Anyone Likes Ube or Purple Yam?

(This is my home-baked Ube Cake)

"That is a beautiful purple color! Does it use artificial coloring?" I often hear these comments (from people who don't know) when they see pastries made of ube. They are usually surprised when told that it is the inherent color of the tuberous root crop.

Ube or purple yam is a crop that is grown for its enlarged roots like potatoes. Ube is sometimes confused with the purple sweet potatoes but they are two different kinds. Ube has a darker brown and rougher peeling while the purple sweet potatoes has a lighter brown and smoother skin.

Purple yam is a common staple in the Philippines. Filipinos use it mostly for making tasty desserts. They use it as a jam, an ingredient for cakes, and other delicious pastries. You can also make it into ice cream. In every Filipino gathering, you will see one or more menu made of ube.

Ube is one of my favorite flavors. I've always loved ube ice creams, cakes, and anything with ube in it. In my opinion, its taste is a blend of vanilla and almond flavors, some say also vanilla and pistachio. I guess it depends on the palate, lol. Anyway, if you want to find out its taste, try it out!

Chocolate Cake with Choco Glaze

I made this chocolate cake for New Year's Eve. It is a two-layer chocolate cake with caramel in the middle of the layers. Then I pour fudge chocolate glaze on the cakes. And lastly, decorated it on top with chocolate-dipped strawberries. Yummy! The family liked this fudge glaze better than the usual buttercream frosting.  

Ube Cupcakes!

 

Hello, guys! I have not written anything on my blog for months now. I am back! lol. Just checked my blog again today and felt like blogging again. Hopefully I will have time for it again from time to time.

Anyway, my blog post for today is about my homemade Ube Cupcakes! I have been wanting to bake some ube cupcakes or cake these past few months. But I was not so lucky to find an ube flavoring. It is very hard to find an ube flavoring here where I live. The Asian stores here do not have it always. Maybe if they do, it goes away pretty fast because it is not available all the time. I tried to find it online, found one in Amazon but it was too expensive for such a little amount. It is almost $10 for a 20 ml bottle. And I need to use at least two bottles in each recipe. It is not worth it, lol, I am on a budget.

Finally I found some ube flavoring two weeks ago at the Asian store. I got lucky! I bought two bottles ( did not read the recipe yet prior to buying). I thought the two bottles was more than enough. I regretted it. I should have bought all the four bottles. Because I later found out that the recipe calls for the two bottles to be used. Oh well! Lesson learned. I have to wait again for it to be available at the Asian store, lol. I should have been smarter. By the way, the price for each bottle at the store was just $3 each, big difference from the online price. 

So finally, I was able to bake some cupcakes. Primarily, I wanted to bake a cake, but I thought, if we do not finish the whole cake fast it will be wasted. So I decided to just bake the cupcakes. That way, I will just frost enough number of it that we can eat easily. And then I froze the rest for next time.

By the way, for those who do not know what "UBE" is, it is a root crop. Sometimes it is called purple yam, maybe because it is purplish in color. It is a tuberous root vegetable. It is different from the purple sweet potatoes though which is more common here in the US. In the Philippines, it is very common. You can find ube jams, ube ice cream, and of course ube cake/cupcakes.

Back to my baking. The recipe I followed was pretty good. But not what I was expecting. I was looking for the spongy type cupcake. The one I made was more dense. But it was still good, it was pretty moist. Though a little oily for my liking. But overall, the cupcakes were good and the ube taste did come out pretty well.

I will try to find another recipe next time and experiment. Hopefully I will find the recipe I am looking for. Until next post!:)

Cherry Cheesecake

I made this Cherry Cheesecake for my mother in-law's birthday.  It had some little flaws while I was baking it.  It turned out that my cheesecake pan was smaller for the required ingredients.  The filling overflowed while baking. So I just took out the hanging crust on the sides of the pan,  lol.  I went to Walmart and saw these red beautiful sugar rose decors and the pearls.  I bought it and decorated the edges of the cake,  so it would not be so obvious that the edges of the crust were gone,  lol.  The taste of the cake turned out pretty good and was not affected by the little flaw.

So I am still learning all the time,  lol.  I do not bake cheesecake always,  so every time I bake it,  it seems like I am doing it for the first time all over again.  I should bake it from time to time so I can get the techniques embedded in my memory, lol.

Anyway,  until next baking! :)

Chocolate Cake with Mocha Frosting Photo

Chocolate Cake with Mocha Frosting

I was supposed to just buy our favorite cake from Whole Foods for my son's birthday. But the night before his birthday celebration, he told me he wants a mocha cake.

It was already past 7 in the evening when he asked. I didn't take out some butter and eggs. I thought, "Oh my! This is gonna be a long night." Butter and eggs should be in room temperature when baking a cake. I was going back and forth, if I'll bake it or I'll just buy one. My husband told me to just buy one. But I don't want my son to tell me later on when he will be a teenager that he felt disappointed when he asked me to bake a cake and I didn't. So I decided to bake a Chocolate Cake with Mocha Frosting. Luckily, I have all the ingredients needed. Well, I'm wrong, I actually didn't have the espresso for the mocha frosting. Good thing I found out a substitute for it.

Anyway, how did I let the butter and eggs be in room temperature? The eggs, I put them in lukewarm water for a few minutes. But the butter, I had a hard time. Because I just had one stick left from the refrigerator. I had to get a frozen one from the freezer. Now that took a long time to thaw. So I tried a trick I saw online. Get a bowl and put some water in it. Microwave the water for at least 3 minutes or until hot. Then pour the water, and cover the butter until it becomes soft. But it wasn't easy. I had frozen butters. I tried it maybe 3 times, putting the water in the microwave, heating it up and cover the butter. But it was getting late. So...I cheated, lol! I just put the butter in the microwave and heat it in 5 second intervals, lol. Oh well, it still worked. Though part of it melted. What can I do? Lol!

So fast forward, thank God, I was able to make the cake my son wanted. I was happy that the kids and my friends liked the cake. And super glad that my son was happy on his birthday!

LECHE FLAN RECIPE

Every family gatherings we have in the Philippines wouldn't be complete without this yummy, sweet and jellyish textured dessert, we call "LECHE FLAN" or Filipino custard. It is made from a mixture of eggs, milk, and sugar. One of my favorite Filipino desserts. Here is a recipe: