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These soft, fluffy, and beautiful purple hue sweet potato cinnamon rolls are made with mashed purple sweet potatoes and iced with purple sweet potato frosting will have you asking for more!
I feel like purple sweet potatoes have been used a lot in baking and desserts of all sorts for the past few years. They seem to be really trending. I have used purple sweet potatoes to make purple sweet potato chiffon cake, mochi bread, wool roll bread, snow skin mooncake, etc. I thought, why not purple sweet potato cinnamon rolls ?
What kind of purple sweet potatoes to use
I use Stokes purple sweet potatoes. You can also use Okinawan purple sweet potato (Japanese purple sweet potatoes). Another option is to use ube, which is technically a yam and not sweet potatoes. They are more pinkish purple compared to Stokes and Okinawan purple sweet potatoes.
How to make purple sweet potato cinnamon rolls
1. Combine all the wet ingredients in a stand mixer bowl fitted with a dough hook attachment and turn on to low speed (stir on Kitchen Aid).
2. Add the dry ingredients
3. Continue to mix until the flour is no longer flying around. Increase the speed to 2 and continue to knead until you can form a dough. If the dough seems really dry and won’t come together, add a bit more milk, one teaspoon every 30 seconds or so. If the dough is a bit too wet, add one teaspoon of flour every 30 seconds until you get a rough dough. It all depends on how moist or dry the purple sweet potato is.
Once you get a rough dough, increase the speed to 4 and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 to 8 minutes.
4. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a cling wrap. Let it ferment until it doubles in size. When you poke your finger into the dough, the indentation stays. This indicates a properly proof dough. This may take one to two hours depending on the temperature
5. Combine all ingredients for the filling and set aside. Make sure the butter is softened so it’s easier to mix
6. Grease a 9 x 9 inch pan with some butter. You can also line the pan with parchment paper like I did. Transfer the proofed dough to a work surface. Give it a knead a few times to degas the dough and then roll the dough out into a rectangle about 10 x 12 inches. Spread the filling on the dough surface, leaving about 1 inch space from the edge of one of the long sides
7. Start rolling from the long side near you into a tight log. When you reach the other long end, pinch the seam shut to seal. Use a bit of water to help if necessary
8. Use a serrated knife to cut the log into 9 equal pieces
9. Transfer each roll into the pan and arrange them into 3 x 3
10. Cover the pan with a damp kitchen towel or loosely cover with a plastic wrap
11. Let the dough proof at a warm place until they almost double in size and the dough touches each other, this may take another hour or two hours, depending on the temperature where you are.
About 10-15 minutes before end of proofing, preheat the oven to 350 F (180 C) with the rack positioned in the middle
12. Put the pan on the baking rack and bake for 20-25 minutes, rotate the pan halfway so they bake evenly. While the rolls are baking, prepare the frosting by whisking softened butter until they are smooth. Add the purple sweet potato puree, icing sugar, lemon extract, ube extract, and milk. Whisk until combine and it has thick but pourable consistency. A consistency you can easily spread. Add more milk as needed if it’s too thick
13. When the roll is out of the oven, spread half of the frosting over the warm rolls and then let them cool down for 15 minutes and then spread the remaining frosting on top
Did you make this purple sweet potato cinnamon rolls recipe?
I love it when you guys snap a photo and tag to show me what you’ve made 🙂 Simply tag me @WhatToCookToday #WhatToCookToday on Instagram and I’ll be sure to stop by and take a peek for real!
