Sweet Potato Frosting is made from baked sweet potatoes, with no powdered sugar or food coloring required. It makes a fun, healthy frosting for your favorite cakes and cupcakes!
Why You’ll Love It
It’s naturally sweetened. Instead of using refined sugar, sweet potato frosting gets its sweetness from baked sweet potatoes and pure maple syrup. Thanks to the addition of vanilla and almond extracts, it doesn’t taste like a “healthy” frosting.
It’s colorful! Who needs artificial food coloring when sweet potatoes come in such beautiful hues? You can use orange sweet potatoes, purple sweet potatoes, or white sweet potatoes to make different frosting colors with this recipe.
It’s allergy friendly. For those who need a frosting that is gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegan, this one uses coconut oil instead of butter. (Use refined coconut oil if you want to avoid any coconut flavor.)
It’s nourishing. Sweet potatoes are a great source of fiber and vitamin C, and they develop a silky texture when blended, very similar to traditional frosting.
Ingredients You’ll Need
What’s in sweet potato frosting?
- Baked sweet potatoes
- Maple syrup
- Coconut oil
- Vanilla extract
- Almond extract
- Salt
That’s all you need to make this simple vegan frosting, but you can also add cocoa powder to make a chocolate version. I’ve included a variation in the printable recipe below, and you can add more or less cacao powder, depending on if you want a milk chocolate or dark chocolate flavor.
If you don’t want a coconut flavor added to your sweet potato frosting, be sure to use refined coconut oil. (It will say expeller pressed on the package label.) This will add zero coconut flavor to the recipe.
How to Make Sweet Potato Frosting
1. Bake the sweet potatoes.
If you don’t have a baked sweet potato on hand, preheat the oven to 400ºF. Wash and dry the sweet potato, then pierce it several times with knife to help it vent.
Rub the potato with olive oil, and place it on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake at 400ºF for 45 to 60 minutes, until the center of the potato is tender, and easily pierced with a fork. (If you have an instant read thermometer, the internal temperature should reach at least 207ºF in the thickest part of the potato.)
Let the potato cool until it’s easy enough to handle without burning your hands.
2. Blend.
Slice open the baked potato and scoop out enough of the cooked middle to tightly pack a 1-cup measuring cup. (Save any leftover cooked potato for my Sweet Potato Smoothie recipe.)
Add the sweet potato puree to a high-speed blender, along with the maple syrup, melted coconut oil, vanilla extract, almond extract, and a pinch of salt. Blend until smooth, and add a tablespoon of water or almond milk, if needed to help with blending. (This shouldn’t be necessary as long as your ingredients aren’t cold from the fridge.)
Note: You can use a food processor to mix this frosting if you need to, but the results may not turn out quite as smooth.
3. Chill.
Pour the blended frosting into an airtight container, and let the frosting chill in the fridge for 6 to 8 hours, or overnight. It will thicken up, thanks to the coconut oil!
4. Enjoy!
Once the frosting is thick, give it a stir and it’s ready to use. You can spread it on a chocolate cake with a spatula, or add it to a piping bag and use it on cupcakes.
Sweet potato frosting can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week. Or you can freeze it for up to 3 months.
Common Questions & Substitutions
How much frosting does this recipe make? This batch makes just under 2 cups of frosting, which is enough to frost 12 cupcakes, a single layer 9-inch cake, or the top of a 9 x 13-inch cake. To frost a two-layer cake, as you can see in my Healthy Carrot Cake photos, make a double-batch of frosting.
Can I use a different oil? This recipe works because coconut oil is solid when chilled. To get similar results, you’d need to use another fat that is solid when chilled, such as butter or shortening. I don’t think another vegetable oil (like olive oil) would work quite as well.
Can I make it without oil? If you require an oil-free recipe you can leave out the oil, but the texture could be significantly different in that case. I would add almond milk, just a tablespoon at a time, and blend until the sweet potato puree is smooth enough to spread like frosting.
Can I use a different sweetener? Feel free to experiment with this recipe, but keep in mind that other sweeteners will add another layer of flavor. Honey is much stronger in flavor than maple syrup, so I would use less if you want to try that.
Can I make chocolate frosting? Yes, I’ve included a chocolate sweet potato frosting variation in the printable recipe below.
More Healthy Frosting Recipes
If you need some other frosting ideas, try one of the options below.
By the way, you can make this frosting with purple sweet potatoes, too! When you make both orange and purple sweet potato frosting, it looks perfect for a Halloween cupcake.
Sweet Potato Frosting
Sweet Potato Frosting is made without powdered sugar or food coloring! This healthy frosting is naturally sweetened, and is perfect for topping cakes or cupcakes.
Servings:
Equipment
Ingredients
Sweet Potato Frosting
- 1 cup baked sweet potato (tightly packed)
- 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup (at room temperature)
- 1/4 cup melted coconut oil (see notes)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract (optional; but recommended)
- 1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
Chocolate Sweet Potato Frosting (Variation)
Instructions
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Add the frosting ingredients to a high-speed blender and blend until smooth, about 60 seconds.
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Pour the blended potato frosting into an airtight container with a lid, and place it in the fridge to set. It should thicken up in about 8 hours, so it’s best to make this the night before you need it so it can thicken overnight in the fridge.
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Once the frosting has thickened up, it’s ready to use! Transfer it to a piping bag to use on cupcakes, or spread it with a spatula over your favorite cake recipe. Leftover frosting can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week. (It should also freeze well for up to 3 months.)
Notes
• How to Bake Sweet Potatoes: Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Wash and dry the sweet potato, then pierce it several times with a knife. Rub the potato with olive oil and place it on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake until the potato is tender, about 46 to 60 minutes.
• Use refined coconut oil (or expeller pressed) if you don’t want to add a coconut flavor to your frosting. For a thicker frosting, you can use up to 1/3 cup of coconut oil. If the frosting ends up being too thick to spread after being stored in the fridge, you can add 1 to 2 tablespoons of almond milk or water to help thin it out again. Just stir with a spatula, until it’s spreadable.
Nutrition
Calories: 71kcal, Carbohydrates: 10g, Protein: 0.1g, Fat: 3g, Saturated Fat: 3g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 0.2g, Sodium: 24mg, Potassium: 57mg, Fiber: 0.2g, Sugar: 8g, Vitamin A: 1179IU, Vitamin C: 0.2mg, Calcium: 16mg, Iron: 0.1mg
If you try this sweet potato frosting recipe, please leave a comment below letting me know how you like it. And if you make any modifications, I’d love to hear about those, too!