There are a variety of purple yam (a.k.a. "ube") cake recipes available online. The recipe I used for this cake came from my grandparents, the former owners of F. Quinal Store & Bakery in the Southern Province of the Philippine Island that was established since 1949 through 2004, but with some modifications.
The modifications to the recipe includes the following: ingredient substitutions, incorporating baking techniques that I learned from the Institute of Culinary Education, applying the Lean Six Sigma principles (Gage R&R and DOE) to provide consistent results and to identify and reduce variations in the measurement system, and applying Chemistry to balance acid and base during ingredient substitution. After all, baking is science and art. I am such a dork!
I finally perfected the recipe after so many Design of Experiments! Changing one variable at a time to produce one light, moist, dense, and delicate piece of art.
This cake started with these gorgeous deep purple-colored yams that were cooked, boiled, and mashed. Thanks to food processor.
Bake until perfection. This batch of 6" cakes is trial number of something number. I can't recall how many failed batches I made and how many happy stomachs it fed. They were all pleased to be my Guiney pigs and asked to keep it coming. However this batch (cooling on the rack) came flat and gorgeously smooth.
Another batch... Consistent result! No dome and / or sinking in the middle.
This ube cake recipe has a sponge or chiffon cake texture.
This recipe is a keeper!
It was dense and moist!
I find it a compliment when this home baked cake is compared to renowned commercial bakeries, such as Red Ribbon and Goldilocks.
I have to continue practicing to perfect smooth buttercream covering.
I am not avid of food
coloring, but for the sake of traditional “purple” ube cake I have to raise the
purple food coloring quantity in my baking to accentuate the purple hue of the
purple yam.
