Ube Cake: A Vegan Recipe for the Purple Cheesecake From the Yam

A brilliantly violet cake that gets its colour from a root rather than a bottle: ube is currently making its way from the Philippines into coffee shops around the world. Starbucks has the ube latte on the menu, TikTok posts run into six figures, and ube powder is turning up in German supermarkets.

We turned it into a vegan ube cake: a cheesecake filling of ube and vegan cream cheese, a layer of soaked sponge running through the middle, and aquafaba meringue on top. No eggs, no gelatine, no dairy.

Diesen Artikel gibt es auch auf Deutsch: Ube Kuchen, veganes Rezept.

What exactly is ube?

Ube (pronounced ooh-beh) is a species of yam with the botanical name Dioscorea alata. It grows as a climbing plant, the tuber sits underground, and its flesh is naturally violet. The colour comes from anthocyanins, the same plant pigments that colour blueberries and red cabbage.

In the Philippines ube is not a trend but a staple and a festive ingredient at once. The most important preparation is called ube halaya: a thick, sweet jam made from grated tuber, coconut milk and sugar. It is the base for almost everything else.

Ube is not taro, and not purple sweet potato

These three get confused constantly, in recipes and on packaging alike:

• Ube (Dioscorea alata): a yam, deep violet flesh, sweet and vanilla-like. Rough brownish skin when raw.
• Taro (Colocasia esculenta): white to pale pink speckled flesh, considerably starchier and less sweet. The purple in taro bubble tea almost always comes from colouring.
• Purple sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas): a different plant family, firmer, earthier, less sweet on the finish.

For this recipe you want real ube. Purple sweet potato works as a fallback, but it tastes noticeably earthier and colours less beautifully.

Where the ube trend comes from

The path is well documented. For decades ube existed in the US almost exclusively in Filipino bakeries in California, Hawaii and New York, that is, within the diaspora. The jump into mainstream attention came in 2016, when Manila Social Club in New York sold a gold-leaf-covered ube donut and the international press gratefully picked up the image.

The market research firm Datassential has tracked the ingredient since 2017. The figures it gave CNBC in April 2026 show how fast it moved after that:

• Ube offerings on US restaurant menus up 230 percent in four years.
• Currently on the menus of 95 chains in the US, with a forecast of another 74 percent growth.
• In 2022 Baskin-Robbins launched an ube coconut ice cream, in 2025 Starbucks followed with an Ube Iced Coconut Latte, and in 2026 with an Ube Matcha Latte and an Ube Vanilla Macchiato.
• The ube hashtag runs to around 120,000 posts on TikTok and over 750,000 on Instagram.

Emily Tang, chief product officer at Datassential, explains the success with a low barrier to entry: ube tastes mildly nutty, works with coffee and pastry and looks spectacular doing it. In short, an ingredient that puts nobody off and still stands out.

The catch behind the hype

Most trend pieces leave this part out. While demand is exploding, the Philippine harvest is shrinking: from 14,150 tonnes in 2021 to 12,483 tonnes in 2025, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority. The Philippine Root Crop Research and Training Center cites more unpredictable weather driven by the climate crisis and a shortage of good planting material. The Philippines now imports ube from Vietnam itself.

At the same time exports rose in 2025 to around 3.2 million US dollars, roughly 1.7 million kilograms and about 20 percent more than the year before. Prices are climbing. For the farmers that is good news at first, for supply it is a shaky situation.

In practice this means ube powder is expensive, and cheap products with “ube flavour” often contain little to no ube. A look at the ingredient list is worth it, not least because milk powder occasionally shows up there.

The ingredients for the vegan ube cake

The full ingredient list with quantities, the step-by-step method and the nutrition are in the printable recipe card below. First, the important part about shopping.

The recipe

Baked rather than set: the cake gets two layers of soaked ladyfingers, with the ube cheesecake mixture in between and on top. The slightly cracked surface forms in the oven, and the meringue goes on at the very end.

Vegan Ube Cake with Meringue

Baked ube cheesecake with two layers of soaked sponge and an aquafaba meringue. No eggs, no gelatine, fully plant-based.

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Prep Time 45 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr

Drying the meringue 1 hour hr 40 minutes mins

Total Time 3 hours hrs 25 minutes mins

Servings 12 pieces

Calories 385 kcal

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 200 g vegan ladyfingers about 24
• 150 ml coconut milk canned, for soaking
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Ube cheesecake filling

• 60 g ube powder or 300 g ube paste, then leave out the coconut milk below
• 200 ml coconut milk hot, to rehydrate the powder
• 500 g vegan cream cheese room temperature
• 200 g coconut cream the solid part from a chilled can of coconut milk
• 140 g sugar
• 40 g cornflour
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp ube extract optional, for a stronger colour
• 1 pinch salt

Aquafaba meringue

• 90 ml aquafaba chickpea water from a can, unsalted
• 90 g caster sugar
• 0.25 tsp cream of tartar or 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp freeze-dried raspberries finely ground, for dusting

