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Ube-Macapuno Cake

"This is a great Filipino purple yam cake."

By allrecipes · From Open Recipes · 19 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 19,175 recipes mention both. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

The recipe

1 - 3 layer 9 inch cake
Prep30 min
Cook30 min

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease and flour three 9 inch round cake pans. Sift the cake flour, baking powder and salt together in a bowl.

  2. Boil the cooked ube in a pan of boiling water for a few minutes if needed to soften, then drain, cool and finely grate it.

  3. In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks, vegetable oil, milk, vanilla, corn syrup and grated ube until smooth. Stir in the dry ingredients until just combined. Tint the batter with the red, blue and violet food coloring drops.

  4. In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar until foamy. Gradually add 1 cup white sugar and beat to stiff, glossy peaks.

  5. Fold the meringue into the batter in two additions until no streaks remain. Divide the batter evenly among the three pans.

  6. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the centers comes out clean. Cool in the pans 10 minutes, then turn out onto racks and cool completely.

  7. Chill the evaporated milk until very cold, then whip it until thick and frothy. In another bowl, beat the softened butter until creamy, add 3/4 cup white sugar and the whipped milk, and beat until light and fluffy.

  8. Place one cake layer on a plate and spread with some macapuno. Repeat with the second layer, then top with the third. Frost the top and sides with the buttercream, and chill 30 minutes before slicing.

By allrecipes. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Milk + vanillatop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together19,175 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Flour + yamtop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together58 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Milk + corntop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together6,953 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

  4. Vanilla + syruptop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together1,855 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Vanilla + corntop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,943 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the yam

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, milk, vanilla, corn, syrup, egg, cream):

  1. Potatobetter flavor fit
  2. Arrowrootbetter flavor fit
  3. Sweet potatobetter flavor fit
  4. Yamthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, milk, vanilla, corn, syrup, egg, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).