The perfect holiday dessert! Warm and cozy with plenty of fall spices but super easy and you can easily make it ahead of time!
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❤️ Why you'll love it
This delicious sweet potato pound cake has a delicate flavor, beautiful color, and velvety texture. It's just right for any holiday gathering.
- stays moist for days
- unique combination of rum and sweet potato flavors
- make with fresh sweet potatoes or yams - try heirloom sweet potatoes if you can find them
🧾 Ingredients
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- all-purpose flour
- baking powder
- ground cinnamon
- kosher salt
- sweet potato
- large eggs
- spiced rum
- granulated sugar (white sugar)
- light brown sugar
- butter
- vanilla extract
🔪 Instructions
Note: This is an overview of the instructions. The full instructions are in the green recipe card below.
- Mash the cooked sweet potatoes.
- Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl.
- Whisk the eggs, melted butter, vanilla extract, white sugar, and brown sugar together in a large mixing bowl.
- Stir in the rum and mashed sweet potatoes.
- Add in the dry ingredients and pour batter into a prepared pan.
- Bake about an hour or until done. Remove from oven and proceed with the rum soak as in recipe card below.
🥄 Equipment
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You'll need the following items to make this recipe successfully.
- 12-cup bundt pan (I think this cake is only 10 cups but I like to make them in a 12 cup pan to be sure)
- electric mixer or stand mixer, optional - this can be made by hand
🥫 Storage
Southern sweet potato pound cake with rum will be fine at room temperature a little longer than most because of the rum. Cover with plastic wrap and it will stay moist and delicious for 5 days or so - but definitely keep an eye on it!
Freeze for longer storage. To freeze it you'll wrap in plastic wrap, then in aluminum foil - or place in an airtight freezer container and freeze for up to 3 months.
💭 Tips
Expert Tip: Use a no stick baking or cooking spray for the bundt pan. It's easier to make sure that all the crevices are greased and that the finished pound cake will not stick.
- This cake doesn't need a glaze but it's pretty sprinkled with a little confectioner's sugar when it's served.
- I suggest baking the sweet potatoes right in their skins to cook them. This gives them the most intense flavor. Poke with a fork and bake at 425F for about 40 to 50 minutes, or until fork tender, soft and done.
- Freeze this in slices with parchment paper between the slices for easy thawing and serving.
👩🍳 FAQs
Some people may try to tell you that there is no difference between sweet potatoes and yams but that's not true. They're not even related! They are very similar but sweet potatoes almost always have a more delicate flavor. Yams have more starch and tend to be dryer. You can substitute one for the other but they are not the same.
You can stick a tooth pick halfway between the center metal part and the edge and if it comes out with just a few crumbs clinging to it it's done. Also an instant read thermometer will read 210F when pound cake is done.
📚 Related recipes
You may also like my Whiskey Apple Cake. It's full of warm, holiday flavor - absolutely amazing!
📞 The last word
Unlike most of the rum cake recipes I have found this one is from scratch start to finish. Well, you don't have to grow your own sweet potatoes or make your own rum — unless you want to, of course.
I was lucky enough to pick up some heirloom sweet potatoes, Crimson Red Velvets, at our local Farmer's Market. You can use regular sweet potatoes from your grocer as well.
Yams are a good substitute. Just make sure that you use fresh ones and not canned.
I strongly urge you to try to find heirloom sweet potatoes, though. They make all the difference.
If you click on the number of servings in the recipe card you can adjust the measurements up or down for the exact number of servings you need. Don't forget that you can click on "add to collection" to save it to your own, private recipe box!
If you love this recipe please give it 5 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
📖 Recipe
Rum Sweet Potato Pound Cake
Print Add to Collection Pin RecipeEquipment Needed
Ingredients
Cake
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups sweet potato, cooked and mashed (about 1 ½ to 2 pounds)
- 3 large eggs
- ¾ cup spiced rum
- 1 ¼ cups sugar
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- 1 cup butter, melted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Syrup
- ½ cup butter
- ½ cup water
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
- ¾ cup spiced rum
Instructions
Sweet potatoes
- Pierce the sweet potato skins with a fork.
- Bake at 425°F for 40 minutes or until fork tender.
- Let cool and remove skin.
- Mash with fork or pulse in a food processor until smooth. Don't add anything to it - you want plain sweet potato puree!
Cake
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
- Lightly grease and flour a 10-cup bundt pan, or spray with no- stick baking spray (baker's release spray).
- Mix the flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl.
- Whisk the eggs, melted butter, vanilla, sugar, and brown sugar together in a large bowl. If using a mixer just mix on medium speed for a minute or so.
- Stir in the rum and mashed sweet potatoes until smooth.
- Add in the flour mixture and stir until well blended. If using an electric mixer use low speed and just until all the dry ingredients are blended in - don't overmix.
- Spoon the batter into the prepared bundt pan. Give it a quick drop on the counter to get the air bubbles out.
- Bake about an hour or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or it registers 210°F on an insta-read thermometer.
Syrup
- Combine the water, butter, sugar, and salt in a deep saucepan.
- Cook over medium heat until the butter melts and the sugar dissolves.
- Simmer it until it reduces just a little, about 2 more minutes.
- Remove from the heat add the rum carefully.
To soak
- Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes.
- Remove it from the pan completely.
- Now, put the cake right back in the pan (this will help it not to stick).
- Pour the syrup slowly over the cake, cover, and let stand for at least 24 hours.
- Invert onto a cake plate or serving plate and serve. It's pretty dusted with powdered sugar just before serving.
Notes
- This cake doesn't need a glaze but it's pretty sprinkled with a little confectioner's sugar when it's served.
- I suggest baking the sweet potatoes right in their skins to cook them. This gives them the most intense flavor. Poke with a fork and bake at 425F for about 40 to 50 minutes, or until fork tender, soft and done.
- Freeze this in slices with parchment paper between the slices for easy thawing and serving.
Nutrition Facts
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We'll never share your email or send you spam. Pinkie swear.First published December 4, 2013. Last updated for editorial and structural improvements October 8, 2021.
Telma Dorcey
Dear Marye,
May I serve the cake after 14 hours of soaking in the syrup? I don't see any more floating syrup? The butter did harden around the cake in the bundt pan. I have not flipped it over into the glass cake server. How do you recommend storing it?
Marye
I store at room temp.
Ron
Would you consider putting a glaze or icing on this cake?
Marye Audet
Sure. A rum glaze would work well, or just dust with confectioner's sugar
Alandria
Will this cake have a strong rum flavor like cake dipped in alcohol? I’m only asking because my husband and I don’t drink but we know that cooking or baking alcohol gives foods it a different type of flavor? Thanks! 🙂
Marye Audet
yes. you can just leave it off the finished cake and substitute apple juice in the batter.
Monica
I made this recipe exactly as written using regular sweet potatoes. I am an experienced home-baker and this is one of the best cakes I have ever made. The cake is very moist and the flavors are on point for a fall dessert. Thank you!
Marye Audet
Thanks Monica! That's great to hear!
Lacy
Joan do you cook the sweet potatoes? Bake them or boil them? Maybe it doesn't matter??
Marye Audet
I bake mine - I think it gives them better flavor.