Tender, moist nutty Vegan Sweet Potato Cake sandwiched together with creamy maple-infused frosting. Completely dairy, egg & oil-free yet perfectly sweet & decadent, this Maple Walnut Vegan Sweet Potato Cake is total perfection!
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Today marks a year to the day that A Virtual Vegan was born. Yes guys, it's my first blogiversary!
I can hardly believe a year has passed since the day I decided to start a blog, totally on a whim and without much thought at all. I didn't ever dream it would be quite as successful as it has been and I have enjoyed every minute. Actually that's a lie. I haven't enjoyed every minute. There have been some bad times. Think frustrating recipe disasters (there have been a few), a very annoying hacker, hosting problems, lots of very late nights and a severe lack of technical knowledge.....I've muddled on through though, and made it out the other side carrying a great big and very delicious Maple Walnut Cake.
I mean, c'mon...What celebration would be complete without cake? There just has to be cake! And this isn't just any cake. It is totally and utterly delicious cake.
Tender, moist and nutty walnut sweet potato sponge sandwiched together with a delicious maple infused frosting. Just look at it! I had to exercise some extreme willpower to restrict myself to just a couple of slices!
As scrumptiously delicious as it is, this Maple Walnut Vegan Sweet Potato Cake is actually full of good and wholesome ingredients. It is made with healthy, wholegrain spelt flour and it is dairy free, egg free and completely oil free. It also has a secret vegetable ingredient which replaces the need for any oil and provides the most amazing moist and tender crumb.
This secret ingredient is pureed sweet potato. It might sound odd to add sweet potato to a cake but I promise you that it works extremely well in this recipe. The flavour compliments the maple and walnut flavours perfectly and no-one will ever know it is there unless you choose to tell them. It's also a great way to use up any leftovers you might have from other things!
This Maple Walnut Vegan Sweet Potato Cake looks far more impressive than the effort it takes to make and is perfect as a celebration cake or just as a decadent treat. We all need those every so often and no-one will ever guess that it is actually full of healthy ingredients or that it is dairy, egg and oil free. I can hardly believe it myself and I created it!
This recipe makes a two layer cake but if you want to make a smaller version then just halve the recipe and make a single layer or cook it in a loaf pan. Directions are given below.
As I always like to stretch my birthdays out for as long as possible, Friday's post will also feature cake. You can never have too much cake, right?
I am in the process of curating some of the very best cake recipes from some awesome plant-based bloggers. You should see some of the recipes! I can't wait to share them with you! (Note that my Ultimate Vegan Cake Round Up is now live).
Help me celebrate my blogiversary by making this wonderful Maple Walnut Vegan Sweet Potato Cake and sharing your pictures with me on Instagram. Tag me with #avirtualvegan to be sure I don't miss them. You can also rate the recipe by hitting the yellow stars at the beginning of the recipe card and I would love it if you could comment below too. I love to hear what you have to say and it helps newcomers to A Virtual Vegan see that the recipes are reliable and worth making!
Thank you all for your amazing support throughout my first year of blogging. Reading your lovely comments, feedback and emails makes me smile each and every day!
Recipe
Maple Walnut Vegan Sweet Potato Cake
Author:Ingredients
For the cake
- 130g / 1 packed cup course ground raw walnuts (you can use walnut pieces or halves and grind them up in a food processor or blender)
- 390g / 3⅓ cups spelt flour
- 235g / 1 cup and 3 tablespoons coconut sugar (you can sub this for any granulated brown sugar)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 375mls / 1.5 cups and 1 tablespoon non dairy milk (I used my homemade cashew milk but any unsweetened, unflavoured variety is fine )
- 4 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 300g / 1.5 cups cooked sweet potato
For the frosting
- 1 x 398 - 400ml can full fat coconut milk (just the hard cream and not the watery part) from 1 400ml can of full fat coconut milk (refrigerated for at least 12 hours)
- 166g / 1⅓ cup powdered sugar
- 4 tablespoons pure maple syrup
For decoration
- 30g / 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
INSTRUCTIONS
- Begin by making sure that you have a well refrigerated can of full fat coconut milk waiting in the fridge.
- Preheat oven to 350° and lightly grease two 8 inch round cake pan then line the bottoms with parchment paper circles. (for cooking in different tins see recipe notes).
- Add all of the dry ingredients to a large bowl.
- In a blender (or with a stick blender) blend the milk, sweet potato, vanilla and vinegar well until very smooth.
- Pour the liquid into the dry ingredients and stir to combine. Do not over stir. Just enough to combine everything so that you can't see any dry flour. A few little lumps are ok.
- Spoon evenly into the prepared cake pans and place on the middle shelf of your pre-heated oven.
- Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until a skewer or toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. (It might seem like a long cooking time but it needs it due to the moistness of the sweet potato).
- Remove from the oven and leave in the tins for 5 - 10 minutes then turn out onto a cooling rack.
- Leave to cool completely.
- Once the cake is cool, scrape out the cream only from the coconut milk into a chilled bowl.
- Beat with a hand mixer or in a stand mixer until thick and very creamy.
- Add the powdered sugar and maple syrup and beat again until well combined.
- If you aren't going to decorate the cake right away refrigerate the cream.
- Place the bottom layer of the cake on a cake stand or plate, flat side up.
- Use just under half of the frosting and spread it all over. Use a palette knife or a knife and if you have trouble spreading it without breaking the cake up, dip the knife in a glass of water before spreading then try again.
- Put on the top layer of the cake, this time flat side down, rounded side up.
- Use the remaining frosting to cover the top and sides of the cake.
- Scatter a few chopped walnuts on top for decoration.
