Vegan Ube Flan Cake

This vegan ube flan cake is so decadent and so sweet, it literally might knock you right off your seat. This cake combines the two classic Filipino desserts into one, leche flan and ube (OO-beh). With their powers combined, they make the ultimate Filipino dessert, the ube flan cake! This dessert is perfect to bring to your next family gathering or party. Trust me, it'll be a crowd-pleaser!

What is ube and leche flan?

Creme caramel has different names in different countries, and in the Filipino culture, we call it leche flan. For ube, for most countries in the world, it's known as a purple yam. For us Filipinos we use ube in a lot of various desserts. You would always see both leche flan and a type of ube dessert served at special occasions. 

How do you make a vegan ube flan cake?

This dessert will take some time to create two separate components, the flan and the cake. Unlike the original version you steam or bake this cake together. You will have to make them separately and then combine them together towards the end. It's really not as complicated as it sounds!

• Bake the cake and allow it to cool completely over a wire rack. 
• Clean and dry cake pan, you will need it to combine it all together.
• While you wait for the cake to cool, make the caramel. Then quickly pour it into the same cake pan.
• When the cake is completely cool, cut the dome off the top of the cake to have a flat top, then set aside.
• Make the leche flan. Unlike its eggy counterpart, this vegan version needs to be cooked over a stove top.
• Once the flan mixture is ready, quickly pour the flan mixture over the caramel. 
• Then gently flip the cake into the flan mixture, cut side down. Gently push down to make sure that the cake adheres to the mixture.
• Allow the flan to cool to room temp. Then move it to the fridge to set for 4 hours or overnight.
• Flip the cake over a serving dish, it should release easily, and show it off to your friends and family!

Do I really need to use ube extract?

So I get this question a lot when I make something with ube, and for this particular recipe, yes you need to use an ube extract. Ube extract gives the dessert that extra kick of flavor without ruining the texture of the cake. I found my extract at my local Filipino store, if you can find one near you I suggest looking for it there. Otherwise you might have to buy it online, but they are a bit more expensive.

If you’d tried this recipe out let me know in the comments! Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram @flouredframe and don’t forget to tag me when you create my recipes! Happy Baking!

If you liked this vegan ube flan cake recipe, check these out:

• Leche Flan
• Ube Pandesal
• Ensaymada

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📖 Recipe

Vegan Ube Flan Cake

Keisha

5 from 2 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 40 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine Filipino

Servings 8 servings

Equipment

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  6-inch round cake pan
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  Stand mixer or electric hand mixer
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  Food scale
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  Measuring spoons
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  Medium-sized mixing bowl
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  Parchment Paper
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  Wire cooling rack
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  Sharp knife
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  Small saucepan
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  Medium saucepan
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  Rubber spatula

Pro TipIf a recipe calls for it, use a food scale to weigh ingredients in grams for the best results! Use the options below to toggle between cups or grams.

Ingredients

 

MetricUS Customary

 

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Ube Cake:

• ▢ 240 grams non-dairy milk (I used soy)
• ▢ 1 teaspoon vinegar
• ▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ▢ 2 ½ teaspoon ube extract (see notes)
• ▢ 160 grams all-purpose flour (leveled and sifted)
• ▢ 20 grams potato starch (sifted, see notes)
• ▢ 150 grams granulated sugar
• ▢ ½ teaspoon salt
• ▢ ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• ▢ 70 grams vegetable oil
• ▢ 24 grams vegetable shortening

Caramel:

• ▢ 65 grams granulated sugar
• ▢ 30 grams room temp water

Leche Flan:

• ▢ 120 ml soy milk, unflavored (see notes)
• ▢ 240 ml full-fat coconut milk (canned, see notes)
• ▢ 130 g silken tofu (see notes)
• ▢ 120 ml Vegan sweetened condensed milk
• ▢ 40 g granulated sugar
• ▢ 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)
• ▢ 1 teaspoon unflavored agar-agar powder (see notes )
• ▢ ½ teaspoon cornstarch (sifted, see notes)

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Instructions

 

Make the ube cake:

