Sweet potato bread with cinnamon swirl
I know we’re supposed to be in the Spring mood right now, but with all the cold and grey weather we’ve been having lately we found ourselves craving comforting fall-inspired foods and flavors, such as a good old sweet potato bread. I played around a little bit with the traditionnel recipe to get to this version that is super moist and halfway between a cake and a pumpkin pie texture. It just melts in your mouth and keeps really well for a few days without getting dry. Plus, it doesn’t contain any oil/butter nor dairy of any kind for that matters. I added a maple-cinnamon swirl to it just to bring some variation in taste, colors and sweetness in every bite.
Makes one loaf:
- +/- 1 ½ cups (300gr) sweet potato (about 2 medium-sized ones or 1 large)
- ½ cup (120ml) milk of your choice (I used an unsweetened lite coconut drink but any milk will do)
- ½ cup (100gr) sugar of your choice, preferably brown: dark or light brown cane sugar, coconut sugar, unrefined sugar,…
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup (120gr) flour of your choice (for a gluten-free version, you can for example use ⅓ cup almond flour and ⅔ cup rice flour)
- ½ cup (60gr) almond meal or flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 pinch salt
- 3 eggs
- For the cinnamon swirl: ⅓ cup (80ml) maple syrup and 2 tsp cinnamon
Start by preparing the sweet potatoes: peel and cut them in little pieces, then cook them in boiling water until they are soft enough to be mashed (it shouldn’t take long). Drain the potatoes and place in a food processor. Add in milk, vanilla extract, 1 tsp cinnamon, and sugar. Pulse until you get a smooth mixture, and pour in a large bowl. Mix in the eggs, flour, almond meal, baking powder and pinch of salt until everything is combined into a smooth cake batter.
Make the cinnamon swirl: in a small bowl, combine maple syrup, 2 tsp cinnamon, and about 2 tbsp of the cake batter.
Pour half the cake batter in a greased loaf pan, then pour half the cinnamon mixture over the surface and slightly combine the two batters briefly with a fork or a spatula. Repeat with the rest of the batters. Bake in preheated oven (180°C/360°F) for about an hour (a toothpick or knife inserted in the middle should come out almost clean, but since the cake is supposed to be moist it won’t be completely clean). Allow to cool for a bit, then take loaf out of the pan and let cool completely on a cooling rack. You can eat this cake either cold or still slightly warm. It will keep well for a few days, but I’d advise to keep it in the fridge.
Happy baking!
