Sweet Potato Pound Cake with Brown Butter Glaze

I've made a lot of pound cakes and most of them are the same cake wearing a different coat.

This one isn't.

Roasting the sweet potato instead of boiling it changes everything about the crumb.

You get concentrated flavor and no extra water, so the cake stays dense and tender in that specific pound cake way instead of turning gummy.

Cake flour and sour cream do the rest, keeping the crumb fine and just tangy enough to keep two and a half cups of sugar in check.

Then there's the glaze.

Butter browned in a small saucepan until it smells like toasted hazelnuts, whisked with honey, powdered sugar, milk, and cinnamon.

It sets into a thin shell over the bundt and cracks when you cut it.

I make a little extra every time and eat the leftovers off a spoon while the cake cools, which my wife has stopped commenting on.

This is the cake I bring when I want people to ask for the recipe.

Five eggs, one bundt pan, and about an hour and fifteen minutes in the oven.

It slices clean, holds for four days on the counter, and gets better on day two as the spices settle.

Give it one Sunday afternoon and you'll understand.

Ingredient Notes

Three choices here separate a great sweet potato pound cake from a heavy one. How you cook the sweet potato, which flour you use, and whether your ingredients are actually at room temperature.

• Mashed sweet potato (1 cup, ROASTED not boiled). Roast whole sweet potatoes at 400°F for 50 to 60 minutes, then scoop and mash. Roasting drives off water and caramelizes the natural sugars. Boiled sweet potato adds moisture the batter can't absorb, and that's the number one cause of a gummy pound cake.
• Unsalted butter (1 ¼ cups, room temperature). Room temperature means it dents when you press it, around 65°F. Too cold and it won't aerate. Too soft and the creamed batter collapses.
• Cake flour (3 cups, sifted). Lower protein means a finer, more tender crumb, which matters in a cake this dense. No cake flour? For every cup of all-purpose, remove 2 tablespoons and replace with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch, then sift twice.
• Granulated sugar (2 ½ cups). Sounds like a lot because it is. Pound cake relies on sugar for structure and moisture, not just sweetness. Cutting it makes a drier cake, not a healthier one.
• Eggs (5 large, room temperature). Add them one at a time. Cold eggs hitting creamed butter cause it to seize and curdle, and you lose all the air you just beat in.
• Sour cream (¾ cup, room temperature). Full fat. The acid tenderizes the crumb and the tang keeps all that sugar from going flat.
• Baking powder (1 teaspoon) and baking soda (½ teaspoon). A small lift. This is a pound cake, so it should be tight and close-grained, not fluffy.
• Cinnamon (1 teaspoon) and nutmeg (¼ teaspoon). The old-fashioned spice pair. Fresh grated nutmeg is worth the thirty seconds.
• Vanilla extract (1 ½ tablespoons) and kosher salt (1 teaspoon). Both go in bigger amounts than you'd expect for one cake. At this scale they need to be heard.

How to Make Sweet Potato Pound Cake

Classic creaming method, no shortcuts, no substitutions in the order of operations. Pound cake is chemistry more than it is cooking.

Step 1: Roast the Sweet Potato

Prick a large sweet potato all over and roast at 400°F for 50 to 60 minutes, until the skin puckers and juice weeps from the fork holes.

Cool, scoop, mash smooth, and measure exactly 1 cup.

Let it come to room temperature before it goes anywhere near the batter.

Step 2: Prep the Pan and Dry Ingredients

Butter and flour a 10 to 12 cup bundt pan thoroughly, getting into every groove.

Whisk the sifted cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt together and set the bowl aside.

Step 3: Cream the Butter and Sugar

Beat the room temperature butter and granulated sugar on medium-high for a full 5 to 7 minutes.

That's longer than feels necessary. The mixture should go pale, almost white, and visibly increase in volume.

This step is the only real leavening the cake gets.

Step 4: Add the Eggs and Wet Ingredients

Add the eggs one at a time, beating 30 seconds after each and scraping the bowl.

Mix in the sour cream, mashed sweet potato, and vanilla until just combined.

The batter may look slightly broken at this point. That's fine, the flour brings it back together.

Step 5: Alternate the Dry Ingredients

Add the dry mixture in two additions on low speed, mixing only until the flour disappears.

Finish the last few turns with a spatula by hand.

Overmixing here builds gluten, and gluten in a pound cake means tough and rubbery.

Step 6: Bake

Scrape the batter into the pan, smooth the top, and rap the pan on the counter twice to release air pockets.

Bake at 325°F for 70 to 80 minutes.

A skewer in the thickest part should come out with a few moist crumbs and no wet batter.

Cool in the pan for exactly 15 minutes, then invert onto a rack. Any longer and the sugars grip the pan.

How to Make the Brown Butter Cinnamon Glaze

Browning the butter takes four minutes and it's the difference between a good glaze and one people remember. Do not walk away from the pan.

Melt the 5 tablespoons of butter in a light-colored saucepan over medium heat.

It will foam, then quiet down, then the milk solids at the bottom will turn amber and it will smell nutty. That's around 4 to 5 minutes.

Pull it off the heat the second you see color. It goes from brown to burnt fast.

Whisk in the honey, then the powdered sugar, milk, cinnamon, and salt until smooth and pourable.

Let it cool for 5 minutes so it thickens slightly, then pour it over the completely cooled cake.

Pro tip: Pour hot glaze on a warm cake and it soaks straight in and disappears. Both need to be cool for that thin cracking shell to form.

