Ube Cake

Ube Chiffon Cake with Ube Buttercream: two light, fluffy ube chiffon layers frosted with a silky ube buttercream. It's a celebration cake for birthdays, holidays, and any gathering that deserves something special.

Prep Time40

Cook Time1

Decorating20

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Filipino

Servings: people

Equipment

Kitchen scale
Stand mixer with a whisk and paddle attachment
2 8-inch round cake pans
Parchment paper
Candy thermometer or digital instant-read thermometer
offset spatula

Ingredients

Ube Chiffon Cake

▢ 1 ¾ cups (210 g) cake flour, sifted
▢ 1 tablespoon (12 g) baking powder
▢ ½ teaspoon (3 g) salt
▢ ½ cup (100 g) sugar
▢ 7 egg yolks
▢ ½ cup (110 g) avocado oil or neutral oil
▢ ⅔ cup (150 g) water
▢ 2 tablespoons (40 g) ube extract

Meringue for Ube Chiffon Cake

▢ 7 egg whites
▢ ½ teaspoon (1.5 g) cream of tartar
▢ ¾ cup (150 g) sugar

Ube Buttercream

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Make the Ube Chiffon Cake

Prep the pans and oven: Preheat your oven to 325°F. Line the bottoms of two 8-inch pans with parchment paper, but don't grease the pans. Chiffon needs to cling to the sides of the pan so it can climb up as it bakes.
Prep the dry ingredients: Sift the cake flour, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl, then whisk in the sugar. Set aside.
Prep the wet and mix the batter: In another bowl, add in the egg yolks, avocado oil, ube extract, and water. Whisk until everything is combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and whisk until the batter is smooth and glossy, with no dry pockets.
Make the meringue: In the clean bowl of your stand mixer with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on medium speed until frothy, then add the cream of tartar. Once the whites turn foamy and cloud-like with small, even bubbles, add the sugar gradually, a spoonful at a time. Keep beating until the meringue is glossy and white, and when you lift the whisk, the peak droops over to about 11 o'clock.
Fold in the meringue: Add one third of the meringue to the ube batter and gently fold it in with a spatula. Repeat with the remaining meringue in two more additions. We're folding from the bottom up and turning the bowl as we go, because the goal is to keep as much air in the batter as possible. Stop as soon as you don't see any white streaks.
Fill the pans and bake: Divide the batter evenly between the two pans (this is where your scale comes in handy). Give each pan one gentle tap on the counter to release any large air bubbles. Bake for about 30 to 40 minutes, until the tops are lightly golden and spring back when pressed, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool upside down: As soon as the cakes come out of the oven, flip the pans upside down onto a wire cooling rack and let them cool completely. This keeps the chiffon from collapsing under its own weight. Once they're cool, run an offset spatula around the edges to loosen the cakes, gently lift the pans away, and peel off the parchment.

Make the Ube Buttercream

Prep the yolks and standmixer: Add the egg yolks to the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.
Make the sugar syrup: In a small saucepan, bring the sugar and water to a boil over medium-high heat. Clip on your candy thermometer, or check often with an instant-read thermometer. When the syrup reaches 190°F, go to the standmixer and start whisking the yolks on medium-high. This way they're pale and fluffy by the time the syrup is ready.
Add the syrup: When the syrup reaches 220°F, remove it from the heat. With the mixer running, slowly pour the syrup down the side of the bowl. Turn the mixer to high and whip until the outside of the bowl is cool to the touch.
Add the butter: Replace the whisk attachment with a paddle attachment and on medium high speed. Add the softened but still cool butter a few cubes at a time, letting each addition blend in before adding more. Whip until it comes together into a silky, fluffy buttercream then mix in the ube jam and ube extract until the buttercream is an even lavender color.

Assemble the Cake

Stack the layers and frost: Place the first cake layer on a cake board or serving plate and spread an even layer of buttercream over the top with your offset spatula. Then add the second layer. Frost the cake with the remaining buttercream, smoothing the top and sides with your offset spatula. For clean sides, hold the spatula still against the cake and slowly turn the plate (a cake turntable makes this so much easier).
Decorate (optional): If you'd like to decorate, fill a piping bag fitted with a large decorative tip with buttercream and pipe rosettes or swirls around the top edge.

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