It's my sweet potato spin on my classic vegan coffee cake, and a great alternative to my vegan pumpkin coffee cake when you want a cozy fall bake without pumpkin. The combination of roasted sweet potato and pecans also makes it a lovely make-ahead cake for Thanksgiving breakfast or brunch.
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Why this recipe works
- Soft, moist crumb: Sweet potato purée, thick vegan yogurt, vegan buttermilk, and olive oil keep the cake tender without eggs.
- Pecan streusel inside and out: Rather than saving all the crumb for the top, half is layered through the center for a crunchy cinnamon-pecan ribbon in every slice.
- Sweet potato actually comes through: Roasting the sweet potatoes first concentrates their sweetness before they're blended into the batter.
- Great for making ahead: The olive oil helps the cake stay moist for days, so it's a useful fall or Thanksgiving bake when you don't want to make everything at the last minute
If you're looking for another easy way to bake with sweet potato, my vegan sweet potato muffins with pecan streusel use many of the same cozy flavors in individual portions.
Key ingredients
Here's everything you need to make sweet potato crumb cake. Find the complete list of ingredients, quantities, and instructions in the recipe card at the end of this post.
Ingredient Notes
Sweet potato: You'll need 350g cooked sweet potato flesh. I start with around 400g raw sweet potatoes and roast them until completely fork-tender before cooling and peeling. Blending the cooked sweet potato with the yogurt and vanilla gives you a smoother purée and helps avoid fibrous pieces in the cake.
If you have extra purée, don't throw it away. You can use it in my vegan sweet potato muffins, creamy no-bake chocolate sweet potato pie, or vegan chocolate sweet potato cake.
Pecans: These add crunch and a toasted, buttery flavor to the streusel. Pecan pieces are perfect here and are often cheaper than buying whole nuts just to chop them.
Brown sugar: I like light muscovado sugar for its deeper molasses flavor, but regular soft brown sugar works beautifully too. Coconut sugar can also be used, although it gives the cake a slightly drier texture.
I don't recommend replacing the brown sugar with maple syrup or dates. Because they're liquid or significantly change the structure of the batter, they won't behave like granulated sugar in this recipe.
Vegan Greek-style yogurt: Adds moisture and richness while keeping the batter thick. Vegan sour cream, vegan skyr, or a thick coconut yogurt are good alternatives. Avoid thin plant-based yogurt, which can change the consistency of the batter.
Vegan buttermilk: A simple mixture of plant-based milk and acid helps create a softer, more tender crumb. If you haven't made it before, here's my vegan buttermilk recipe.
Olive oil: Keeps this coffee cake especially moist, even after chilling. I like extra virgin olive oil, but canola or sunflower oil are good options if you prefer a more neutral flavor.
Cinnamon: Sweet potato is fairly mild on its own, so cinnamon is important here. It's used in both the cake and the pecan streusel for a warm fall flavor throughout.
How to make sweet potato coffee cake
Here's a visual overview of this recipe. Please refer to the detailed card at the end of this page for full written instructions.
Start with the pecan streusel. Add the chopped pecans, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and softened vegan butter to a bowl and rub everything together with your fingertips until you have a sandy, crumbly mixture. Set it aside while you make the cake.
For the batter, blend the cooled roasted sweet potato with the vegan yogurt and vanilla until completely smooth. This gives you a much silkier base than simply mashing the sweet potato into the batter.
Whisk in the brown sugar, olive oil, and vegan buttermilk. Sift the dry ingredients separately, then gently fold them into the sweet potato mixture in two additions. Stop mixing as soon as there are no obvious streaks of flour - overmixing can make the cake heavier.
Spread half of the batter into your lined pan and scatter over half of the pecan streusel. Dollop the remaining batter over the crumb layer and gently spread it to the edges before finishing with the rest of the streusel.
Bake until the cake is risen and a toothpick or skewer inserted into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs but no wet batter.
