Okay friends, you’ve got to believe me when I say, this is the BEST chocolate cake ever! In all honesty, it might be the best cake recipe, including vanilla cakes or otherwise too!
I love this chocolate sweet potato cake because it’s:
- Incredibly moist
- Nice and fluffy
- The perfect amount rich and flavourful
- It melts in your mouth
- It doesn’t give you a ‘sugar hangover’ after enjoying (aka it’s not loaded with refined sugars or other poor quality ingredients)
- It’s a crowd pleaser to so many – gluten free, dairy free folks, and truly anyone who appreciates a damn good cake!
I hope you love it as much as I do!
Ingredients
– 2 cups mashed sweet potato or yams (about 2-3 medium to large sized sweet potatoes)
– 2 large pasture raised eggs
– 1/3 cup coconut oil (melted)
– 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
– 1/2 cup raw cane sugar
– 1/2 cup cacao powder
– 1 cup whole oats
– 2 teaspoons baking powder
– 3/4 teaspoon salt
– Optional (but highly recommended): 1/2 dark cup chocolate chips
Instructions
– Cook sweet potatoes by boiling them in a pot of water or steaming them on the stovetop
– In the mean time, grind the oats in a blender to make an “oat flour.” Ensure you reach a fine flour like consistency.
– Place oat flour in a large bowl followed by cacao powder, baking powder, and sea salt and stir
– When the sweet potatoes/ yams are finished cooking, be sure to strain them super well, so they aren’t dripping with additional water
– Place cooked sweet potatoes, eggs, melted coconut oil, maple syrup, and raw cane sugar in a blender or vitamix. Mix on low until you reach a homogenous like texture
– Add the wet ingredients from the blender, into the dry bowl and mix until just combined
– Fold in the chocolate chips
– Place in a prepared 8 x 8 pan and bake at 325 (convection) for approx. 23-28 minutes (cooking time depends on how goey you like your cake and how hot your oven tends to be)
– When you lightly press the top of the cake it should sort of spring back to you. Another way to test, is to insert a butter knife or fork into the top. If it comes out fairly clean, you know it’s finished (remember there are melted chocolate chops in there so it likely won’t come out perfectly)
– Allow cake to cool well before frosting
Scroll down for the frosting recipe…
Ingredients for frosting
– 1/3 cup natural smooth peanut butter (the runnier the better)
– 1 Tbsp. pure maple syrup
– 1/4 cup cacao powder
– 3 Tbsp. raw cane or coconut sugar
– 2 Tbsp. coconut oil
– 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
– Optional (if icing is too thick): a few tsp. almond or oat mylk
Instructions for frosting
– Place coconut oil, peanut butter, chocolate chips and cane sugar in a small sauce pan on low heat, stirring constantly
– Heat until just melted – do not overheat
– On the lowest heat possible, add the syrup, and cacao powder. Continue to stir very well. If you notice the texture is too thick (perhaps your peanut butter was of a thicker/ less oily kind – add a few tiny splashes of almond or oat mylk and continue to stir. You want the frosting to be thick but spreadable.
– Once to the texture of your liking, add the frosting to a blender or vitamix (do so while warm so it doesn’t harden). Blend the icing (this is to help get the granulated texture from the sugar out, and also creates a delicious creamy texture
– The end product is more like a glaze than it is an icing 🙂
NOTE: Be sure to make the frosting just before you plan on icing the cake. If you leave the frosting out for too long, it will harden and become too hard to spread
