This vibrant vegan ube cake is sweet, moist, and packed with delicious ube flavor. It's easy to make using ube extract - no purple yams needed! It's an amazing Filipino dessert that makes a great birthday cake.
We absolutely love ube desserts in my house. My husband, who is Filipino, introduced me to ube many years ago. Since becoming vegan, I’ve missed those ube treats that I loved.
So I’ve been experimenting and baking my own and they taste just as delicious as the regular ube desserts! And since this recipe uses ube extract instead of the actual purple yam, it couldn't be easier to make.
Looking for more ube flavored recipes? Try my vegan ube crinkle cookies, vegan ube coconut cupcakes and my vegan ube pancakes.
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Why You’ll Love This Vegan Ube Cake
- Ube flavor: Ube is my family’s favorite dessert flavor. If you've never had it, you’ll love the flavor which tastes a bit like vanilla.
- Purple Color: The vibrant purple color will make your cake stand out.
What Is Ube?
Ube is a type of purple yam from the Philippines. It has a beautiful purple color and has a sweet, nutty, and slightly vanilla flavor. It’s commonly used in Filipino desserts.
My vegan peach mango pie is also Filipino inspired.
Ingredient Notes
- Ube extract: I use Butterfly brand of ube extract.
- Vegan butter: My favorite brand to bake with is Country Crock Plant Butter.
- Vegetable oil: You can also use canola oil, sunflower oil, or another neutral oil.
- Non-dairy milk: I cook and bake with unsweetened soy milk but you can use your favorite plant milk in this recipe.
Please see the recipe card below for the full list of ingredients and amounts needed.
How To Make Vegan Ube Cake
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350°. Prepare 2 8" cake pans by coating them with non-stick oil spray.
Step 2: Mix the apple cider vinegar into the non-dairy milk and set aside. The mixture will start to curdle and make a vegan buttermilk.
Step 3: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt until well mixed with no clumps.
Step 4: Mix in the vegetable oil, ube extract and milk/vinegar mixture. Stir until there are no large lumps but don't overmix.
Step 5: Divide the cake batter evenly between the 2 cake pans. Bake for 35 minutes or until done.
Step 6: Take the baked cake layers out of the oven and let rest for at least 20 minutes in the pans before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Step 7: Meanwhile, make the frosting. Cream together the softened vegan butter, 1 cup of powdered sugar, and 1 tablespoon of pant-based milk with a stand mixer or hand mixer in a mixing bowl. Start on low speed until combined and then turn to high for about 30 seconds.
Step 8: Add in another cup of powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon of milk. Again, mix on low before increasing to high speed for 30 seconds. Repeat one more time with the remaining powdered sugar and milk. Mix in the ube extract.
Step 9: Frost the completely cooled vegan ube cake, serve and enjoy!
Expert Tips
- Be careful with the ube extract as it’s also a food coloring and can easily stain.
- I highly recommend using all purpose flour (not whole wheat) so the cake comes out light and moist.
- When making the frosting, start on low so that the powdered sugar doesn’t spill out. Mixing it on high for 30 second intervals makes a super fluffy frosting.
Looking for more recipes for vegan layer cakes with frosting? Try my vegan hummingbird cake, vegan black forest cake and vegan matcha cake. Or if you prefer frosted cupcakes, try my vegan chai spice cupcakes and vegan strawberry chocolate chip cupcakes.
Recipe and Storage FAQs
Store this cake in an airtight container for up to 3-4 days at room temperature. You can also store it in the fridge but it might make the cake slightly dry.
If you have an Asian food market nearby, you can find it there. But I buy mine from Amazon.
More Vegan Cake Recipes
If you tried this Vegan Ube Cake Recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. Thanks for visiting!
Recipe
Vegan Ube Cake
Equipment
- 2 8" cake pans
- cooling rack
- Electric mixer
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 ½ cups non-dairy milk
- 2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 ½ cups all purpose flour
- 1 ⅓ cups sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon ube extract
Frosting
- 1 cup vegan butter, softened I like Country Crock Plant Butter.
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoon non-dairy milk
- ½ teaspoon ube extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°. Prepare 2 8" cake pans by coating with non-stick oil spray.
- Mix the apple cider vinegar into the non-dairy milk and set aside. This will make a vegan buttermilk.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt until well mixed.
- Mix in the vegetable oil, ube extract and milk/vinegar mixture. Stir until there are no large lumps but don't overmix.
- Divide the cake batter evenly between the 2 cake pans. Bake for 35 minutes.
- Take the baked cake layers out of the oven and let rest for at least 20 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Meanwhile, make the frosting. Cream together the softened vegan butter, 1 cup of powdered sugar, and 1 tablespoon of pant-based milk with a stand mixer or hand mixer in a mixing bowl. Start on low speed until combined and then turn to high for about 30 seconds.
- Add in another cup of powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon of milk. Again, mix on low before increasing to high speed for 30 seconds. Repeat one more time with the remaining powdered sugar and milk.
- Mix in the ube extract and frost the completely cooled cake.
Notes
- Be careful with the ube extract as it’s also a food coloring and can easily stain. I use Butterfly brand of ube extract which I buy on Amazon.
- I highly recommend using all purpose flour (not whole wheat) so the cake comes out fluffy and moist.
- Store this cake in an airtight container for up to 3-4 days at room temperature. You can also store it in the fridge but it might make the cake slightly dry.
Jen says
We love bringing this cake to get togethers. Everyone loves it!
Amber says
Any recommendations for turning this into a cupcake recipe in terms of heat, etc?
Jen Cardenas says
Sure! I'd bake them at 350 for probably 18-22 minutes, depending on the size. I haven't made the cake into cupcakes before but it should work out fine. Good luck!!
Lauren says
Absolutely amazing!! I can’t believe there are no eggs or butter in the cake part. It’s incredibly moist and tastes even better the next day. I used King Arthur cake flour (resulted in a light and airy crumb), white vinegar, Silk coconut milk and Dragonfly taro ube essence. I’ve made the chiffon version of ube cake, which is complicated and time consuming, but I prefer this instead! I think it’d be great as cupcakes too.
Jen Cardenas says
I'm so glad you liked it Lauren! I agree that making the chiffon ube cake is way more work. I haven't tried this with cake flour but I'm sure you're right about it being even lighter. This recipe can definitely work as cupcakes too. Thanks for the great feedback!
Amy Cohen says
I don’t love sweets, but this is absolutely one of the most delicious cakes I’ve ever had in my life. I want to make cupcakes for my daughter‘s birthday party. We all loved it so much. Can you tell me how to change the recipe to make it cupcakes?
Thanks so much.
Jen Cardenas says
Hi Amy. I'm so glad you loved it! To make these into cupcakes, just follow the same directions but bake in a cupcake tin for about 22 minutes at 350. Hope that helps and thanks for the comment!