Ube Cake: How It Tastes and What Makes It Different

Ube cake is a Filipino chiffon or sponge cake made with purple yam (ube). It has a purple color from the ube and typically includes ube halaya filling and whipped cream or cream cheese frosting. It is a staple at Filipino celebrations.

Ube cake tastes moist and mildly sweet with notes of vanilla, pistachio, and coconut. The chiffon base is light and airy, and the ube halaya filling adds a richer, creamier depth. It is less sweet and less assertive than most American cakes.

Ube chiffon cake is the classic Filipino form of ube cake. It is baked in a tube pan using the chiffon method (separated eggs, with whipped whites folded in for lift), flavored with ube halaya and ube extract, and has a tall, airy structure.

Ube halaya is a sweet, creamy purple yam jam made from mashed ube cooked with condensed milk, coconut milk, and butter. As a cake filling, it is spread between layers to add concentrated ube flavor and a soft, jammy texture.

Filipino bakeries in the U.S. including Goldilocks Bakeshop and Red Ribbon Bakeshop sell ube cake. Filipino-American bakeries in major cities also make it. It is harder to find in mainstream grocery chains, though increasing numbers carry it in ube-heavy regions.

The purple color comes from the ube itself (anthocyanin pigments in the purple yam) and, in most commercial and home recipes, from added ube extract which contains artificial red and blue food coloring for a deeper, more vivid hue.

Ube macapuno cake is an ube layer cake that includes macapuno (coconut sport, a gelatinous Filipino coconut delicacy) as one of the fillings alongside ube halaya. The macapuno adds a slightly sweet, chewy coconut element that complements ube naturally.

Yes, but the color will be more muted. Without extract, the natural purple from ube halaya alone tends to be softer. The flavor will still be good, but the vivid purple appearance most people associate with ube cake requires extract.

Not necessarily. A purple cake can be any cake with purple food coloring added. An ube cake specifically uses ube (purple yam) for its flavor, making it purple naturally plus through the use of ube extract. Not all purple cakes taste like ube.

Ube cake is a round or rectangular layer cake. An ube roll (also called ube pianono) is a Swiss roll-style cake where the ube sponge is rolled around an ube filling and served in sliced spirals.