Jamaican Sweet Potato Recipe - Sweet Pudding- The Foreign Fork (2024)

This Jamaican Sweet Potato Recipe is a slice of heaven! This pudding is a sweet, warm dessert. It’s moist, rich and full of warm spices like nutmeg and cinnamon. If you are looking for a new dessert to try, look no further!

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If you are a fan of sweet potatoes, today’s recipe is for you!

In the United States it’s common to see sweet potato pie served at Thanksgiving or as a Sunday dessert. But sweet potatoes really take on new life in Jamaican Sweet Potato Pudding!

These Jamaican Sweet Potatoes are not actually pudding– at least not what those of us in the United States think of as pudding. It’s more of a thick cake, made with sweet potatoes, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and allspice all cooked in creamy coconut milk until set and then topped with a thick, sweet custard.

It’s a very rich dessert that is somehow just the right amount of sweet. If you are ready to experience the richness of sweet potatoes in a whole new way, this sweet potato pudding recipe is the answer!

Recipe Origins

There’s not much information available on the origin of Jamaican sweet potato pudding. Sweet potatoes have always existed in Jamaica and were one of the main crops of the indigenous people on the island, the Tainos.

Sweet potatoes have been used for many dishes, but potato pudding is the most popular use for the vegetable in the country.

Traditionally Sweet Potato Pudding was made in a dutch oven, with coals placed on top of the pot and underneath. This led to the saying, “Hell a top. Hell a bottom. Hallelujah in the middle.” which is used to describe the dish!

Why Make This Recipe

1. Unique Dessert: If you’re tired of the same cookies and cakes you’ve had in the past, this is a new twist on dessert. It is enjoyed year round in Jamaica, but would be delicious as a Thanksgiving Dessert (like this pumpkin cake!) or after any dinner for a different twist.
2. Enjoy a Superfood: While this dish should not be considered healthy, it does give you a new way to enjoy sweet potatoes which have many health benefits.
3. Taste of Jamaica: At any special occasion in Jamaica you’ll find sweet potato pudding. If you can’t make it to the islands you can still join the celebration from home with a slice of this rich dessert.

What Do I Need To Make This Recipe

Pudding Ingredients

Here is a visual overview of the ingredients in the recipe. Scroll down to the recipe at the bottom for quantities.

1. Coconut Milk: Use full-fat coconut milk for the best results.
2. Sweet Potatoes: Sweet potatoes in Jamaica are different from the United States. You will need white-fleshed, purple-skinned sweet potatoes for this recipe. Read the “Jamaican vs American Sweet Potatoes” section for more details.

Jamaican vs American Sweet Potatoes

There are several varieties of sweet potatoes grown around the world. They are a hearty crop that can survive in even difficult circ*mstances and have been used for centuries to help fight famine.

The United States Sweet Potato Council does a good job of explaining the different types of sweet potatoes vs yams and the various colors they come in.

Sweet potatoes grown in Jamaica look a little different than the ones in most American grocery stores. American sweet potatoes may have orange skin and orange flesh or a yellow/brown skin with white flesh. Caribbean sweet potatoes have red or purple skin with white flesh.

The Jamaican sweet potato is starchier and holds its shape a bit better than orange sweet potatoes. White sweet potatoes are considered sweeter than orange, and the Jamaican sweet potato is considered to have a slightly nutty flavor.

I would not recommend making this recipe without the right kind of sweet potatoes. Using orange American sweet potatoes (or yams) will cause the cake to have a much different texture than using the potatoes that the recipe calls for. Have no fear, you can find these potatoes in the produce aisle of your Caribbean grocery store!

Tools

1. Box Grater: You could also use a food processor
2. Spring Form Pan: For baking your Jamaican Sweet Potatoes.

How to Make This Recipe

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Step 1: Combine your Dry Ingredients

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a large bowl, combine the all-purpose flour with the spices (nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, and salt). Whisk to combine.

Step 2: Combine your Wet Ingredients

In a separate bowl, combine the coconut milk, vanilla, and brown sugar.

Add the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix to combine.

Then, add the grated sweet potatoes into the bowl and mix again.

Step 3: Bake

Grease a large springform pan with the margarine and pour the batter into the pan. Bake for about 60 minutes until the pudding is set.

Step 4: Add Your Custard

While pudding is baking, whisk the custard topping ingredients together in a small bowl.

When the 60 minutes has passed and the pudding is set (a knife or toothpick inserted comes out clean), remove it from the oven. Pour the custard mixture over the top of the pudding.

Place the pan back in the oven and bake for an additional 20 minutes until the custard topping is set.

Remove and allow the pudding to cool and set completely before cutting into it. Enjoy!

This recipe was reviewed and approved by Dee from @Cultureful_Catering (Instagram). It is based off of this recipe by RecipesJa.

Expert tips

• You can grate your sweet potatoes by hand or use a food processor. Raw sweet potatoes are very firm and may be difficult for a food processor to grate, but it makes the task much quicker. Some chefs will even boil the sweet potatoes in coconut milk until soft and then blend them into the other ingredients, but you would need to be careful about having extra liquid in your mix. This is not the traditional way to make this dish.
• Full fat canned coconut milk makes this dessert rich and creamy, but you could opt for low fat coconut milk if you wish.
• This cake is rich enough on its own that you could skip the custard on top. The soft top just takes this Caribbean dessert to a whole new level.

Variations of this Recipe

There are so many different ways to make Jamaican Sweet Potato pudding! Here are some variations of this dish that I did not include in my recipe:

• Some variations of traditional Jamaican sweet potato pudding include raisins. If you like raisins, you can soak about three tablespoons of them in rum overnight and then add them to your batter before baking. When I asked my recipe tester if I should do this, she was staunchly against it. However, it is common in many recipes online and would be delicious if you give it a shot!
• Substitute some of the sweet potatoes for cassava or Jamaican Yellow Yam.
• Some people substitute some of the all-purpose flour with cornmeal
• Some recipes include cloves. Many recipes do not include ginger.

FAQs

Did you enjoy this Jamaican Sweet Potato Recipe for Sweet Potato Pudding? If so, make sure to check out these other recipes I picked out just for you:

• Pumpkin Pie Filling Recipe
• How to Make Sweet Potatoes in the Instant Pot
• Jamaican Jerk Chicken Recipe