Simple and incredibly delicious, this soft and fluffy sweet potato granola cake is filled with mini sweet potato bites and crunchy granola. This delicious cake puts a simple little Japanese twist on a classic dessert and makes the perfect afternoon/morning tea treat.
What Is Granola Cake?
Granola cake is a hearty and filling cake that has both sweet and salty elements. The base is a simple cake with flour, sugar, and cinnamon. Mixed into the cake are crunchy granola and sugar-dusted sweet potatoes.
Some cakes have a soft cake on the bottom with a crunchy topping. This cake has crunchy textures mixed right into it.
Why You Will Love Granola Cake With Sweet Potatoes
Each bite is filled with different textures and lots of sweet flavors. It’s the perfect thing to take to a brunch and a healthy way to eat dessert for breakfast.
Even though this is still a treat, sweet potatoes and granola give it a nutrition boost. This has lots of fiber, vitamins, and protein, so it’s actually good for you.
I am a HUGE fan of granola, I love it so much that I not only eat it for breakfast and as a snack, but also sometimes for dinner. So when I was scrolling through a Japanese recipe page and found this granola CAKE, I got super excited and had to make it straight away!
I quickly wrote down the recipe for the さつまいもとグラノーラのスクエアケーキ from Ayasan’s blog and started baking!
It was very easy to make and it tasted so yummy. The fluffiness of the cake with the soft little bites of sweet potato and the occasional crunch from a piece of granola made the whole thing so delicious and made it super difficult for me to stop at just one piece.
This cake makes such a great afternoon or morning snack, especially with a warm cup of tea!
Ingredients In Sweet Potato Granola Cake
You are going to make this cake completely homemade from start to finish – no cake mixes here. These are the ingredients you will need in order to make it:
- Purple Sweet Potato: I found that the purple sweet potato not only looks better in the cake, but it has a milder flavor too. Regular sweet potatoes can still work as a substitute.
- Sugar: You need sugar both for the sweet potato and for the cake.
- Butter: Use unsalted butter. I didn’t add any salt to this recipe, the sesame seeds and granola add plenty of salt.
- Flour: Just use all purpose flour. If you are gluten-free, you can use your favorite gluten-free all-purpose baking flour.
- Cinnamon: You just need enough cinnamon to add some flavor to the sweet potatoes.
- Baking Powder: This is very important because it helps the cake have a lighter texture.
- Eggs: These help bind all the ingredients so they stick together.
- Sesame Oil: I love the taste of sesame oil in this cake. You can substitute with olive oil or avocado oil.
- Milk: Any type of milk will work. If you are using a non-dairy milk, use the unsweetened plain version.
- Granola: My granola was a mixture of nuts and seeds. I prefer to make my own but you can easily use a store bought one if you don’t have time.
- Black Sesame Seeds: Sprinkle these on top as they add a salty undertone to the entire cake.
What To Serve With Sweet Potato Granola Cake
I love sitting down and enjoying a slice of cake with either a hot cup of coffee or my favorite tea. This is traditionally a breakfast or brunch cake, so serve it with a bowl of fresh fruit.
For a little fun, you can serve a sweet mochi waffle on the side with it. Japanese apple jam is a really sweet thing you can serve on the side or even on top of your granola cake.
Eggs are a classic breakfast protein, and tamagoyaki Japanese rolled egg is a really fun and delicious way to enjoy it.
Frequently Asked Questions About Granola Cake
Before I share the printable recipe card, here are some questions people often ask about how to make sweet potato cake with granola.
The best way to store leftover cake is by covering it with a lid and storing it on your countertop. It will stay fresh for about a week. The most important thing is to keep the air off of it so that it doesn’t go stale.
This is entirely up to you and how much time you have. It is a lot easier and quicker to just use store-bought granola. Making your own involves toasting the nuts and seeds. It’s not difficult, it just takes more time.