Instructions

 

• Stir the ube powder into the hot coconut milk and let it swell for 20 minutes. You get a thick, violet paste. If you are using ube paste from a jar, skip this step and use 300 g.
• Line a 20 x 20 cm square tin with baking paper, letting it overhang on two sides. Preheat the oven to 160 °C conventional.
• Mix the coconut milk with the vanilla extract. Dip half the ladyfingers briefly, do not let them soak through, and lay them tightly across the base of the tin.
• Beat the cream cheese, coconut cream, sugar, cornflour, lemon juice, vanilla, salt and the ube paste until smooth. Do not overbeat, or the mixture takes on air and cracks in the oven. Taste now and stir in the ube extract a teaspoon at a time if you want more colour.
• Spread half the filling over the ladyfingers. Add the remaining soaked ladyfingers on top, then the second half of the filling, and smooth it out.
• Bake for 55 to 60 minutes. The edges should be set, the centre may still wobble slightly when you shake the tin. It firms up as it cools.
• Turn the oven off, open the door a crack and leave the cake inside for an hour. Then cool completely and chill for at least 4 hours, ideally overnight.
• Whip the aquafaba with the cream of tartar for 5 minutes until white and foamy. Add the sugar a tablespoon at a time and whip for another 8 to 10 minutes until glossy with stiff peaks. Pipe kisses onto a baking sheet and dry at 100 °C for 100 minutes, then cool in the switched-off oven.
• Just before serving, place the meringue kisses on top and dust with the ground raspberries. Cut into 12 pieces with a hot, dry-wiped knife.

Notes

Colour: real ube powder gives a muted violet to mauve, not neon. The vivid purple you see in cafés almost always comes from ube extract. If you want to stay natural, live with the softer tone.

Aquafaba: the bowl and whisk must be completely grease-free or the meringue will not work. If your aquafaba is thin, reduce it to two thirds beforehand and let it cool.

Ahead of time: the cake keeps for three days chilled and tastes best on day two. Store the meringue separately in an airtight container and add it just before serving, otherwise it draws moisture.

Nutrition

Serving: 1pieceCalories: 385kcalCarbohydrates: 42gProtein: 3gFat: 21gSaturated Fat: 17gFiber: 1gSugar: 26g

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Notes from the kitchen

• The colour. Real ube powder gives a muted violet to mauve, not neon. The glowing purple from the café almost always comes from ube extract or added colouring. If you want to stay natural, live with the softer tone or help it along with a teaspoon of blueberry powder.
• Aquafaba. Use the liquid from a can of chickpeas with no salt or additives. If yours is too thin, reduce it to two thirds beforehand and let it cool, then it whips better.
• Fat is the enemy. The bowl and whisk for the meringue must be completely grease-free, or nothing happens. Wiping them once with lemon juice helps.
• Do not overmix. The more air in the filling, the more likely the surface cracks in the oven. Mix until smooth, then stop.
• Ahead of time. The meringue keeps for two weeks in an airtight container, and the cake can be made two days ahead. Add the meringue only just before serving, it draws moisture.

Variations

• No oven: leave out the cornflour and set the mixture with 4 g of agar-agar instead, boiled hard for two minutes in 150 ml of coconut milk and stirred in quickly. Then chill for at least six hours.
• Ube tiramisu: soak the ladyfingers in cold espresso instead of coconut milk, skip the meringue and dust with cocoa.
• Without meringue: top with a coconut sugar crumble or toasted coconut flakes and save yourself the 100 minutes of oven time.
• Gluten-free: use gluten-free biscuits for the base and replace the sponge layer with a second layer of filling.

Frequently asked questions about ube

What does ube taste like?

Mildly sweet, vanilla-like and slightly nutty, with a creamy texture. Many describe it as a mix of coconut, vanilla and pistachio. Ube tastes considerably less earthy than sweet potato and less starchy than taro.

What do you do with ube powder?

Mixed with hot liquid it becomes a paste, the base for cake, ice cream, pancakes, latte and jam. As a rule of thumb: one part powder to four parts liquid, left to swell for 20 minutes. For an ube latte a heaped teaspoon per cup of oat milk is enough.

Is ube vegan?

The tuber itself is a plant, so yes. Watch out with ready-made products: ube halaya from a jar is traditionally cooked with sweetened condensed milk or butter, and some ube extracts contain milk components. Pure ube powder without additives is unproblematic.

Where can you buy ube?

Fresh tubers are hard to find in Europe outside Asian grocery stores, and even there rarely. More practical are ube powder, ube paste and ube extract online.

Is ube healthy?

Ube provides fibre, potassium and the violet anthocyanins also found in blueberries. A cake is still a cake, though. We would file ube under lovely ingredient rather than superfood.

Can I use purple sweet potato instead of ube?

Yes, but the cake will taste different: earthier, less vanilla-like, and the colour comes out paler. Use 350 g of steamed and pureed purple sweet potato instead of the powder and milk.