“During the holiday season, sweet potato is king!” says baker Amanda Mack, owner of Crust by Mack in Baltimore. The humble tuber stars in her deliciously moist sweet potato cake that’s stacked high with layers of rich and lightly salted cream cheese frosting. Simple in design and traditional in flavor, it’s a great addition to a pie-heavy Thanksgiving dessert lineup.
To ensure your cake looks its best, it will need two cooling periods. The first comes after baking the three layers. Freezing them for a couple of hours will keep crumbs from getting into the frosting, which can give a cake a messy look. The second cool down comes post frosting: letting the cake set in a refrigerator for a few hours helps everything come together and firm up, so you get that perfect slice.
To make sure you have enough time, start your baking earlier in the day. You can also speed things along by making the frosting while the cake layers are in the freezer. If you prefer a less sweet frosting, reduce the powdered sugar to 6 cups (680 g).