour. While it’s not perfectly whole grain, it’s pretty close, and will give you a nice texture. Let us know how it goes!

Jane6 months ago
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I was going to ask the same thing. Yes, a GF flour needed please.

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Headshot of Dreena Burton
about the author

Dreena Burton

Dreena Burton has written six cookbooks charting her journey as a plant-powered cook and at-home mother of three. Always passionate about creating nutritious recipes, she is an advocate of using the “vegan basics” (beans, nuts, seeds, whole grains, fruits, and vegetables) to create dishes that are healthy but also very satisfying and delicious! For more on her plant-powered recipes and newest cookbook, Dreena’s Kind Kitchen: 100+ Whole-Foods Vegan Recipes to Enjoy Every Day, visit dreenaburton.com, and follow her on Instagram and Facebook.

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