The easiest way to make the cake taste sweeter without making it less healthy is to add a few apple slices to the batter. Cut them up into tiny pieces and they will sweeten the cake as it bakes.
I covered my cake tin with parchment paper. This keeps the cake from sticking to it as it bakes and it also makes cleaning up easier too.
More Japanese Breakfast Recipes
Here are some more authentic Japanese recipes that you can enjoy for breakfast or serve at your next brunch.
- Brown Rice And Quinoa Porridge
- Shibuya Honey Toast
- Sake Onigiri
- Gluten-Free Fluffy Japanese Pancakes
- Japanese Souffle Pancakes
Stay Connected
If you made the recipe and liked it, please rate it on the recipe card and leave a comment below. Also, don’t forget to follow me on Youtube, Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to keep up to date with all the latest happenings on Chopstick Chronicles. Don’t forget to use the hashtag #ChopstickChronicles on Instagram so I can see your wonderful creations! Finally, don’t forget to subscribe to my weekly newsletter by adding your email address underneath my profile photo.
Sweet potato granola cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup purple sweet potato *or 120g or 1/4 sweet potato
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 10 g unsalted butter
- 1 cup all purpose flour * or 130g
- ¼ tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 egg
- 4 tbsp sugar * or 60g
- 40 g sesame seeds oil *1
- 100 ml milk
- 40 g granola *2
- A sprinkle of black sesame seeds
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 356°F (180°C) and cover an 18cm square tin with baking paper. *3
- Sift all dry ingredients (minus sugar) together in a bowl and put it aside.
- Wash the sweet potato and chop it into 1cm cubes.
- Soak the cubes in water in a bowl for about 10 minutes. Pat them dry with a paper towel and place them in a microwavable container.
- Sprinkle 1 tbsp of sugar over the sweet potato and microwave for 2 minutes.
- Add the butter into the sweet potato container to coat the sweet potato with butter, then set aside.
- Put the egg and 4 tbsp(or 60g) sugar in a large bowl and whisk them together with a handheld mixer. *4
- Add the oil and beat all together.
- Add half of the milk to mix and fold the half of the sifted dry ingredients.
- Add rest of the milk and then add all the sifted dry ingredients. *5
- Add 2/3 of the sweet potato and 2/3 of the granola and fold them into the wet mixture but do not mix too much.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared square tin and top with the remaining sweetpotato and granola and sprinkle the black sesame seeds on top.
- Bake for about 20 minutes, depending on your oven.
- Serve fresh from the oven or allow to cool.
Wonderful combination!
thank you 😀
Hi Shihoko
Can you send me the recipe for sweet potato granola cakein English, it looks so delicious but I can read the recipe from the blog link.
Many thanks
Ruthie
Hi Ruthie, Thank you for bringing my attention to this post. I recently changed and redesigned the blog. This cakes’ recipe was hidden somehow. Now I retrieved the recipe. Enjoy and let me know how it turned out for you 😀
Thanks Shihoko.
You are welcome 😀
I would love to have a copy of this recipe in English please? I am learning Japanese, but it is slow going because I am short of time. Best wishes, Gay
Hi Gay Thank you for bringing my attention to this recipe. I have been trying to updating and changing the layout of Chopstick Chronicles and somehow the recipe lost. Don’t worry, I will fix it as soon as I can. Thank you for your patience.
There’s no recipe here
Thank you Sandra, I have changed the plug in that’s why…. I will fix it up this weekend.
I’ll be trying this recipe for sure! lol Maybe this is how I’ll get my husband to eat sweet potatoes!!
Haha yes trick him into eating it, sweet potato is the best!
This is such an interesting cake Shihoko! I have never heard of putting sweet potato in a cake, so thank you for explaining its Japanese background. And granola too?! Crazy but so cool!
Hi Claudia, thank you! Adding sweet potato in cakes is a common thing in Japan because sweet potato gives natural sweetness to any cakes and it reduces the amount of sugar.