Take the Cake: Sweet Potato Cake with Cream Cheese Filling and Streusel Topping

Imagine a moist, spicy sweet potato cake with a mellow cream cheese filling topped with the buttery, brown sugar crunch of streusel. One bite and your mouth rejoices! Two bites and you burst into song! 

Don't just imagine this cake, make it! It is equally at home on the Thanksgiving table as it is in the break room at work. It would make a lovely addition to your brunch or a weekend dinner. 

And it has sweet potatoes.  As long as you're making a cake, why not add something both nutritious and delicious?

An unexpected harvest- Though not a bumper crop, we were pleasantly surprised after a brutally hot summer to dig up some fairly nice sweet potatoes.

Sweet Potato Cake

Begin by baking a sweet potato. Pierce it with a fork and bake in the oven at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes. Or do what I did and pop it in the microwave. It's faster and for this cake it works just fine.

Peel and mash the sweet potato. You'll need 1 cup. Set aside.

There's a sad story behind this egg, one of the last we'll be getting.

In a mixing bowl beat:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup salad oil
2 eggs

Add and mix well:
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt


Then mix in
1 cup mashed sweet potato

Pour into a 9X12 greased pan.

Cream Cheese Filling

Mix together until smooth:
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
3 tablespoons sugar
1 egg yolk


Using a spatula loaded with about 2 tablespoons of filling, insert filling into cake.  I do this by going down through the cake batter and rotating the spatula leaving pockets of filling throughout the cake. 

Streusel Topping

Mix together until crumbly:
2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 tablespoons flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 cup brown sugar

Sprinkle streusel topping over cake. Bake cake in a 350 degree oven for 25-30 minutes.

This might just be the best thing you serve on your Thanksgiving table. (And it tastes better than it looks!)

 Sweet Potato Cake with Cream Cheese Filling and Streusel Topping

Cake:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup salad oil
2 eggs
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sweet potato, baked and mashed
In a large bowl beat together sugar, salad oil and eggs. Add flour, soda, cinnamon and salt. Mix in sweet potato. Pour into a 9X12 inch pan.


Cream Cheese Filling
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
3 tablespoons sugar
1 egg yolk
Mix together until smooth. Insert into cake by large spoonfuls.


Streusel Topping
2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 tablespoons flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 cup brown sugar
Mix together until crumbly. Sprinkle over top of cake. Bake in 350 degree oven for 25-30 minutes.