• Preheat the oven to 350° Fahrenheit. Lightly grease the bottom of a 6-inch round cake pan, and line it with parchment paper. Greasing it will help the parchment stick.
• Next, combine the non-dairy milk, vinegar, vanilla extract, and ube extract.
• In a large mixing bowl, mix together the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, potato starch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
• Add the vegetable oil and vegetable shortening to the dry ingredients and use an electric hand mixer or stand mixer to combine. The vegetable shortening will be difficult to mix in, but try your best to break it up until you get a crumbly, almost sandy texture. 
• Once you get a crumbly texture, add in the milk mixture and continue to mix until you get a smooth batter, small clumps are okay. Do not overmix!
• Pour the cake batter into the prepared cake pan, and tap the pan onto a work surface to release any bubbles.
• Bake for 20 minutes. Insert a toothpick and if it comes out clean, then it is done. Allow the cake to cool for 15 minutes in the pan. Then transfer it to a cooling rack to finish cooling.
• When your cake is fully cooled, take a sharp knife and cut the dome off the top of the cake to have a flat top, then set it aside until ready to use. If you only have one cake pan, clean it before moving on to the next step.

Make the caramel:

• Before you start, have the cake pan next to you. Once the sugar starts showing signs of color, it will go by quickly and you want to make sure you're not looking around for the cake pan when it is ready because it can quickly burn.
• In a small saucepan, mix in the sugar and water until the sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil over medium-low heat, gently swirl the pot occasionally, but not stirring. (See notes).
• Once you start seeing the caramel turn golden, keep a close eye on it, this will start getting dark quickly and can easily burn. You are looking for a dark amber color. 
• Once you see a dark amber color, immediately turn off the heat and carefully pour it into the cake pan. Set it aside on a wire rack to cool and harden. Be careful when handling the cake pan, it will be hot!
• Your caramel will be fully cooled when you hear and see it cracking.

Making the flan and assembly:

• To prepare the flan, blend all the ingredients until completely smooth.
• Transfer the mixture to a saucepan and place over medium heat, stirring constantly, and bring to a low bubble. When the mixture has thickened, remove it from the heat and carefully pour the mixture over the cooled caramel.
• At this stage, the flan is too loose to place the cake on top of it. So allow the cake to cool for about 20-30 minutes, or until the flan is noticeably thicker and slightly set. Then carefully place the cake (cut side down) on top of the flan. Gently press it down to adhere the cake to the flan.
• Allow the flan to cool to room temperature. Transfer it to the fridge to let the flan set for 4 hours or overnight.
• When ready, place a plate over the top of the cake pan and carefully flip it over. The cake should slide right now. If not, take a knife and run it around the sides of the mold to release. Serve and enjoy!

Notes

• Measure your flour correctly. I test my recipes, 100% in grams. A common reason baked goods fail is incorrectly measured flour. I always recommend using a scale for accuracy when baking. This greatly improves your chance for success and lessens room for error.
• If you’re measuring by cups, avoid scooping the measuring cup directly into the flour. This tends to pack the flour into the cup, resulting in too much flour and a very dense or gummy finished product. Instead, aerate your flour (fluff it with a fork or spoon) and then spoon it into your measuring cups, leveling it with your finger or the back of a butter knife. Keep in mind though, that this method is not guaranteed to be accurate.
• Ube extract is highly recommended for this recipe. It doesn’t ruin the texture of the cake and gives the most flavor, unlike other products. I found my extract at my local Filipino store.
• Soy milk. You can use different non-dairy kinds of milk, but the results might differ. I like soy milk because it has a higher protein and fat content compared to other non-dairy milk. 
• Coconut milk. This must be full-fat coconut milk, do not use lite or low-fat, as the results will not be the same. 
• Silken tofu. Using silken tofu gives this leche flan that extra creamy texture. Do not use any other tofu, the results will be very different!
• Potato starch. Adding potato starch makes for a tender cake, if you can't find potato starch, you can use corn starch.
• Cake pan. If you don't have a 6-inch cake pan, you can use an 8-inch cake pan. However, you will need to double the recipe.
• Agar Agar. Do not use agar flakes because the measurements are vastly different. The measures for this are strictly for agar powder. I did not test this with agar flakes.
• Making caramel. Do not use any cooking utensil to stir the caramel. Caramel is a sensitive thing to make. Stirring could cause it to splash on the sides of the pan and fall back into the liquid sugar causing it to crystallize. Swirling in the pan is the best way. 
• Store this cake covered with plastic wrap in the fridge. This will last about a week, however, the flan will start to look a little bit different because the caramel has dissolved. But it still tastes great!

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The provided nutritional information is an estimate per serving. Accuracy is not guaranteed.

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