Sour Cream Ube Cake is rich, tangy, moist, and delicious. It’s an ube twist on smetannik (Russian sour cream cake).
I learned about smetannik (Russian sour cream cake) from Alonas Cooking. Smetannik is a sour cream based super moist cake with a tender crumb. I’ve taken the foundation of that cake recipe and given it my little spin.
I swapped in ube to bring color, flavor, and Filipino flair to this Eastern European classic. The resulting ube cake is tangy, subtly nutty, and little coconut-y. It’s unlike anything else!
Weigh Your Ingredients
I know…I can already hear some of you complaining. This sour cream ube cake recipe doesn’t have the cup (volume) measurements. I assure you its for a good reason.
This cake recipe took a bit of tweaking and testing to get just right. Adapting the sour cream cake to work with ube halaya meant adjusting moisture levels, fat content, and structural integrity.
Measuring ingredients in grams gives you the precision this recipe needs to turn out the way it’s supposed to.
Get a kitchen scale. It’s inexpensive, takes little space, and once you start baking by weight, you’ll never want to go back to cups.
Sour Cream Quality
Sour cream is a crucial ingredient in both the cake layers and the frosting. As such, it is worth being picky about which sour cream you buy and use.
Look at your sour cream container’s ingredient list. Use sour cream that’s simply made with one ingredient- cultured cream. The fewer the ingredients, the better. I recommend Daisy sour cream. It’s rich, clean, and only has one ingredient.
Warning: Super Rich Cake
This is not a light cake. Between the sour cream cake layers and the frosting (made from cream cheese, sour cream, and Cool Whip), every bite of this ube cake is rich and decadent. A little slice really does go a long way.
This cake is meant to be shared, sliced in small pieces and enjoyed with some coffee (or tea) and good company. I think it’s a showstopper for birthdays, potlucks, or any excuse to gather people around a meal.
If you need a visual on how to layer cake layers:
Sour Cream Ube Cake
Equipment
Ingredients
Ube Cake:
- 4 large eggs
- 175 g granulated sugar
- 300 g sour cream, *
- 15 g baking soda
- 130 g ube halaya, *
- ½ teaspoon ube extract
- 200 g sweetened condensed coconut milk, *
- 200 g all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
Sour Cream Ube Frosting:
- 226 g block cream cheese (8 oz), softened
- 75 g ube halaya, *
- ¼ teaspoon ube extract, optional, or more as desired
- 200 g sweetened condensed milk, *
- 200 g sour cream, cold
- 113 g Cool Whip (4 oz), thawed, cold
Instructions
Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350℉. Set rack in center of oven. Grease two 8-inch round pans and line bottom with parchment round. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat together eggs and sugar on high speed for 15 minutes. While that is mixing, stir together sour cream and baking soda in another bowl. Set aside.
- The egg sugar mixture should look pale in color and slightly thickened in texture. Add in the sour cream mixture, ube halaya, ube extract, and condensed milk. Mix until well combine. Scrape down sides of bowl as needed to ensure thorough mixing.
- Add flour and salt in three additions. Mixing on slow speed just until there are no longer any dry streaks of flour.
- Divide batter evenly between the two prepared cake pans. Bake in center rack for 30-35 minutes until cake springs back to the touch and toothpick inserted in center of cake come out clean.
- Cool cakes in pan for 5 minutes. Run mini offset spatula along sides of the cake to loosen. Unmold warm cakes and cool to room temperature on wire rack.
Crumb Topping:
- Once the cakes have cooled, use a serrated knife to level off the cake tops.
- Place the scraps on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake at 350°F for 5-7 minutes. Remove and crumble, then bake again for 3-5 minutes. Repeat once more, baking until the crumbs are dry and crunchy, another 3-5 minutes
- Let the crumbs cool completely to room temperature, then store in an airtight container until ready to use.
Frosting:
- Beat cream cheese and ube halaya in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment until smooth. Scrape down sides of bowl as needed.
- Add condensed milk and ube extract. Mix until combined. Add sour cream in two additions, mixing on low speed. Add Cool Whip in two additions, continuing to mix on low speed until frosting is smooth and well combined.
Assembly:
- Slice each cake into two layers. You will end up with four layers of cake. Place one layer on a cake stand or cake plate.
- Spread layer of frosting on cake layer. Place second cake layer and add frosting. Repeat until you have stacked all the cake layers.
- Crumb coat the stacked cake by spread a thin layer of frosting all over the sides and top of cake. Place in the fridge for about 15-30 minutes to firm up.
- Add another coating of frosting all over cake. Garnish entire cake with prepared crumb topping. Return to fridge and chill for at least 1 hour before serving (overnight is best).
Notes
- I recommend high quality sour cream with one ingredient such as Daisy, Cabot, or Good Culture.
- I used Angelina Sweet Purple Yam (halayang ube) purchased from Weee!
- Use either sweetened condensed milk or sweetened condensed coconut milk interchangeably
- Cool Whip is sold frozen. Thaw in the fridge for 4 hours before you plan to use it.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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