Recipe Tips

Pound cake punishes shortcuts more than almost any other bake. These are the ones that actually change the outcome.

• Room temperature is not a suggestion. Pull the butter, eggs, and sour cream out 2 hours ahead. Cold ingredients will not emulsify, and a broken batter bakes into a dense, greasy cake.
• Cream longer than you think. A full 5 to 7 minutes on medium-high. Under-creamed butter is the second biggest cause of a heavy pound cake.
• Weigh or spoon your flour. Scooping cake flour straight from the bag packs in an extra ounce per cup and dries the crumb out.
• Grease the bundt like you mean it. Softened butter with a pastry brush into every groove, then dust with flour and tap out the excess. Baking spray alone lets intricate pans stick.
• Test at 70 minutes, not before. Opening the oven early drops the temperature and a partially set pound cake will sink in the middle.
• The 15-minute rule. Fifteen minutes in the pan, then invert. Too soon and it breaks apart, too late and the caramelized sugars weld it in place.
• About that box mix. Doctoring a yellow cake mix with a cup of sweet potato works and it will taste fine. It will not have this crumb. The from-scratch version is about 15 minutes more hands-on time for a genuinely different cake.

Storage and Reheating

Pound cake is the rare bake that gets better after a day. The spices bloom and the crumb settles.

• Room temperature. Under a cake dome or wrapped tightly for up to 4 days. The glaze acts as a seal that keeps the cut edges from drying.
• Refrigerator. Up to 1 week wrapped, though the cold firms up the butter and dulls the flavor. Bring slices to room temperature before serving.
• Freezer, whole. Freeze it unglazed. Wrap in plastic then foil for up to 3 months, thaw overnight on the counter, and glaze the day you serve it.
• Freezer, sliced. Wrap individual slices and freeze up to 3 months. They thaw on the counter in about 40 minutes.
• Reheating. A slice in the microwave for 12 seconds is all it takes. Any longer and the sugars get hot and the texture goes rubbery.
• Toasting leftovers. Day-three slices in a buttered skillet over medium heat for 2 minutes per side. Crisp edges, warm center, and one of my favorite things to do with the last of a cake.

Sweet Potato Pound Cake FAQ

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Sweet Potato Pound Cake with Brown Butter Cinnamon Glaze

A dense, tender sweet potato pound cake built on roasted sweet potato, cake flour, and sour cream, finished with a brown butter cinnamon glaze that sets into a thin cracking shell.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword sweet potato pound cake with brown butter cinnamon glaze

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 50 minutes minutes

Servings 14 slices

Ingredients

For the Cake

• 1 ¼ cups unsalted butter room temperature
• 3 cups cake flour sifted
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg freshly grated if possible
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 ½ cups granulated sugar
• 5 large eggs room temperature
• ¾ cup sour cream full fat, room temperature
• 1 cup mashed sweet potato roasted, not boiled
• 1 ½ tablespoons vanilla extract

For the Brown Butter Cinnamon Glaze

• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 cup powdered sugar sifted
• 2 tablespoons milk
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt

Instructions

Roast the Sweet Potato

• Prick a large sweet potato all over and roast at 400 degrees F for 50 to 60 minutes, until the skin puckers and juice weeps from the fork holes.
• Cool, scoop the flesh from the skin, mash smooth, and measure exactly 1 cup. Bring it to room temperature before mixing.

Make the Batter

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter and flour a 10 to 12 cup bundt pan, working into every groove.
• Whisk together the sifted cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Set aside.
• Beat the room temperature butter and granulated sugar on medium-high for 5 to 7 minutes, until pale and visibly increased in volume.
• Add the eggs one at a time, beating 30 seconds after each addition and scraping down the bowl.
• Mix in the sour cream, mashed sweet potato, and vanilla until just combined. The batter may look slightly broken at this stage.
• Add the dry ingredients in two additions on low speed, mixing only until the flour disappears. Finish the last few turns by hand with a spatula.

Bake and Cool

• Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, smooth the top, and rap the pan on the counter twice to release air pockets.
• Bake for 70 to 80 minutes, until a skewer in the thickest part comes out with a few moist crumbs and no wet batter.
• Cool in the pan for exactly 15 minutes, then invert onto a wire rack and cool completely before glazing.

Make the Glaze

• Melt the butter in a light-colored saucepan over medium heat. It will foam, then quiet, then the milk solids will turn amber and smell nutty, about 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from the heat immediately.
• Whisk in the honey, then the powdered sugar, milk, cinnamon, and salt until smooth and pourable.
• Let the glaze cool 5 minutes to thicken slightly, then pour it over the completely cooled cake and let it set.

Notes

• Roast, do not boil: Boiled sweet potato adds water the batter cannot absorb and is the main cause of a gummy pound cake.
• Room temperature matters: Pull the butter, eggs, and sour cream out 2 hours ahead so the batter emulsifies properly.
• Cream fully: A full 5 to 7 minutes on medium-high. This is the cake's only real lift.
• Cake flour swap: For each cup of all-purpose flour, remove 2 tablespoons and replace with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch, then sift twice.
• The 15-minute rule: Cool in the pan exactly 15 minutes before inverting. Longer and the sugars grip the pan.
• Cool cake, cool glaze: Hot glaze on a warm cake soaks in and disappears instead of setting into a shell.
• Storage: Wrapped at room temperature up to 4 days, refrigerated up to 1 week, or frozen unglazed up to 3 months.