Ube Custard Cake

Soft ube chiffon layered with silky leche flan and caramel, creating a rich Filipino custard cake dessert.  Purple sponge, silky flan, and flowing caramel all in one bite. Soft, rich, nostalgic, and unapologetically Filipino. #ubecustardcake #filipinodesserts #ube #lecheflan #custardcake

I’ve wanted to make this Ube Custard Cake for the longest time, but lately finding time to bake feels harder and harder. I honestly think age has something to do with it. When I was younger, I had endless amounts of time but absolutely no money. Now it’s the complete opposite. I have a decent job, can finally afford the ingredients and kitchen tools I once dreamed of owning, yet time somehow disappears faster than ever.

Does anyone else feel like that?

Even though we chose New Zealand as the place to settle partly because of its work-life balance, there are still moments where it feels like the days simply vanish. But every now and then you get these rare pockets of free time where you can slow down and make something special. That’s exactly what happened here.

And finally, after thinking about it for so long, I made Ube Custard Cake.

Not just any custard cake either, but one baked in the Bundt mould I found weeks ago at an Op Shop. One of those random purchases you justify immediately because you already know exactly what you want to make with it.

A Dessert That Feels Deeply Filipino

Filipino Custard Cake is one of those bakery desserts that instantly brings nostalgia. Soft chiffon cake, silky leche flan, and glossy caramel all fused into one dessert. It feels luxurious but familiar at the same time.

Unlike Western custard cakes where the custard is baked into the sponge itself, Filipino Custard Cake proudly separates its layers. The leche flan sits clearly above the chiffon cake, and when inverted after baking, the caramel slowly drips down into the sponge beneath it.

The result is a dessert with incredible contrast. Light airy cake underneath, dense creamy custard above, and caramel tying everything together.

It’s the kind of dessert that always appeared during birthdays, fiestas, Christmas gatherings, and Sunday celebrations. Growing up in the Philippines, seeing custard cake in bakery display cases felt completely normal. Goldilocks-style cake shops made them famous, but homemade versions always felt more special because getting those clean layers right actually takes skill.

The Spanish Roots Behind Custard Cake

Like many Filipino desserts, Custard Cake traces its origins back to Spanish colonial influence. Over three centuries of colonisation introduced egg-rich sweets, caramel desserts, and milk-based puddings into Filipino kitchens.

Leche flan itself evolved from Spanish flan but became distinctly Filipino over time. Filipino versions became richer, denser, and more indulgent due to the heavy use of egg yolks, condensed milk, and evaporated milk.

Then came the American colonial period in the early 1900s, which introduced baking education and Western-style cakes to the Philippines. Chiffon cakes eventually exploded in popularity after World War II because they were lighter, cheaper to produce, and perfect for tropical climates.

Eventually Filipino bakers did what Filipinos do best: combine two beloved things into one even better thing.

That marriage between leche flan and chiffon cake created Custard Cake.

Why Ube Was the Perfect Evolution

Adding ube into the equation felt almost inevitable.

Ube has always held a special place in Filipino desserts through halaya, hopia, halo-halo, ice cream, and breads. But once ube chiffon cakes became mainstream in bakeries during the late twentieth century, bakers naturally began pairing them with leche flan.

And honestly, it works perfectly.

The earthy vanilla-like flavour of ube pairs beautifully with condensed milk, egg yolks, and caramel. The colour contrast between vibrant purple cake and golden flan also makes the dessert look instantly festive.

By the late 1990s and early 2000s, Ube Custard Cake began appearing more frequently in Filipino bakeries and home kitchens. Then social media arrived and the global ube craze pushed it even further into the spotlight.

Suddenly this deeply Filipino dessert started appearing in cafés and bakeries across the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

Why This Dessert Feels Special

There’s something deeply satisfying about making a dessert like this from scratch.

The careful layering.
The water bath.
The nervous moment when you invert the cake.
The relief when the caramel flows perfectly.

It’s not difficult once you understand the process, but it does demand patience.

And perhaps that’s why I kept putting it off for so long. Baking requires uninterrupted time, something that feels increasingly rare nowadays. But when you finally do make something like this, it reminds you why you loved baking in the first place.

For me, this cake also reconnects me to old Filipino bakery memories. The chilled cake boxes tied with string. Refrigerated desserts during Christmas. Birthday tables filled with leche flan and ube cakes.

This dessert combines all of those memories into one.

A Cake Worth Waiting For

After finally making this, I honestly wonder why I waited so long.

The chiffon stayed incredibly soft.
The leche flan came out silky and smooth.
The caramel soaked gently into the sponge exactly how I hoped it would.

And using that Op Shop Bundt mould somehow made the whole thing even more satisfying.

Sometimes the best recipes are the ones that sit patiently in your mind for years before finally happening. When they do, they feel less like cooking and more like completing something unfinished.

This Ube Custard Cake felt exactly like that.

Ube Custard Cake

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 5 from 2 reviews

• Author: Raymund
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 50 mins
• Total Time: 1 hour 20 mins
• Yield: 10 1x
• Category: Dessert, Snack
• Cuisine: Filipino

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Description

Soft ube chiffon layered with silky leche flan and caramel, creating a rich Filipino custard cake dessert

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Ingredients

Units MUS Scale 1x2x3x

Caramel Layer

• 200 g granulated sugar

Flan

• 4 egg yolks
• 200 g condensed milk
• 200 ml evaporated milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/8 tsp salt

Cake

• 4 egg whites
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
• 60 g granulated sugar
• 4 egg yolks
• 50 g granulated sugar
• 40 ml vegetable oil
• 50 ml cold water
• 1 tbsp ube extract
• 100 g plain flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp salt

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Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 160°C. Prepare a Bundt tin or cake mould and a larger tray for the water bath.
2. Make the caramel by heating sugar in the Bundt tin over medium heat until amber in colour. Carefully swirl to coat the bottom evenly. Set aside to cool down and solidify.
3. Prepare the flan mixture by whisking together egg yolks, condensed milk, evaporated milk, vanilla, and salt until smooth. Strain the mixture for a silky texture, then pour gently over the hardened caramel layer.
4. For the chiffon cake, beat egg whites with cream of tartar until foamy. Gradually add 60 g sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form.
5. In another bowl, whisk egg yolks with 50 g sugar until pale. Add vegetable oil, cold water, and ube extract. Mix well.
6. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt, then fold into the yolk mixture until smooth.
7. Gently fold the whipped egg whites into the batter in batches until fully combined.
8. Carefully pour the cake batter over the flan mixture.
9. Place the mould into a larger tray filled with hot water halfway up the sides.
10. Bake for 50 minutes or until the cake is set and a skewer inserted comes out clean.
11. Cool completely before refrigerating for several hours or overnight.
12. To serve, carefully invert onto a serving plate so the caramel flows over the cake.

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