Ube-Purple Yam Pound Cake with Ube Glaze

It isn’t Christmas if we don’t have an ube dessert like this Ube- Purple Yam Pound Cake with Ube Glaze at our holiday table. My family loves purple yam. Its sweet, almond-like flavor in ube halaya (the jam) is enjoyed during the summer in halo-halo, the Filipino icy layered dessert. All year round, we enjoy ube jam or ‘halaya’, ube pastillas (sweet milk candies), homemade ube ice cream, ube pan de sal, ube-blueberry tarts and even ube short bread cookies.

Ube or purple yam is a tuber that grows on a vine, above ground. In the Philippines, it is a major vegetable crop and an important source of food. It is more abundant in the last months of the year. And this is why during the Christmas holidays, a lot of desserts and snacks in the Philippines are made of ube (purple yam). Purple yam also grows in other Asian countries, South America and Africa. In the USA, it grows in Hawaii.

If you see a purple yam in the Asian markets, you’re likely to walk past it. It looks nondescript. The ube or purple yam looks like another large potato, with a dark brown, rough outer skin. When sliced, the insides reveal a light pink flesh, so light you wonder where the dark purple color comes from when cooked.

What makes ube special is its sweet floral flavor and fruity aroma. There is nothing quite like it in any other tuber. When cooked with milk or coconut cream, it gains a rich, dairy-like flavor that enhances desserts. Once you taste ube, you’ll want it again and again.

This year, I turned to a reliable source to try a new recipe for an ube pound cake. Nancie MacDermott’s eighth cookbook “Southern Cakes: Sweet and Irresistible Recipes for Everyday Celebrations” had an amazing Sweet Potato Pound Cake Recipe. Her readers and friends shared their sweet potato cake results on Nancie’s Facebook page. I was intrigued. I told Nancie about the wonders of ube (purple yam) and since it had nearly the same texture as sweet potato when boiled, I wanted to try baking it into a pound cake, with her original recipe which used sweet potato.

Well, here is my Ube Pound Cake with an Ube Glaze drizzling downward the rich, moist slice. I could not believe I never tried this before. Filipinos are more familiar with the classic ube chiffon cake, a lighter version of this ube cake. But it is the pound cake texture of this one that got me all excited. I finally found use for the boiled, frozen ube always available in Asian markets year round. In addition to the jam and pies I have made, there’s a special place for this ube pound cake at our holiday table this year.

Celebrations start out like this, with recipes shared among friends, then passed around the family, like we do at holiday dinners. May your holiday table be as festive and plentiful as ours. Have a wonderful holiday season, dear friends and readers of my blog!

Notes on Nutrition: The nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and specific brands of ingredients used.

Did you like this recipe? I have more classic recipes inspired by my late mother’s cooking in my popular cookbook: My Mother’s Philippine Recipes. If you’re learning how to cook Filipino food or a fan of Philippine cuisine, buy my cookbooks and books on Amazon.com sold worldwide in paperback and Kindle format.

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