When I invited Pastry Chef Whitney King, from the Restoration Hotel in Asheville to join me on the GotToBeNC Cooking Stage at the North Carolina Mountain State Fair in September, I knew her demo would lean more to the sweet than the savory, but little did I know what to expect. And, I asked her to incorporate NC Sweetpotatoes in her dish, but I had no idea. THIS is what happened: The cutest, most spectacular Sweet Potato Pumpkin Poundcake. You are going to want to make it, too!

This recipe is a keeper and you still have time to make it for this Thanksgiving weekend. It will be perfect as the center of your Thanksgiving dessert table or to make to enjoy with all the leftovers during the days that follow. Move over pies, there’s a new cake in town.

This Sweet Potato Pumpkin Pound Cake Starts with a Bundt Pan

Two bundt pans, in fact. Bundt pans are an easy find, from Amazon to the baking section of Dollar Tree – and most likely, in your local grocer as well.

The recipe that follows will fill two large Bundt pans or four small ones. Spray the pans with a non-stick cooking spray for best results. Then, bake the cakes and allow to cool following the directions in the recipe.

Baking Tips for this Beauty of a Bundt

Always be sure to coat your bundt pan. This recipe works best when the pan is oiled and floured. You will have much better results in this case, if you use a cooking spray first to oil the pan; and then dust the pan with flour. Shake off any excess flour and the pan should be coated with a thin layer that will keep the batter from sticking. This will yield the classic bundt pan shaping when you turn the cake out of the pan

Be sure to give yourself the gift of time when it comes to letting these cakes cool. This is a critical point, so don’t rush the process. Take them out of the oven and allow the cakes to rest in pans, right side up for about 20 minutes then invert onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Don’t worry that the batter has risen over the top of the pan. Once the cakes are cooled, you will cut the top off to make a flat surface on each cake. And, don’t be tempted to snack on the excess you cut off – its going to become the stem of this beautiful pumpkin!

Creative Ingredients Make for Delicious Results

Keeping the use of as many local ingredients as possible in mind as she worked on the recipe, Whitney did another cool thing.

Instead of adding vanilla to the cream cheese frosting, she boiled down 2 cans of Sarilla Tea’s Rooibos and Vanilla infusion to a 1/4 cup of so. This really intensified and concentrated the flavor of the tea. This sparkling canned tea, made with organic South African rooibos and honeybush leaves, blended with orange peel and vanilla. So concentrating those flavors, gave her some play with the taste of the cream cheese frosting taking it to a whole new level. It was a genius move.

Sarilla is a woman-owned company based in the Asheville area. Its a line of alcohol-free canned sparking teas and botanicals made with ethically sourced ingredients. You can read more and shop online with them, here.

Sara Delaney of Sarilla Teas with Chef Whitney King on the GotToBeNC Cooking Stage a the
North Carolina Mountain State Fair.

Pumpkin Spice and Brown Sugar

Two tips to share here. If you don’t have brown sugar, you can easily make your own. I find it tastes much better than store bought and because you make it in small batches, it never gets hard in the pantry. Make just the amount you need.

Combine about a cup of organic sugar and about 1/4 cup of local NC Sorghum Syrup Molasses. Stir until the sugar melts into the molasses to yield a thick, rich, delicious homemade brown sugar.

If you want to make a “light brown sugar” use your favorite local honey in place of the sorghum syrup molasses.

One note on the cinnamon called for in the recipe. There are many varieties of ground cinnamon aside from the generic type you’ll find in most grocery store spice sections. My go to is always Saigon Cinnamon. Not just for the bright spicy flavor; but for the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory health benefits as well. I also substitute ground cardamom for ground ginger in most recipes – together the ground cardamom and the Saigon cinnamon pack the punch the is Pumpkin Spice.

Frosting the Sweet Potato Pumpkin Poundcake: How to Crumb Coat

As you begin to frost your cake with the cream cheese frosting, you’ll want your first coat to be what pastry chefs call a “crumb coat”. This light coat of frosting will give you a smooth first coat finish to the cake, before you start to make the rosettes.

This crumb coat will keep little bits of the cakes – crumbs – from getting mixed into your final layer of frosting and design. Its essentially just a thin layer of the frosting meant to fill in any gaps between layers. Start with a dollop of the cream cheese frosting on top of the cake and then use a flat offset spatula or a knife to lightly spread the frosting across the top of the cake and gently up and down the sides. Once you have this thin initial layer of frosting on the cake, you can either frost with a second layer of frosting to make the frosting thicker – or you can use a pastry bag with frosting to add dimension and design to the cake.

Sweet Potato Pumpkin Poundcake: Batter’s Up

The mixing of these cake’s is pretty standard. You could do it by hand, or use a hand mixer, but a stand mixer is the best bet to help to get the work done quickly.

When it come to the sweetpotato puree and the pumpkin puree, ditch the cans, keep it local and go DIY
Heidi Billotto

I totally understand the convenience of a can in the pantry: but, its so incredibly easy to make a veggie puree. If you tasted the two side by side, you’ll find the flavor is heads and tails and better than what you will find in a can.