Let it cool in the pan for around 15 minutes before transferring it to a wire rack. Once cool, finish with a light dusting of powdered sugar if you like.
If the streusel layer is what drew you to this recipe, my vegan pumpkin coffee cake uses the same contrast of soft cake and crunchy crumb, with an extra layer of homemade pumpkin butter.
Christina's Recipe Tips
Roast the sweet potato until very soft. It should be completely fork-tender before you purée it. Undercooked sweet potato won't blend as smoothly and can leave fibrous pieces in the cake.
Blend rather than mash. Processing the sweet potato with the yogurt and vanilla gives the batter a much smoother consistency.
Don't overmix the batter. Fold the dry ingredients through gently and stop as soon as they're incorporated to keep the crumb light and fluffy.
Layer the streusel carefully. Dollop the second half of the batter over the crumb layer rather than pouring it into one spot, then gently spread it out. This helps keep the streusel in a distinct layer through the middle.
Stick with granulated sugar alternatives. Coconut sugar works if you don't want to use brown sugar, although the finished cake is slightly drier. I don't recommend maple syrup or dates here because they'll change the structure of the batter.
Bring refrigerated cake back to room temperature. The crumb firms up when cold, so let chilled slices sit out for around an hour before serving.
Frequently asked questions
Not usually. In the US, coffee cake generally refers to a sweet cake designed to be eaten with coffee, rather than a coffee-flavored cake.
This sweet potato coffee cake doesn't contain any coffee. It has a cinnamon-spiced sweet potato base with pecan streusel through the center and on top. If you're looking for the classic version first, try my vegan coffee cake with cinnamon streusel.
Yes. This cake stays soft and moist, so it's a great make-ahead option for fall breakfasts, brunch, or Thanksgiving morning. Once cool, wrap it well in plastic wrap or store it in an airtight container.
Keep it at room temperature for up to 2 days or refrigerate it for up to a week. If refrigerated, let it sit at room temperature for around an hour before serving so the crumb softens again.
Yes. Slice the completely cooled cake into portions and store them in an airtight container or freezer-safe bag for up to one month.
Thaw individual slices at room temperature for a couple of hours or overnight in the refrigerator.
More ways to bake with sweet potato
For something quicker and individually portioned, try my vegan sweet potato muffins with pecan streusel. They're fluffy, maple-sweetened, and another good way to use leftover roasted sweet potato.
For dessert, my no-bake chocolate sweet potato pie turns sweet potato into an incredibly smooth chocolate filling.
And if you want another crumb-topped fall cake, try my vegan apple crumb cake with apple butter filling or vegan pistachio coffee cake.
Love this recipe? Please leave a 5-star ★★★★★ rating in the recipe card below and consider leaving a comment as well, thanks!
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📖 Recipe
Vegan Sweet Potato Coffee Cake
Ingredients
Crumb Topping & Filling
- 75 g (¾ cup) chopped pecans
- 90 g (¾ cup) all-purpose flour
- 75 g (¼ cup + 2 tablespoons) brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 65 g (5 tablespoons) vegan butter softened
Cake
- 300 g (2 ½ cups) all-purpose flour
- 2 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 350 g (12.35 oz) sweet potatoes cooked *note 1
- 120 g (½ cup) vegan Greek-style yogurt *note 2
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 170 g (¾ cup) brown sugar
- 120 ml (½ cup) olive oil *note 3
- 1 batch (240 ml / 1 cup) vegan buttermilk
Instructions
- Preparation: Line the base and sides of a 7.5 or 8-inch springform pan with parchment paper. I use an 8-inch pan in the images. Preheat the oven to 160°C (320°F) fan-forced, or 180°C (356°F) conventional.
- Crumb topping and filling: Add all the crumble ingredients to a mixing bowl. Use your fingertips to rub the mixture together until it forms a sandy, crumb-like texture. Set aside.
