This is the best Ube cake using no Ube Halaya added. It’s a Red Ribbon Copycat. The base is from the Ube cake roll cake. Filled with cream cheese frosting, you don’t need to be close to Red Ribbon to quench your Ube cake cravings.
Ube Cake
Ube is a Filipino yam used in many different recipes throughout the country, and it’s often cooked, mashed, and sweetened for desserts or served as a side dish. In this article, we’ll give you a treat of turning your ube yam into your favorite Filipino purple yam cake dessert.
If you’re from the Philippines, you’ll know that Red Ribbon has one of the best and the creamiest ube cake recipe, so I’m hoping to do one that would taste something like it. Let’s call it Ube Cake ala Red Ribbon for this matter. For my non-Filipino readers, Red Ribbon is a well-known cake shop in the Philippines that customizes cakes and various pastries such as Empanada, Ensaymada, and many more.
What is Red Ribbon Ube Cake Made off?
Since this will be an ube cake Red Ribbon copycat, we’ll need the same ingredients to incorporate my style. We won’t be needing the real purple yam because the ube flavoring to our chiffon cake recipe will do. We will use our ube extract and mix it with water. You’ll be needing about one teaspoon of the vanilla extract, but feel free to adjust it to your liking. If you have some at home, you can always add grated ube or ube jam to put more purple yam taste and make it into a luscious ube overload cake.
This cake’s prominent Ube flavor. Ube is a root and is cooked like a mashed potato. The Ube is then sweetened and cooked until the fluid is completely evaporated. This is the ideal ingredient for this cake, but since our grocery store in the USA doesn’t usually carry them, we will use this Ube Flavor shown above. You can buy it in your Asian store or order on Amazon.
Prepping the Pan
Prepared pans are crucial for this recipe because of the type of cake. Lining the pan with paper is essential to avoid mess when you flip over the pan to remove it from the mold. You can use parchment paper or baking strips like I do, which is also good in releasing the cake from the mold. The pans I use are 6 inches, but you can use any pan you like as long as it’s not too much for this recipe.
Piping the Batter
One of my favorite parts in making this Filipino purple yam cake or ube cake is when I pipe out the batter to make a nice swirl on top of each baked layer. This process can be done quickly by using a piping bag. It’s quick and easy, plus it adds more flair to your cake, allowing you to bake delicious and beautiful cakes without spending too much time on the decoration. If you don’t have a piping bag, you can also slice off the corner with a ziplock bag.
Making the Cream Cheese Frosting
We’ll be adding a sweet touch of frosting to complement the taste of ube extract. It’s best to make your own because it allows you to be more creative. There are many ways and variations in making the cream cheese frosting, but in this recipe, I wanted to make one that’s not too sweet so that the flavoring on our ube cake ala Red Ribbon would stand out.
In a bowl, add about 2 cups of icing sugar and start to add your cream cheese. Make sure that the cream cheese is at room temperature, or else it will harden once you mix it up with the icing sugar, which means that you won’t be able to pipe it out quickly. Squeeze all of the air out of the cream cheese before sealing it. You can use this for your frosting, or if you want to make another variation, you can incorporate chocolate chips, berries, extracts, etc.
You can do cream frosting if that’s the one available, but I recommend using cream cheese to make sure that you balance the sweetness of this Pinoy sweet ube cake recipe.
Special Ube Cake Recipe
CAKE INGREDIENTS:
- Egg – you use egg in this recipe as leavening and flavor
- Granulated sugar- sweetens the cake.
- Coconut/canola oil-give moisturizes the cake and flavor
- Coconut milk/regular milk/evaporated- enhances the flavor and gives the
- Cake flour gives structure to the cake.
- Ube flavor-give the cake its Ube flavor
- Heavy whipping cream gives volume to the frosting
- Cream cheese-add flavor and bind the frosting together
- Powdered sugar-this sweetens the frosting
- The vanilla extract gives a gentle vanilla flavor to the frosting
BAKING INSTRUCTIONS:
Making the Ube Chiffon Cake
- Add one teaspoon of Ube flavor to the measuring glass (please check video) add the milk to a total liquid of 100 ml.
- Put egg yolks in a metal mixing bowl, then gradually add in the sugar and cake flour and mix the ingredients until incorporated.
- Add the oil and coconut milk.
- Add the ube flavor or ube extract and mix.
- You can use a stand mixer or a wire whisk until all ingredients are well-blended. Add the vanilla extract or another extra teaspoon of the ube flavoring. Set aside.
Making the Meringue
- Beat egg whites or put them in a stand mixer bowl and mix until frothy.
- Add the cream of tartar and mix. Add the sugar intermittently three times and mix until stiff peaks form. You can tell if the stiff peaks form when the meringue forms a horn when you pull the whisk upward.
- When meringue is ready, scoop about a cup of the meringue mixture and add it into the egg yolk mixture.
- Use a folding method in mixing. Using a spatula, scoop mixture, then pull up until all combinations are incorporated. Do this gently; folding too hard will result in a hard case.
- Add the mixture into the rest of the meringue and mix again using the folding method.
- Line (4) FOUR 6 inch pan with parchment paper. Don’t grease the pan.
- Transfer mixture into a NON GREASE 6-inch pan and pour cake batter equally in each pan. You can eyeball or weigh the batter. Tap the pan on a flat surface to remove air bubbles
- Pre-heat the oven at 350 F and put the wire rack in the middle of the range.