To make a puree, simple back the sweet potatoes – the microwave makes pretty short order of this, then peel and mash. You want this mash to be smooth, so add a little milk or orange juice to get a smooth consistency.

I know it might seem a bit odd, but if you want to add a fun twist, and no one in your clan is allergic to peanuts, you could also whip in a bit of Coddle Creek Farms White Chocolate Peanut Butter for a fun depth of flavor to your sweetpotato puree for this cake. The white chocolate peanut butter was not in Whitney’s original recipe; but Chef Chad Blackwelder used it in a sweetpotato puree at the NC State Fair and it was the bomb – give it a try when you can.

To make the pumpkin puree, simply roast a pumpkin or any winter squash – butternut, acorn, hubbard and carnival, all work well. You’ll find my easy pumpkin roasting technique here. Then, as you did the sweet potatoes, mash and puree the pumpkin.

Any leftover pumpkin or sweetpotato puree will freeze quite well for up to 6 months.

cake shaped like a pumpkin on a cake stand with a slice of cake in front

Sweet Potato Pumpkin Poundcake

Ingredients

FOR THE CAKE:

2 cups pumpkin puree
2 cups sweet potato , roasted and puréed
5 teaspoons cinnamon
4 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon allspice
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
8 teaspoons baking powder
8 cups all-purpose flour
5 cups dark brown sugar, packed
8 large eggs
2 cups buttermilk
2 cups unsalted butter, room temp
1 cup sour cream or thick yogurt Note from Heidi: if you are in Charlotte, try using Zack Gadberry's Uno Alla Volta locally made Yogurt Cheese found on Saturday's at the Matthews Farmers Market

FOR THE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:

16 oz cream cheese, softened softened – Zack at Uno Alla Volta offers locally made cream cheese as well
1/2 cup butter, room temp – locally made butter is also available from Zack at Uno Alla Volta
4 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons your flavoring of choice (like strong tea or vanilla) This is where Chef Whitney used the syrup she made from the Sarilla tea

For The American Buttercream:

1 cup butter, softened
2 teaspoons vanilla extract, or you can use the Sarilla syrup, once again
4 cups powdered sugar
2 Tbsp. liquid (use milk or buttermilk or leftover pumpkin purée)

Instructions

FOR THE CAKE:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Butter (or oil) and flour 2 large bundt pans.
Mix the buttermilk and sour cream in a bowl and set aside.
Sift the dry ingredients (except the sugar) together and give a good whisk to mix well.
Cream the butter and sugar together in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment for approximately 4 minutes on medium. Butter should be light in color and fluffy in texture.
Add the eggs one at a time making sure each is incorporated well before adding the next.
Add the flour mixture in three batches alternating with the milk mixture. Making sure you start and end with the flour mixture. Do not over-mix, just beat until combined.
Mix the pumpkin and sweet potato purées. Add to cake batter. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and make sure the pumpkin is well incorporated.
Pour batter into bundt pans. Bake for about 60 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
Allow cakes to rest in pans for about 20 minutes then invert onto a wire rack to cool completely. THE SKIP DOWN TO THE CAKE ASSEMBLY PART OF THE RECIPE

FOR THE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

Beat the butter in a mixing bowl with the paddle attachment until light and fluffy (about 4 minutes with regular bowl scraping).
Add the cream cheese and beat until smooth.
Add in flavoring and powdered sugar. Mix until ingredients are well-incorporated and desired consistency is reached. Add more powdered sugar if frosting is too thin. Add 1/4 tsp more liquid if frosting is too thick.

FOR THE AMERICAN BUTTERCREAM:

Beat butter until extremely light and fluffy (approximately 6-8 minutes).
Add vanilla. Mix until incorporated.
Add powdered sugar one cup at a time.
Add milk and mix well.

TO ASSEMBLE THE CAKE INTO AN ADORABLE PUMPKIN:

Cut off the domes of the cakes by using a serrated knife. Keep the scraps (we will be using them later).
Optional: cut each Bundt cake in half horizontally. This will give additional icing layers.
Spread cream cheese frosting between cake layers making sure to line up the patterns of the Bundt cake.
Crumb coat the outside of the cake using leftover frosting.
Let the cake chill in the refrigerator about 20 minutes.
Ice the outside of the cake using the American buttercream. Use a fluted pastry tip to make rosettes all over the cake as shown in the photos; or make vertical stripes using a star tip, and creating a rustic texture using the back of a spoon or offset palette knife. Chill the cake in the refrigerator.
Make the stem: mix remaining cake scraps with a little frosting at a time to form a “dough” strong enough to hold together when you squeeze it. Form a stem to sit on top of the hole of the Bundt cakes. You can decorate the stem by using brown frosting or leave it plain.

TO SERVE:

Simply cut the cake into slices as you would any other and enjoy!

Hungry for More?

Looking for more delicious desserts for your Thanksgiving table?

Check out this classic pumpkin swirl cheesecake in this post on cooking with pumpkin

Enjoy the Lemon Pots De Creme at the end of this cooking with cucumber post

Make my favorite Chocolate Pecan Pie Tart – you’ll find the recipe here.

And if you need some quick and easy appetizer ideas fesaturing SC pecans (you can make them with NC pecans, too 🙂 Hop over to this post