aka Crème Fraîche Pound Cake with Ube Glaze
A crème fraîche pound cake with a glimmering, gloriously purple ube glaze that wows on any table.
I was tickled purple when Vermont Creamery reached out, inspired by my very purple ube birthday cake they'd spotted on Instagram. The year was 2023 - ube had just been named one of the NYT's ingredients of the year. As in they want to pay me to do what I'd done for fun? Yes please. Apparently purple-licious dreams can come true.
Ube is a purple yam native to the Philippines with a sweet, earthy, nutty, vanilla-like flavor. Real quick - ube is not a purple sweet potato. Yams and sweet potatoes are actually unrelated root veggies. They're both purple thanks to anthocyanins - the natural pigments responsible for purple tones in fruits and veggies.
Got intimate with ube while living in Kauai - introduced by Filipino immigrants in the 1800s, it's a modern staple in desserts across the island. I spent a few years there in my 30s, working as a chef on the north shore. It had me at the color. Damn good nutty-vanilla flavor too.
The cake is a modern riff on the classic pound cake - originally named for its formula: a pound each of butter, flour, sugar, and eggs. I lightened it up with crème fraîche for a moister, tangier crumb, then ube glazed it for that vibrant purple pop. I used extract here, not fresh ube - fresh ube cake is coming soon.
The cake is traditional to nowhere - neither an authentic pound cake nor a classic ube cake. Just what's become my very purple birthday cake tradition, ombré style, now yours. For the ombré effect, start with a few drops of extract for the lightest lavender and keep going until your purple heart is satisfied. Single shade works too. You do you. Bakes in a loaf or Bundt pan.
Ube Cake
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 1 cup unsalted butter 2 sticks, at room temperature, plus more for greasing the pan
- ½ cup granulated sugar plus more for coating the pan
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 3 eggs room temperature
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup crème fraiche at room temperature
- 1-2 tablespoons Vanilla Extract
For the Glaze
- 1 cup of confectioners’ sugar
- 2 tablespoons crème fraiche
- 1/2 teaspoon of ube extract optional + more to get desired purple hue
- 1-2 tablespoons water
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter loaf pan, and sprinkle with sugar. Coat the bottom and sides of the pan in a thin, even layer.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix the butter and sugar son low to combine. Increase the speed to medium and cream until light and fluffy, 2-5 minutes, stopping to scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. (A handheld mixer or good old elbow grease works too).
- Beat in the eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each egg before adding in the next and scraping the sides of bowl when necessary.
- Reduce speed to low and beat in half the flour mixture. Beat in the crème fraîche, then the remaining flour mixture. Beat in the vanilla extract. Scrape sides of bowl when necessary.
- Pour thick and creamy batter into the prepared pan, smooth the top and bake for 45-55min, until golden browned on top and a toothpick pierced in the center comes up clean.
- Place the pan on a wire rack and let the cake cool for 10 minutes. Run a thin metal spatula or butter knife around the edges of the pan to release the cake and flip the cake out of the pan while it’s still warm. Let the cake cool completely.
To Glaze Cake
- To make the glaze, sift powdered sugar into a small bowl and add the crème fraiche and water, ½ teaspoon at a time. Whisk to combine until smooth, adding more water, if needed. Add ube extract, 1/2 teaspoon at a time, until desired purple hue is reached.
- Pour or brush the glaze over the top of the cake and let it set for at least 15 minutes before slicing.
If ya try this recipe, I'd love to hear about it - leave a comment below and let me know, and tag me on IG, @danielagerson, so I can see too.
Keep exploring for more seasonal recipes and colorful produce guides designed to inspire ya to play in the kitchen.
Let’s make waves in the kitchen.
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