Sweet Potato Coffee Cake

I found this particular recipe over at Baking Bites. When I bake sweet potatoes, I always have some leftover. Now I have a perfect use for them in this coffee cake. I really like the combination of spices in the streusel; the cardamom is a really nice touch but it doesn't overpower the rest of the cake. I'm sure you could also make this with canned pumpkin puree and have great results, too. In fact, I only had 1/2 cup sweet potato, so I used pumpkin as well. I also added some more dried cranberries since they're a nice surprise when you take a bite.

Sweet Potato Coffee Cake with Dried Cranberries

Streusel
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 tsp ground cinnamon
1/3 tsp ground ginger
1/3 tsp ground cardamom
1/4 tsp vanilla

Cake
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/4 cup canola oil
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup pureed sweet potatoes (cooked, unseasoned; fresh or canned)
or 1/2 cup sweet potatoes & 1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree
or 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1/2 cup dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 350F and lightly grease a 9-in square pan. (Double the recipe for a 9x13 pan)

In a medium bowl, mix together all topping ingredients on low speed - or stir very well by hand - until moist, sandy crumbs are formed. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In a large bowl, cream together sugar and butter until light. Beat the eggs, adding them one at a time until mixture is smooth, then blend in the vegetable oil and vanilla extract. Mix in the pureed sweet potatoes (and/or pumpkin, if using).
Gradually stir flour mixture into the sweet potato mixture, stirring only until everything is incorporated and no streaks of flour remain visible. Stir in dried cranberries and scrape batter into prepared pan.
Top batter with streusel mixture, generously sprinkling it into as even a layer as possible.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Cool before serving.

Recipe adapted from Baking Bites