Ube Macapuno Roll with Cream Cheese Filling

What is Ube ? What is Macapuno ?

Ube, or purple yam has got to be one of the most photogenic root vegetable ever. Outside, is a nondescript dark lump of tuber. But inside, the colour range from light lavender to most vivid royal purple due to the presence of anothocyanins. In the Philippines, Ube is highly sought after for desserts in the form of ice cream, cookies and jam due to it’s amazing colour. Tastes similar to white chocolate with a hint of vanilla and pairs really well with coconut.

Macapuno is a form of mutated coconut. While the usual coconut,is hollow inside, the entire macapuno shell is filled with flesh with almost no coconut water. Macapuno is widely used in Filipino desserts such as ice cream and cakes and is prized for it soft jelly like texture.

This Swiss Roll recipe brings these two awesome ingredients together to create a most wonderful cake. Variations of this cake is very popular in the Philippines. My version uses tangy cream cheese as a filling, which complements the subtle flavour of Ube and Macapuno. More importantly the beautiful spiral pattern of purple and white is revealed when the cake is sliced.

How to Ube Roll…

The cake itself is not complicated to make. Once you’ve made a Swiss Roll, you’ve made them all. The technique is similar. I use a simple sponge cake base and with Ube Essence added to give you that vivid purple colour.

• Do not overcook the sponge or it will dry up and taste like sandpaper
  
• Use a baking paper generously dusted with icing sugar to roll the sponge, while sponge is still warm so it doesn’t stick.
  
• The sponge should be cold before filling . Do not overfill or the sponge will burst.
• ‘Keep it wrapped until ready to serve .

What you need…

I’ve never seen purple yam here in Sydney. Having said that, grated frozen Ube is widely available in Asian stores. Unfortunately, it’s very hard to find the vivid purple hue. I’ve tried using Ube powder and frozen Ube. The resulting cake tasted good enough but it was gritty and the colour was an unappealing gray. The only way I could get the true purple colour was if I use Ube essence (Mac Cormack brand). I have a hunch that those colourful commercial Ube cakes that I enjoyed before didn’t have Ube at all. Ignorance is bliss as they say. So until I find a better way, I’ll be using Ube essence,if I want a pretty cake. Should I then change the name of the cake to Ube Essence Cake? No, because if it was a vanilla cake, and I used a vanilla essence to flavour it, I would still call it a vanilla cake. Regardless, visually it is a stunning cake and it taste really delicious.

For the macapuno, I use Candied Macapuno Strings which are available in bottles from Asian stores. Sponge cakes in general have a tendency to be dry. Using candied Macapuno prevents this from happening, the same way jam is used in sponges to keep it moist. The nutty flavour also really complements the taste of Ube. The rest of the cake ingredients are pantry staples. If you don’t want to use macapuno string substitute with any jam of your choice. You can also use a simple sugar syrup to keep the cake moist, then sprinkle some grated coconut in the filling. I really think coconut goes well with this cake.

• Pantry Staples – eggs, melted butter, flour, baking powder, cream cheese for filling
• Ube Essence , Vanilla essence for flavour
• Macapuno Strings – these are available in jars from Asian stores. Substitute with jam and coconut flakes if you can’t source macapuno.

How to Ube Roll…

• As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, flip it into a baking paper covered with icing sugar. Roll the cake to form a log while it’s still warm to avoid cracking.
• Do not overbake the cake or it will be dry and tasteless.
• Cool down the cake completely before filling with Cream Cheese Mix
• When adding Ube Essence, add drop by drop. It’s easy to add more, but near impossible to take away and you’ll end up with a very dark cake.

Macapuno Ube Roll with Cream Cheese Filling

Recipe by acmowlaiCourse: Desserts/Sweets, Pinoy Favourites

Servings

12

servings

Prep time

30

minutes

Cooking time

15

minutes

Ube Macapuno Cake with Cream Cheese Filling

Ingredients

• 4 large eggs ,separated

• 2/3 cup caster sugar

• 1/4 cup melted butter

• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence

• 1 to 2 tablespoon Ube essence

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 3/4 cup plain flour

• Cream Cheese Filling

• 50g soft butter

• 125g softened cream cheese

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 1/2 macapuno strings

Directions

• Ube Sponge
• Preheat oven to 160°C or 350°F. Spray a 12×17 inch baking pan with cooking spray and line base and sides with baking paper. Spray baking paper with cooking spray. Set aside while you prepare cake batter.
• Place a clean tea towel on a kitchen bench. Lay a piece of baking paper (12×17 inch) on top of tea towel. Sprinkle top of baking paper generously with extra caster or icing sugar. Set to the side.
• In a mixer with whisk attachment, whip egg whites on medium until soft peaks, then add 1/3 cup sugar. Continue beating on medium high until stiff peaks. Carefully transfer to another bowl. Set aside.
• In the same mixer, with paddle attachment beat egg yolks vanilla and remaining caster sugar until pale and creamy . Add Ube essence.
• Sift together flour baking powder and salt over the egg yolk mixture. Add cooled melted butter. Beat on medium until combined. Add more Ube essence until desired colour is achieved. Beat until well combined.
• Use a spatula to fold the egg whites through to the egg yolk flour mixture just until combined.
• Carefully pour batter into the prepared pan from step 1. Level the top. Bake for 10 minutes or until top of cake springs back when touched. Do not overbake.
• Turn cake out into the sugar dusted tea towel/baking paper in step 2. Peel the baking paper that lined the cake tin gently and trim the sides of the cake with a sharp knife.
• Roll up cake with the tea towel and set aside to cool completely.
• Cream Cheese Filling
• Combine all ingredients (except for macapuno strings )for filling in a mixing bowl. Beat on medium high until fluffy about 5 minutes.
• Assembly
• Unroll cake . Spread with macapuno string or any other jam of your choice. Re roll without tea towel this time. Place into a serving plate and dust with more icing sugar.