Southern sweet potato pound cake has a spiced rum soak that takes it over the top & makes it the perfect dessert recipe for holiday parties! It's a flavorful cake for the holidays that everyone will be begging you for!
1 ½cupssweet potatocooked and mashed (about 1 ½ to 2 pounds)
3largeeggs
¾cupspiced rum
1 ¼cupssugar
½cuplight brown sugar
1cupbuttermelted
1teaspoonvanilla extract
Syrup
½cupbutter
½cupwater
¾cupsugar
1teaspoonKosher salt
¾cupspiced 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 sweet potato 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. Spray a 10 cup bundt pan with no-stick baking spray, nonstick cooking spray, or lightly grease and flour it.
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 or bowl of a stand mixer. 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 to the wet ingredients 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 cake batter into 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 (or long wooden pick) inserted in the center comes out clean or it registers 210°F on an insta-read thermometer.
Remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack for 10 minutes.
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 warm 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
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.
The color of the cake will depend on the color of the sweet potato mixture. If it matters to you choose an orange variety of sweet potatoes.
This cake doesn't need a glaze but it's pretty sprinkled with a little confectioner's sugar when it's served.