Cake or bread? That is the ultimate question.
Technically, this is a sweet potato quick bread. Think banana bread, but with sweet potato instead of banana (in fact, I used my own banana bread recipe as a jumping off point, if that gives you any indication of the overall texture). But once I added the sweet, crunchy topping, I couldn’t quite bring myself to call it crumb bread. That just sounds silly. So crumb cake it is.
But don’t be deceived… just because it’s called cake doesn’t mean it’s not perfectly acceptable to eat for breakfast.
Bands of caramelized cinnamon sugar swirled through an impeccably tender cake, ever so slightly crisp on the outside and luxuriously moist in the center. And the topping! If you’re someone who appreciates textural contrast when you eat, the crumb topping is going to be your new favorite thing: a light sugary crunch that practically melts in your mouth, perfectly punctuating an already stellar flavor experience.
It’s certainly not winning any beauty contests, but what this bread lacks in looks it makes up for in flavor and personality (and we all know that’s what truly seals the deal in the end).
The first time I tested this recipe, I made the mistake of assuming the presence of canned sweet potato in the pantry, without actually looking. Alas, sometimes I get it in my head that I have something, when in reality it might have been 8 months since I’d last seen it there… or even longer.
Not wanting to waste the day, I nuked a few sweet potatoes we had lying around, then scooped out the soft flesh and pureed it in a food processor to make my own puree.
Interestingly enough, the significantly lower moisture content of the homemade puree varied the baking time by a full 15 minutes. In fact, I royally screwed up my second attempt (which used canned sweet potato) by baking it for the same amount of time as the first loaf, only to discover upon slicing it that it was practically raw in the middle.
The recipe below is written for canned sweet potato puree. If you should go so far as to make your own puree, start checking for doneness after about 45/50 minutes and go from there. Luckily, this cake is so inherently moist that you’d be hard pressed to overbake it (so long as the crumb topping doesn’t start getting noticeably dark), so, when in doubt, bake it a few minutes longer.
An interesting note about the crumb: if you were to melt the butter and add it to the sugar/flour mixture, your crumb would hold its shape and be much crunchier overall, more like a crisp cookie. Despite aesthetics, Taylor strongly preferred the crumb that was made with cold butter and prepared like a pie crust. It melted into itself a bit more when it baked, but it gave the bread a nice light sugary crunch. You can do either here depending on your preference.
(Sgt. Pepper on the other hand, doesn’t really care if the crumb is made with cold vs melted butter, he just wants a lick either way.)
And before I get 20 bajillion comments asking… yes! You could certainly used canned pumpkin in place of the sweet potato. You could also make this recipe without the swirl and/or the crumb topping, and you’d have a good solid sweet potato bread in your recipe arsenal.
But that wouldn’t be much fun, now, would it?
Whether you call it cake or bread, this tender sweet potato crumb cake features a cinnamon swirl and crunchy sugar and pecan crumb topping.
Let us know what you think!
Leave a Comment below or share a photo and tag me on Instagram with the hashtag #loveandoliveoil.