Coconut and Purple Yam Cake

My husband recently celebrated his birthday, and despite going to the gym everyday and being fit, he has a massive sweet tooth. So every year I bake him a cake (or maybe 2 depending on how many parties we’re having) and this year, he requested that the cake has ube (pronounced oo-beh). It’s his favourite Filipino food next to longganisa and my mom’s Filipino spaghetti.

What is ube? Ube is classified as a tuber, same as sweet potato, potato, yam, taro, etc. Specifically, ube is a variety of purple yam native to the Philippines. It has a vibrant purple colour and is a favourite ingredient by Filipinos to use in desserts. In the last decade, ube has gained popularity in the western palette as well, because of it’s mild and nutty flavour. Personally, I feel like the Europeans would recognise the flavour because it’s a little bit similar to chestnuts, but a different texture.

How to use ube? It’s very versatile, much like the sweet potatoes, yams and pumpkins in America during Thanksgiving, we can use it in cakes, jams, pies, ice cream, you name it, and there is probably an ube flavoured version of it. You can find my ube recipe’s here. Or if you want to try this ube cake and you’re in Sydney, you can order it below:

 

Going back to the cake, the base is a coconut and purple yam chiffon cake with stabilised whipped cream frosting and coconut and ube filling. The cream will set and hold for 2-3 days, and in my experience, this cake gets eaten much faster than that period. I used ube flavour and added sweetened ube to give it a good flavour kick, but the sweetened ube is optional. This cake is not sickly sweet, so it’s popular to those who are looking after their sugar intake. The cake is also very light because it’s a chiffon, so great for those who don’t like rich desserts.

So now you can scroll down and find the full recipe and my notes. Chiffon cake is fairly straight forward to make, and if you follow the instructions, it would be a breeze for you. I would love to know if you made this and how you liked it, so please connect with me on Instagram, and use #mrsfancypants so I can see your baked goodies!!!

I get a lot of questions about stand mixers, and these are my recommendations. It comes with a caveat though, I only recommend you get one if you bake a lot because they are not cheap. Otherwise, a hand mixer is the more practical option.

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Difficulty: Difficult Prep Time: 15 Mins Cook Time: 35 Mins Total Time: 50 Mins

Sweetened Coconut and Purple Yam Cake

Makes a 2 layer 8-inch cake

Ingredients

    For the chiffon cake
  • For the filling, see notes
  • For the whipped cream frosting

Instructions

0/12 Instructions
    Make the cake
  • Line the bottom of 2 8-inch cake tins with baking paper. Do not grease the sides of the tin. Preheat oven to 170C. In a bowl, whisk egg yolks, coconut oil, ube flavouring, ube puree (if using) and milk until smooth. Set aside.
  • In a big bowl, sift together flour, corn flour, half of the sugar and baking powder.
  • In the bowl of your stand mixer, sprinkle cream of tartar on top of egg whites then start to whisk on medium until frothy.
  • Gradually add sugar, then keep whisking on medium speed until all the sugar is dissolved and the meringue is glossy.
  • Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour the egg yolk mixture. Mix until incorporated then fold in 1/3 of the meringue. Fold until the mixture is smooth. Do this three times until the meringue is finished.
  • Divide equally between the 2 cake tins then bake at 170C for 30-35 minutes. Do not open the oven while cake is baking.
  • The cake is done when a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Invert the tins and cool upside down on a cooling rack.
  • Make the filling and frosting
  • While the cake is cooling, make the filling. Mix the ube and condensed milk until the colour is even then add the desiccated coconut. Set aside.
  • Now make the whipped cream frosting. Put the water in a small bowl then sprinkle the gelatine on top, mix just until all the granules are wet. Set aside for 5 minutes.
  • Heat 100 ml of cream then mix the gelatine in until it dissolves. No need to boil the cream you just need to dissolve the gelatin. Cool down to room temperature before use. Whisk the rest of the cream and sugar until soft peak then slowly add the cream with gelatine. Whisk until stiff then keep in the fridge until needed.
  • Assembly
  • When the cake is cooled down completely, trim the tops if domed. Put a dollop of cream on the cake plate then put one layer of cake trimmed side down. Spread a good layer of frosting on top of the cake and even it out. Top with half the filling then top with the 2nd cake trimmed side down.
  • Now spread a thin layer of frosting all over the cake and even it out, then chill for at least 45 minutes. The first layer of frosting would've set at this stage and will hold the crumbs in place so your cake will be crumb free when it's finished. Now use the rest of the frosting to cover the cake then make rosettes around the top. Fill the centre with the rest of the filling. Chill until ready to serve.

Notes

  1. You can use ube powder instead of ube flavouring. The ratio is 1:1.
  2. If coconut oil is not handy, use any neutral flavoured oil but the cake will not have any coconut flavour.
  3. If you do not want to make the filling. You can substitute  sweetened coconut sport (macapuno). Drain the syrup and mix the coconut sport with ube flavouring, no need to add condensed milk.
  4. Tips for success: This is overwhelming to make by itself for first timeEd, so focus on making this cake and don’t skip steps. A cake takes a few hours to completely cool down, so either make it a day ahead or in the morning.

Tags

#cake  #ube