NOTES
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NUTRITION
Mar says
Hi,
I would like to bake this cake for the wedding of a friend, but will need to prepare it two days in advance, as I will have to travel to the wedding venue. Do you think the cake, and especiallly the frosting, would keep well enough? I should be able to store it in a refrigerator most of the time, but it will have to sit in a car for a couple of hours. Should that be okay?
Thanks!
A Virtual Vegan says
The frosting will melt if it gets warm. I don't think it will survive being left in the car. Most vegan frosting isn't great at staying stable when it gets warm. I'd recommend looking for a frosting recipe that uses vegan shortening as that makes it more stable and less likely to melt. Unfortunately it's not something that I use in my recipes because I don't really like the ingredients used in it but in your case it would be the best option. I would also use more powdered sugar than the recipe calls for to make doubly sure it stays firm on your journey.
I hope that helps!
Mila says
Can i use regular flour In this cake or does it have to be spelt
A Virtual Vegan says
The flavour and heartiness of spelt works really well in this recipe. You could use regular flour though. Just be sure to weigh it so you get the exact amount.
Angela says
Hello :) I I'm making this miracle cake at the moment and just noticed that I am supposed to add 2 TABLESPOONS of baking powder. That's the first time I've ever seen a cake recipe with baking powder added with a tablespoon not a teaspoon and what's even more surprising not only one but 2 tablespoons. This quantity seems a way too much for me and I'm afraid that this much baking powder will affect the taste of the cake... I need to admit that I am using polish baking powder, but it should be the same all over the world, right? Just wondering if I should cut down a bit on baking powder or not, what would you recommend?
A Virtual Vegan says
Vegan cakes need more baking powder than non-vegan cakes to get a good texture because eggs provide leavening, so when they are removed you need something to provide that in their place. This is a pretty big cake hence why 2 tablespoons are called for. You can't taste the baking powder at all. I can't speak for what Polish baking powder is like though but I would imagine it's the same everywhere.
Chan says
Thanks for your previous reply , I made this yesterday for my parents wedding anniversary and omg I couldn't believe that a cake without dairy , oil and egg could taste so amazing . My dad literally thought I used eggs and processed flour.
Unfortunately the water and the cream did not separate from the canned coconut milk after leaving it in the fridge for 12 hours. Sadly, could not make the frosting. Later I whipped some hazelnut butter and used that as a frosting instead, It still tasted amazing. Was searching for a good vegan cake recipe so glad I found your website. I turned vegan a year ago , but still trying to convince my family to go vegan , hope one day they do.
A Virtual Vegan says
I'm glad the cake went down well! With regards the coconut milk, some brands work better than others. Some barely solidify at all and even with a brand that usually works, occasionally you will get a dud. I test them when I'm at the store. If you give the can a shake and it feels really sloshy, don't buy it. If you shake it and there isn't much sloshing and it feels solid, that's the one you want.
Chan says
Also , can you use any variety of sweet potato ?
A Virtual Vegan says
Yes any variety will be fine, or a yam is ok too. The more orangey ones are sweeter so will make your cake sweeter.
Chan says
Hi,
I'm using a 9 inch spring form cake tin , Diameter- 24 x 6.5cm approx . How do I alter the ingredient measurements.
Thanks.
A Virtual Vegan says
The surface area of an 8 inch round tin is roughly 50 square inches. The area of a 9 inch round tin is 64 square inches. So if you wanted to be exact, 64/50 = 1.28. So you would need to multiply all of the ingredients amounts by 1.28 to get the cake the same depth as mine. If you do this I'd recommend weighing everything and using the grams rather than the cups to multiply, so everything is as accurate as it can be.
If it were me though, I'd probably just stick to the same quantities and accept that the cake will be thinner. It sounds like you are cooking it as one rather than 2 separate sponges, so you could bake it and instead of splitting it, just frost the top and sides. I would think if you are baking it all in one tin then it will take at least an hour, possibly a little longer. Hope that helps!
Lucy says
Hi,
Very interested in making this cake but quick question on the measurements. Did you yourself bake it using the ingredient weights or with cups etc when you tested the recipe? I am equipped to do either but prefer to follow the method the author of the recipe actually used.
The grams of spelt flour seems quite high for the amount of cups…
Thanks!
A Virtual Vegan says
With baking I always recommend weighing. Its far more accurate and you will always get optimum results. I weigh everything when baking, including this recipe. If it were up to me I wouldn't include cup measurements at all, but with most of my audience being in the US, it's kind of necessary. I just checked on the spelt flour and the automatic calculator made a mistake there. I have amended it. I hope you enjoy it!
Lucy says
Awesome—thanks for your quick reply! I really prefer to use weights too. I don’t know why it doesn’t take off in North America!?! Maybe someday ????
Looking forward to making it this weekend !
Esther says
I made this today in 2 loaf pans. They were baked in 45 min. I was amazed at how rich and moist these are! I am serving them to company this weekend with a lemon glaze drizzled on top. I also added some cinnamon and nutmeg to the batter. Excellent recipe!
A Virtual Vegan says
Thank you Esther. I'm so glad you are enjoying the recipe!
gorgeous says
just made its super easy was a bit scared because the batter was not what i expected non the less it tastes great for those who arent into super sweet cakes and i use full fat coconut cream not sure if theres a difference but that was sweet enough to whip and spread onto cake delicious thanks for the recipe its in my arsenal now lol
Tammy says
Hi can I use all purpose flour instead of spelt flour? And is it still the same measurements?
A Virtual Vegan says
It should be fine as long as you weigh the flour and don't use the cup measurements. 1 cup of all-purpose flour weighs more than 1 cup of spelt flour so if you use cups you'll end up with the wrong amount. Hope that helps!