- Mix dry ingredients: Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sea salt, and cinnamon into a bowl and stir until combined. Set aside.
- Puree sweet potato: Once cooled, peel the sweet potato and weigh out the flesh - you need 350g. Add it to a food processor with the vegan yogurt, vanilla, and zest and blitz until smooth.
- Mix wet ingredients: In a large bowl, whisk together the sweet potato mixture, brown sugar, olive oil, and vegan buttermilk until smooth and well combined.
- Make the batter: Add the dry ingredients to the wet in two additions, gently folding after each one until just combined. Be careful not to overmix.
- Assemble: Spread half of the batter evenly into the prepared pan, smoothing it out with a spatula. Sprinkle half of the crumble mixture over the batter in an even layer. Gently dollop the remaining batter on top, then carefully spread it out to cover the crumble. Finish by scattering the remaining crumble over the surface.
- Bake: Bake for 65 to 75 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the center comes out mostly clean with just a few moist crumbs. If there's wet batter on the skewer, return the pan to the oven and bake in 5-minute intervals, checking again as needed.Once baked, allow the cake to cool in the tin for 15 minutes. Then carefully lift it out and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Just before serving, dust with powdered sugar for a beautiful finish.
Notes
- Sweet Potatoes: I use 2 medium raw, unpeeled sweet potatoes (≈400g), which yield 350g after peeling and cooking.
- Greek-Style Yogurt: Sub with vegan sour cream, vegan skyr, or very thick coconut yogurt.
- Olive Oil: Replace with a neutral oil such as sunflower or rapeseed/canola if preferred.
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Can I substitute pecans with pistachio nuts?
Hi Atinuke,
Yes you can, just note that they will discolor a little when baked.
Love your recipes, they always go that extra step for great results and easy to follow, very tasty, will be making this again x
Hi Dawn,
Thank you so much, that’s really lovely to hear! I’m so glad you’re enjoying the recipes, and I appreciate you taking the time to share this.
This is gorgeous, I just ate two pieces back to back while they were still warm before I’d even waited for my tea to brew.
My changes - I made this in a wider (9”/23cm) square tin so had to bump up the amount of crumble to get the coverage I wanted; I made 1.5x the crumble mix. I also left out the pecans as I didn’t have any and increased the flour to make it up to the right crumble texture. I’ll try it with pecans in the future but it’s still excellent without!
Hi Anna,
That sounds absolutely amazing, thank you for sharing! I’m glad it still turned out perfectly even without the pecans. If you try it again with them, I hope you love that version just as much!
Me gustan tus recetas sencillas y deli
Muchas gracias, Alejandra!
Where does the coffee go in & how much? It's not in the recipe
Hi Iz,
It doesn't contain actual coffee, it's just called that after a style of cake, which is intended to be enjoyed alongside a nice cup of coffee 🙂
I love this and its beautiful
So happy you enjoyed it, thank you Alisha!
Looking for suggestions: what can i use to substitute for brown sugar. I'm thinking a little maple syrup and/or dates?
Hi Lisa,
To keep the same texture, it would need to be another granulated sugar such as coconut sugar, maple syrup or dates will change the texture completely so I don't recommend it.
Cake is awesome can I use normal cake ingredients instead of vegan....
Hi Anjina,
Thank you so much! I only test my recipes with vegan ingredients so I can't say for sure if it will turn out the same, I'm sorry!
Hello! I was just wondering if this would work with a Gluten Free mix such Dove’s Farm Self Raising? Thank you 🙂
Hi Babs,
I haven't tried this particular recipe with a gluten-free mix myself, but I know some readers have had success using King Arthur Measure for Measure with a lot of my other recipes. I can't say for sure how Doves Farm would turn out, but if you give it a go I'd love to hear how it works for you 🙂
I may be being stupid, but where does the Coffee come into this cake?
Coffee cake doesn't mean you put coffee in it, it means you eat it with a cup of coffee! 🙂