Contrary to most of the recipes I put on the blog, this ube macapuno cake is super traditional. What’s that saying again? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. This dessert is a Filipino classic and a dupe of the Ube Overload Cake you’ll find sold at Red Ribbon Bakeshop. I was able to procure fresh ube from Asian Veggies recently, so what better way to use it than for this cake?
Here are a couple crucial tips with this cake to make sure it’s a success:
- If you’re using fresh ube, either steam it for 30 minutes or roast them in the oven for 45-60 minutes at 375°F. When you stick a fork through the ube, there should be no resistance when you pull it out. Once the ube has cooled, peel and grate it.
- Chiffon cakes can be a little persnickety, so be gentle when folding in your meringue mixture into the rest of the batter. You don’t want to lose that volume you worked so hard to achieve!
- DO NOT GREASE YOUR CAKE PANS!
- When your cakes are done baking, let them cool in their pans and then invert them onto a wire rack so it doesn’t collapse while cooling.
- For the Swiss meringue buttercream, make sure your egg white and sugar mixture isn’t grainy before you pull it out of the double boiler and start to whip it. Even if it hits 160°F and part of the mixture feels gritty between your fingertips, keep on cooking it until the sugar dissolves.
- For the frosting, don’t add your butter until your mixing bowl and the meringue mixture is cool and no longer warm to touch. Also make sure your butter isn’t so soft that it’s spreadable. It needs some structural integrity to whip up in your mixer.
- If you’re whipping it and it looks like soup not coming together, stick your bowl in the fridge for 10 minutes and then resume whipping it. It will become a silky, smooth buttercream eventually. Patience is truly key!
Since it’s my mom’s birthday today, I thought I would commemorate it by posting this recipe in her honor. I would be lying if I said that the pandemic wasn’t getting to me. It’s so hard to be this far away from most of my family. I’m nearing the 1-year anniversary since I was last able to visit my mom and dad in California, and it’s tough not knowing when we’ll all be vaccinated. I’m desperately wanting to join the “My parents got vaccinated club!” so I can take a cross-country flight in good conscience, but for now, I cannot.
My mom is big on organic and natural food. She would love using fresh ube for her own cake. She is also a perfectionist. Even while making this cake, I thought of her and her incessant need to make a dish that matches her standards. I was too impatient with my Swiss meringue buttercream, so the sugar didn’t completely dissolve with the egg whites while I was heating them up over the double boiler. While I lamented about it for longer than I should have, I did smile thinking about how my mom would do this too.
A makulit worrywart at her worst and extremely caring at her best, my mom and I are one and the same. My mom would make a dozen batches of empanadas until they were perfect, even though I would beg her to stop after getting tired of eating so many of them. I’m writing this now so sad that I’m missing another milestone family celebration, but I am trying to be hopeful of the day we can all be together again (and I mean everybody together! Titas, titos, cousins, nieces & nephews too!). Happy birthday Mommy!!! I hope you’re having a lovely day. ❤️
Ube Macapuno Cake
Ingredients
For the Ube Chiffon Cake:
- 2 ¼ cups cake flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 ½ cups white sugar, divided
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 7 large eggs, separated
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2/3 cup whole milk
- 1 cup grated ube, fresh or frozen and thawed
- 1 tablespoon ube extract
- 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
For the Swiss Meringue Buttercream:
- 6 large egg whites
- 2 cups white sugar
- 1 ½ cups unsalted butter, softened but still cool and cut into tablespoon-sized pieces
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 12 oz. jar of macapuno (preserved sweet coconut strings)
Instructions
For the Ube Chiffon Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two 9" round, 1½" high pans and one 4"x8" loaf pan with parchment paper. Do not grease the pans.
- In a large bowl, sift cake flour, baking powder, ¾ cup of sugar and salt and mix until well combined.
- In a separate bowl, combine egg yolks, oil, milk, ube extract and ube. Add wet mixture to flour mixture. Whisk together until just combined. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, whip egg whites until frothy with the whisk attachment. Gradually add in 3/4 cup of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of cream of tartar. On medium-high speed, whip until the meringue mixture forms stiff peaks.
- Gradually and gently fold meringue into flour mixture until very well combined. Divide batter equally into prepared pans.
- Bake fore 20-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Invert pans into wire rack immediately and cool completely.
- Carefully run a thin knife around sides of pans to release cakes.
For the Swiss Meringue Buttercream:
- If you haven’t done so yet, separate the eggs first. Separate 1 egg white in a small bowl, then place the egg white in your heatproof mixing bowl. Repeat with the remaining egg whites. This way, if a yolk breaks in one of them, you don’t waste the whole batch.
- Whisk sugar into the egg whites, then set the bowl over a saucepan filled with just two inches of simmering water over medium heat. Do not let the bottom of the egg whites bowl touch the water. Whisk the whites and sugar constantly until sugar is dissolved and mixture has thinned out, about 4 minutes. The mixture will be thick and tacky at first, then thin out and be frothy white on top. To test that it’s ready, you can use your finger or an instant read thermometer. Lightly and quickly dip your finger (it’s very hot, be careful) and rub the mixture between your thumb and finger. You shouldn’t feel any sugar granules. If using a thermometer, the temperature should read 160°F (71°C).
- No need to let it cool down to start this next step– it’s important to begin mixing while it is still warm. Transfer mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment (if you aren’t already using the metal bowl that comes with it). You can use a hand mixer instead, but this step takes awhile and your arm tires quickly. On medium-high speed, beat the mixture until stiff glossy peaks form and the meringue is no longer warm to the touch, at least 10-15 minutes.
- If the bowl and meringue still feel warm, wait until both cool to room temperature (around 70°F (21°C)) before adding the butter in the next step. Feel free to place it in the refrigerator. A warm bowl and meringue will melt the butter.
- Switch the stand mixer to the paddle attachment. On medium-high speed, add the butter 1 tablespoon at a time. Wait for the butter to fully mix in before adding the next tablespoon. After all the butter has been added, turn the mixer down to medium speed and fully beat in the vanilla and salt, about 30 seconds.
- Your Swiss meringue buttercream should be thick, creamy, and silky smooth and is ready to use on your cake.
For Assembly:
- Drain the syrup from the macapuno strings with a mesh sieve.
- Level the tops of your round cakes. Spread and level about 1/3 of frosting onto the first cake layer until it is about ¼" thick. Add half of the jar's worth of macapuno strings in an even layer on top. Stack the second cake layer on top and use 1/3 of the frosting to cover the top and sides of the cake.
- Remove brown sides and bottom of the loaf cake. Cut the remaining cake into cubes then crumble using a food processor or blender. Gently stick the crumbs to the cake top and sides until it is fully covered.
- Spread the remaining macapuno in the center of the cake. Using the remaining frosting, pipe out big rosettes around the cake’s top edge (I used a Wilton 1M tip for this part). Store cake in the fridge.
