So. Last Friday night, as I was eating a large bowl of sweet potato mash for dinner (I know, I know, my diet is not so well balanced but geez it was delicious), I tweeted something about loving sweet potatoes so much I’d even eat them for dessert…

Not ever letting anything this interesting pass her by, Melody Fury jumped all over my tweet and coerced me into something I was not even thinking about before…

And this, my friends, was how I was roped into this month’s edition of Beet ‘n Squash YOU!

A monthly competition involving fruits and vegetables in strange and wonderful ways, Beet ‘n Squash YOU! encourages foodies from all over (you don’t even have to be a blogger) to submit recipes using said fruit or vegetable. The winning recipe usually receives a prize of some sort but really, who needs a prize when you can win the knowledge that you’ve BEET and SQUASHED everyone else in the competition. Right?

Or am I just vegetably violent?

Hmmm.

In any case, I’d tweeted about eating sweet potato for dessert and even though I’ve actually never had it as a sweet dish, I was bound. And so I began my accelerated research (I had to research, bake, blog and submit before this Friday) into a sweet potato dessert.

Introducing, my sweet potato cheesecake. Don’t be hatin’ cos it’s different.

You know what I’m hung up on now? Sweet potato ice cream…. mmmmmmm.

sweet potato cheesecake
225 grams light cream cheese
1 cup mashed sweet potato
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of ground nutmeg
Pinch of ground ginger
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the base:
200 grams biscuits (I used plain Digestives)
50 grams unsalted butter, melted
  1. Preheat oven to 175Β°C/350Β°F.
  2. To make the base, crumble 200 grams of biscuits in a bowl with a spoon, food processor, or use your hands like me!
  3. Add the butter and mix until combined.
  4. Press into the bottom of an 8 inch spring form cake tin, set aside.
  5. In a large bowl, mix together the cream cheese, sweet potato, brown sugar and granulated sugar until combined.
  6. Add flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger and keep mixing.
  7. Add the eggs and vanilla, mix until just combined.
  8. Pour into the prepared base and bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes.
  9. Cool on a rack and refrigerate overnight.
  10. Sprinkle with chocolate shavings and serve with cream!
Serves 8, but depends how big your slices are πŸ˜‰

27 Thoughts on “beet ‘n squash YOU! that’s right, beware of my sweet potato cheesecake

  1. Jamie S. on March 3, 2010 at 10:28 am said:

    oh my goodness that looks AWESOME. I haven’t ever thought of using sweet potato in a cheesecake! WOW!

  2. Oh – this is bookmarked – great recipe. At the risk of sounding like a complete novice, you do cook your sweet pots before you mash them? If so, did you bake or boil them?

  3. Jamie S: I know, it tastes just as good. I never thought of it for a dessert either but hey, it works!

    Grubworm: Hehe novice questions are welcome as I am really a novice as well! I cut them into little 1 inch portions and boiled them until they were soft, then mashed – no added butter or milk, just plain. Maybe I should include this step in the recipe!

  4. No haters here! Your sweet potato cheesecake is a sweet cake – a perfect combination. I love S.P. as a dessert, although many versions tend to be overly brown sugar-y. Good luck at Beet ‘n’ Squash U!

  5. Great stuff, thanks Catty. Looking forward to giving this a go soon.

  6. Tangled Noodle: No hatin’ is a good thing πŸ˜€ Ah, I swapped out some brown sugar for regular sugar because I agree, brown sugar is so over-powering!

    Grubworm: No problems, let me know if you make this πŸ™‚

  7. Sweet potato ice cream sounds excellent! After all they have taro ice cream, and taro’s not even sweet. You should definitely go for it.

  8. Sweet potato ice cream sounds good too! This cheesecake looks yummy! What did the sweet potato do to the flavor and texture that is differnt from a plain cheesecake? Welcome to Beet n’ Squash you!

    • I know! I have to try sweet ‘tater ice cream next πŸ˜‰ The texture doesn’t change much with the sweet potato – it’s still moist and bouncy, in fact it’s bouncier than my previous cheesecakes! As for the taste, it’s an interesting taste of sweet potato and spices (cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg) which I think tastes great, with a dash of cream πŸ˜‰ and thank you for the welcome!

  9. samantha on March 3, 2010 at 9:57 pm said:

    oh WOW. this looks so great – i’m going to try it out this weekend. I love sweet potato too, but haven’t really done much with it other than the mash that my husband eats almost every night!

  10. Loving the story behind this darling Catty! Wish I’d found out about it sooner, I would have joined in the fun. Cake looks FAB!

  11. Such a good recipe! I tried sweet potatoes as dessert in Japan, they are crazy about them there, as most Japanese sweets are not really that sweet. I am well impressed, and I love sweet potatoes too!!

  12. samantha: Thank you! LOL I could eat sweet potato mash almost every night so I see where your hubby is coming from. Try this cheesecake out on him πŸ˜‰

    Mowie: You can totally join in next month! Although.. I’m not sure what the secret ingredient will be yet. Stay tuned!

    The London Foodie: I know – this is why I love Asian sweets more.. matcha, taro, sweet potato.. it’s all kinda sweet but not sweet! I LOVE that you love sweet potato – we are going to be great friends πŸ˜€

  13. I am sold too. I will look forward to your sweet potato ice cream post! bUt I will make this first.

    • Thanks Penny! I don’t know how I’m going to make sweet potato ice cream. I’m just obsessing about it right now. Also equally obsessing about sweet corn ice cream πŸ™‚

  14. Loving the sound of this, I did a sweet potato cake once and it was very nice. Cheesecake sounds even better.

  15. This sounds delishous! This reminds me next time you’re in LA, we have to try this thing called mochi pizza! It has mochi but it’s a pizza. loco? si senora! but what a fiesta huh?

  16. Sarah: Sweet potato seems to be a winner with me right now. And now that it’s proved it can be good in a dessert, well, sky’s the limit πŸ˜€

    yutjangsah: Mochi. Pizza. Say it again. Mochi. Pizza. *shudder* <-- that's a GOOD shudder. Bring me, baby! πŸ˜‰

  17. Ahhh.. so this is the sweet potato cheesecake I keep hearing about on twitter… mmm, looks and sounds delish, esp the chocolate shavings!

    • Sure is, Kangster. It turned out really well, I was scared of the prospect of what it might taste like but I have to say, it was good.

  18. I hope I can try that one day when you guys move to LA…or just FedEx me a pie. Thanks!!~

  19. OMG that looks amazing. I know what I’m making for (Canadian) Thanksgiving on Sunday!!! It’s gonna be good…oh so good… and them a pumpkin spice cake on the side… and then an apple cheddar pie on the side of that… who needs turkey? all my nutrients can be found in dessert :0)

  20. i’d love to munch those very big cheesecakes, they are really tasty and sweet`”`

  21. Dwayne on November 6, 2011 at 6:34 pm said:

    Hey how’s it going…? I just wanted to right on here to let you know that I did try & make your recipe & it was delicious & 100% awesome…It was very easy to make & quick… This has now become a favorite dessert in my house & I do plan on making it like 100 times more…LoL! So I thank you so much for creating a dish that is so delicious…

    • i LOOOOOOVE good feedback! So pleased to hear that it worked out and that everyone liked it! My bf LOVES this cheesecake so I also make it quite often. Yay!!

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