Substitutions
Do not worry if you don’t have the ingredients listed for this ube cake recipe. Although we’re making cake ala Red Ribbon, you can always use whatever options you have and even set your style according to your taste preferences. Here are some substitutions you can do:
Cake flour with all-purpose flour
I prefer to use cake flour because it can give more structure to our ube cake and you’ll always have great results. This is perfect to use since it’s low in protein and high in starch which can produce soft, moist, and fluffy chiffon cakes. However, you’re free to use all-purpose flour if that’s what you prefer or if that’s available in your area, but it may produce a more dense and compacted chiffon cake layer because of its high gluten content. So this is something you should also take into consideration.
Coconut/canola oil with vegetable oil
I would recommend using coconut/canola oil because it reduces cholesterol and helps in trapping air within the batter to produce extra fluffy chiffon cakes. On the other hand, vegetable oil can affect the taste of our ube cake, so this must be at the bottom of your options.
Coconut milk with evaporated or whole milk
Coconut milk is very creamy and can provide more moisture once baked, and I would also prefer to reduce the amount of liquid. It is already rich in its way, so this should be your first choice. But hey, if there’s nothing else on the cupboard, you can use evaporated milk or whole milk because these are good too. If you have a sweet tooth, this type of milk will do.
Ube Macapuno Cake Recipe
This is another Red Ribbon ube cake variety that you can incorporate in our easy ube cake recipe. It has the same ingredients – egg yolks and process, except you; I’ll need to finish your cake with fresh Macapuno (young coconut meat), canned sweetened young coconut strips on top. You may also add grated cheese and powdered sugar to the ube cake layer for some extra sweetness until the last cake crumbs.
Red Ribbon Cakes
Red Ribbon is known for its delicious cakes and other varieties. They have a famous Ube Overload cake, Signature Chocolate cake or Moist Chocolate cake, Dulce de Leche, Coffee Crunch, Chocolate Mousse, Cookies and Cream, Mango Cake, Black Forest, and Mocha Crumble. This is also one of the favorite bakeshops in the Philippines, where people get their famous Filipino birthday cake with dedication and cute little candlelights.
Red Ribbon cake prices range from $8 to $20 depending on your choice of cake, size, or design.
Red Ribbon’s cakes are perfect for special occasions. This recipe for the best ube cake is a variation on one of their most popular cake recipes, and it’s sure to be a hit with your friends and family. If you’re looking for something special to celebrate a special occasion, this Filipino purple yam cake or ube cake recipe is worth trying!
FOR MORE UBE CAKE RECIPES:
Ube Cake Roll with Cream Cheese Frosting
Other Filipino Cake Recipe Using Mango
Filipino Sheet Cake (Refrigerator Cake)
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Ube Cake Red Ribbon Copycat
Equipment
- 1 electric stand mixer
- spatula
- bowl
- measuring cup
Ingredients
FOR THE CAKE:
- 6 egg yolks separated
- 3 tablespoons white granulated sugar
- 40 ml coconut/canola oil
- 100 ml coconut milk/regular milk/evaporated
- 10 tablespoons cake flour
- 4 teaspoons Ube flavor separated
MERINGUE:
- 6 egg whites
- 1/4 teaspoons cream of tartar
- 11 tablespoons granulated sugar
- powdered sugar to spread generously on the cooked cake
FOR THE CREAM CHEESE FILLING
- 1 3/4 cups heavy whipping cream
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
FOR THE CAKE ROLL:
- Line (4) FOUR 6 inch pan with parchment paper. Don't grease the pan.
- Preheat the oven at 350 F and put the wire rack at the of the oven.
- Add 1 teaspoon of ube flavor to the measuring glass (please check video) add the milk to a total liquid of 100 ml.
- Put egg yolks in a small bowl.
- Add in the sugar and mix. Add the cake flour. Mix
- Add the oil and coconut milk / ube flavor mixture and mix.
- Mix using a wire whisk until all of the ingredients are incorporated.
- Add the extra teaspoon of the Ube Flavoring
- Set aside.
- FOR THE MERINGUE: Put egg whites in a stand mixer bowl and mix until frothy.
- Add the cream of tartar and mix. Add the sugar intermittently. 3 times and mix until stiff peaks.
- You can tell if it is stiff peaks, when meringue forms a horn when you pull the whisk upward.
- PREPARING THE CHIFFON CAKE: When the meringue is ready, scoop about a cup of the meringue mixture and add it into the egg yolk mixture.
- Use a folding method in mixing. Using a spatula, the scooped mixture then pulls up until all of the mixtures are incorporated. Do this gently, folding too hard will result in a hard chiffon cake.
- Add mixture into the rest of the meringue and mix again using the folding method.
- Transfer mixture into a NON GREASE 6-inch pan and pour cake batter equally in each pan. You can eyeball or weigh the batter. tap the pan on a flat surface to remove air bubbles.
- Bake at preheated 350 F oven for 10-15 minutes. Start checking at 12 minutes using a toothpick test method - insert the toothpick in the middle of the cake. If it comes out clean, it is cooked.
- Let cool until pan is cold to touch and transfer cake in a cooling rack to cool the cake completely.
- CREAM CHEESE FROSTING: Place cream cheese in a medium-size bowl and beat until soft and smooth.
- Add the heavy whipping cream slowly in about 4 intervals - until the cream cheese resembles a liquid mixture. Continue beating until stiff peaks form.
- Add the sugar and vanilla extract and beat in between to smoothen the mixture.
- Beat until stiff peaks.
- Use immediately.
- ASSEMBLE THE CAKE: Remove parchment paper from the cake and process one layer in the processor for rough crumbs to cover the cake.
- Take a cup of the frosting and put it into the piping bag.
- Place one layer and fill with the frosting.
- Put the other layer and frost.
- Top the last layer and frost the cake completely.
- Cover the whole cake with crumbs and decorate using your favorite decorating tip. I use the star tip in this cake.
Video
Notes
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