Ube is such an interesting ingredient! It's a purple sweet potato from the Philippines, and you can achieve super deep purple colors with zero food coloring with it! It tastes earthy-nutty, but also sweet and pleasant. It reminds me a little bit of the sweet smell of corn on the cob. If you're the kind of person who likes a cake to be not too sweet, this gluten-free ube cake is for you!
I've had to work this recipe into a sponge cake, currently the first sponge on this blog! The reason for using a sponge is long-winded but I'll try to sum it up, it's chemically interesting!
- I always use baking soda to help my gluten-free baked goods rise so they aren't so dense, however...
- Baking soda is a base, which turned the anthocyanin pigment that give ube its deep purple color, into a blue cake.
- I don't want blue ube, and I don't want a dense cake!
- And so here we are with a sponge cake, which uses a meringue to help rise and lighten up the cake, while keeping the pH neutral. Phew!
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Ingredients
There are three ways to get ube flavor:
- using ube powder (non-affiliate link)
- using ube flavoring (non-affiliate link)
- ube jam, also called ube halaya; I don't use this ingredient in my recipe, but it would make a tasty filling. I've had trouble looking for a brand I like, but you could make your own. Here's a promising ube halaya recipe!
For this recipe, you'll also need my gluten-free flour.
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
Let's bake gluten-free ube cake!
- Sift the dry ingredients.
- In a separate bowl, mix all the liquid ingredients, and add them to the dry ingredients.
- In a third very clean bowl, add egg whites and cream of tartar. Beat on medium speed, slowly adding sugar, until stiff peaks form.
- Incorporate the meringue component into the batter.
- Carefully fold the egg whites in the batter to preserve the air bubbles. Pour the batter into two prepared cake pans.
- Bake at 350F for ~25-28 minutes.
- Make the buttercream frosting. Fill the middle and stack the layers.
- I like keeping half of it marshmallow flavored and the other half ube flavor.
- Decorate the cake!
Hint: let the batter sit for about 10 minutes while the oven preheats, to absorb moisture.
Substitutions
The allergens in this recipe are: milk, eggs. You can make it dairy-free, but the eggs are essential to give this gluten-free ube cake a good lift. If you're looking for egg-free recipes, check out my gluten-free vegan lemon cake!
- Dairy-free - omit buttermilk powder, and use vegan buttermilk instead. You can create this ingredient by curdling a teaspoon of lemon juice into milk, I recommend a coconut based or almond based milk. Swap the butter for your preferred vegan butter. Make sure it's a vegan butter, and not a spread.
Variations
I have some ideas to customize and change up my gluten-free ube cake:
- Instead of marshmallows, you can use a coconut-based buttercream
- You can also top the cake with coconut strips, or use it inside the filling
- Use ube halaya (it's a jam) between cake layers; just note it won't be shelf-stable anymore and will require refrigeration
Equipment
I'm using:
- TWO 6-inch cake pans
- An electric mixer
- A sifter
- Three large bowls
Storage
This gluten-free ube cake, if made as written, is shelf-stable at room temperature. You can keep it covered on the counter for up to three days. Freeze leftovers by wrapping in plastic, storing in an airtight container in the freezer.
When ready to eat, you can thaw to room temperature and enjoy!
Top tip
You can absolutely play with colors! The pigment that gives ube its purple color is anthocyanin, and is pH sensitive. My recipe uses baking powder, which contains baking soda, a base. When the batter is basic, the cake is blue. When the batter has acidic ingredients, it will become more neutral and turn purple. So fun!
FAQ
Ube is a purple sweet potato that grows in the Philippines. Its color is bright purple, and can be used to naturally color frosting.
Ube smells like sweet corn on the cob in a boiling pot of water. Slightly sweet, fragrant, a bit nutty. In a cake, its flavor is mild and earthy, and is perfect for those who prefer a cake that isn't too sweet.
Related
Looking for other gluten-free cake recipes?
Gluten-Free Ube Cake
Equipment
- Two 6 inch cake pans
- 1 electric mixer
- 1 sifter
- 3 large bowls
Ingredients
Cake - Dry Ingredients
- 135 grams gluten-free flour
- 45 grams corn starch
- 8 grams buttermilk powder you can also omit, and replace the water with buttermilk
- 12 grams ube powder
- 7 grams baking powder
- 150 grams sugar
- 3 grams salt
Cake - Liquid Ingredients
- 120 grams water
- 42 grams canola oil
- 42 grams butter melted, cooled
- 3 egg yolks keep the whites
- 2 grams ube extract
- 2 grams vanilla extract
Cake - Meringue
- 3 egg whites
- 38 grams sugar
- 1 gram cream of tartar
Frosting
- 180 grams butter salted, room temperature
- 360 grams powdered sugar
- 4 grams vanilla extract
- 128 grams marshmallow fluff
- 4 grams ube powder
Instructions
For the Cake
- In a large bowl, sift together the gluten-free flour, corn starch, ube powder, buttermilk powder and baking powder. Add the sugar and salt, and combine well.
- In a separate bowl, mix all the liquid ingredients until well combined.
- Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients, and mix well with a spatula.
- In a clean bowl, add the egg whites and cream of tartar. With the electric mixer, beat on medium speed for 2 minutes.
- Slowly add the sugar while beating the egg whites.
- Beat until the meringue is forming stiff peaks. *Note: if peaks aren't forming after 3 minutes, it could be that your bowl is dirty, or the egg whites/yolks weren't properly separated. Meringues don't like fats.
- Carefully fold in the meringue into the batter, in three separate additions.
- Preheat the oven to 350 °F (177 °C)
- While the oven preheats, let the purple batter rest, and prepare your cake pans: I grease the sides and use parchment paper on the bottom.
- Divide the batter evenly between the two cake pans. Bake in the middle of the preheated oven for 26-28 minutes, until the cake bounces back immediately when poked without leaving a lasting print.
- Cool on a rack. Optional: once fully cooled, you can wrap each cake layer in plastic and freeze a few hours. This helps harden the cake for decoration, and will be extra moist after thawing.
For the Frosting
- If you're new to buttercream, you can watch my frosting video.
- With the electric mixer, cream the butter for 5 minutes until light, white and fluffy. If your house is cold, you can add hot water by the ½ teaspoon to help cream the butter.
- Add the powdered sugar and vanilla extract.
- Continue beating on medium for 5 minutes, until you have a beautiful white, creamy frosting.
- Divide the frosting in two equal amounts; to one part of the frosting, add marshmallow fluff, and to the other, add ube powder.
- You're ready to decorate the cake! My favorite combination is: marshmallow frosting in the middle, an ube crumb coat, an ombré starting with ube frosting at the bottom and ending with marshmallow on top. All topped with mixed swirls!
- Enjoy!
Naelle @ GlutenFreeDIYers
Isn't the color so fun? No food dyes!
Anthony
The perfect amount of ube flavor in both the cake and frosting!
Angela Turner
Suggestions to make this dairy free? Mostly worried about the buttermilk.
Naelle @ GlutenFreeDIYers
You can use coconut milk powder instead of buttermilk powder, and proceed as written! You can also make your own buttermilk (if you use the liquid version), by mixing a plant based milk with a bit of lemon juice.
Katie
Can this be made into a roll cake?
Naelle @ GlutenFreeDIYers
I think so! I've made roll cakes before, not with this particular recipe, but I think it'll work. You'll have to work with floured tea towels etc to roll it without it sticking.