The recipe is adapted from King Arthur Baking’s sweet potato cinnamon rolls
Purple Sweet Potato Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients
Wet ingredients:
- 120 gr purple sweet potato puree I used Stokes purple sweet potato
- 50 gr water add more as needed
- 30 gr milk
- 50 gr egg 1 large egg without the shell
- 50 gr butter melted, plus more to brush the pan
- 50 gr sugar
- ¼ tsp ube extract for color. see notes 2
Dry ingredients:
- 390 gr all-purpose flour see notes 1
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 ½ tsp instant yeast active dry yeast works too
Filling:
- 100 gr dark brown sugar
- 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp cornstarch
- 55 gr unsalted butter, softened
Purple sweet potato frosting:
- 50 gr purple sweet potato puree
- 50 gr unsalted butter, softened
- 55 gr icing sugar or more as needed
- ½ tsp ube extract optional (for more vibrant color)
- 15 gr milk or more as needed
- ⅛ tsp salt
Instructions
Prepare the dough:
- Peel the purple sweet potato and cut into slices. Steam over medium heat for 15 minutes until they can be easily mashed with a fork. You can transfer to a food processor or a blender to blend until smooth
- Combine all the wet ingredients in a stand mixer bowl fitted with a dough hook attachment and turn on to low speed (stir on Kitchen Aid). Add the dry ingredients and continue to mix until the flour is no longer flying around. Increase the speed to 2 and continue to knead until you can form a dough. If the dough seems really dry and won't come together, add a bit more milk, one teaspoon every 30 seconds or so. If the dough is a bit too wet, add one teaspoon of flour every 30 seconds until you get a rough dough. It all depends on how moist or dry the purple sweet potato is
- Once you get a rough dough, increase the speed to 4 and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 to 8 minutes.
First proofing:
- Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a cling wrap. Let it ferment until it doubles in size. When you poke your finger into the dough, the indentation stays. This indicates a properly proof dough. This may take one to two hours depending on the temperature
Prepare the filling:
- Combine all ingredients for the filling and set aside. Make sure the butter is softened so it's easier to mix
Assemble the rolls:
- Grease a 9 x 9 inch pan with some butter. You can also line the pan with parchment paper like I did
- Transfer the proofed dough to a work surface. Give it a knead a few times to degas the dough and then roll the dough out into a rectangle about 10 x 12 inches. Spread the filling on the dough surface, leaving about 1 inch space from the edge of one of the long sides
- Start rolling from the long side near you into a tight log. When you reach the other long end, pinch the seam shut to seal. Use a bit of water to help if necessary
- Use a serrated knife to cut the log into 9 equal pieces. Transfer each roll into the pan and arrange them into 3 x 3
2nd proofing:
- Cover the pan with a damp kitchen towel and let the dough proof at a warm place until they almost double in size and the dough touches each other, this may take another hour or two hours, depending on the temperature where you are
- About 10-15 minutes before end of proofing, preheat the oven to 350 F (180 C) for conventional oven, 330 F (165 C) for convection oven, with the rack positioned in the middle
Baking:
- Put the pan on the baking rack and bake for 20-25 minutes, rotate the pan halfway so they bake evenly. If you have an instant-read thermometer, it should be around 190 F (88 C)
Prepare the frosting:
- While the rolls are baking, prepare the frosting by whisking softened butter until they are smooth. Add the purple sweet potato puree, icing sugar, lemon extract, ube extract, and milk. Whisk until combine and it has thick but pourable consistency. A consistency you can easily spread. Add more milk as needed if it's too thick
- When the roll is out of the oven, spread half of the frosting over the warm rolls and then let them cool down for 15 minutes and then spread the remaining frosting on top
- If you don't plan to serve the rolls on the same day, don't prepare the frosting yet. Prepare the frosting on the day you plan to serve them
How to store:
- The rolls can be covered and keep at room temperature for about two days since we don't use any cream cheese in the frosting
- For longer storage, I recommend not frosting the rolls just yet. You can wrap the already cooled down rolls and wrap individually with a plastic wrap and put inside the freezer bag and freeze for up to one month. Simply reheat by covering them with a foil and reheat in the oven at 350 F for about 10 minutes. Frost them while they are still warm
RECOMMEDED TOOLS
Marv's Recipe Notes
- The all-purpose flour I use has a protein content of about 10%. If you use flour such as King Arthur unbleached all-purpose flour, which has a gluten content of 11.7%, you can use 360 grams of flour instead
- If you don't have ube extract, you can use a bit of purple food coloring. Without the purple food coloring, the purple sweet potato will turn into green or blue