Ube Ice-Cream

This ube ice-cream is a classic Filipino ice-cream flavour made from purple yam is smooth, creamy and delicious!

Jump to:

• What is ube?
• Ube substitutes
• Tips to make perfect ice-cream
• Let's Get Cooking!
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

What is ube?

If you aren't familiar with ube, it is a purple root vegetable originating in the Philippines. It has a sweet, slightly nutty, vanilla-y taste and is commonly used in desserts.

Ube is often made into a jam in order to be used in desserts. The jam is called ube halaya and is prepared by cooking ube, sugar and dairy together. This can be eaten as it is, but it is most commonly used to create other sweet treats like this ube ice-cream!

Ube halaya can be readily found in Filipino supermarkets and some Asian stores, otherwise it's widely available online too! If you are unable to find ube halaya you can also use fresh or frozen ube and prepare the jam yourself. There are heaps of recipes online for ube halaya so you won't have any trouble finding your way around.

Ube substitutes

Ube is similar to a couple of other root vegetables such as purple sweet potato and taro. They are all purple root vegetables, but the flavour between them is slightly different. Colour wise taro is a lot paler than both ube and purple sweet potatoes, but equally as delicious.

Feel free to play around with the ice-cream base, you are able to replace the ube halaya with grated ube, sweet potato or taro. If you do replace the ube halaya, make sure you add extra sugar to the ice-cream base as it won't be as sweet.

If you don't have access to any of these, but do have ube extract, then add ½ teaspoon extract. As the extract is very concentrated you will still get a prominent ube flavour and a deep purple colour!

Tips to make perfect ice-cream

Here are a couple of tips to keep in mind to create a silky smooth ice-cream from your home!

• Use a stabiliser

There are a lot of different kinds of ice-cream stabilisers available on the market now, but I find xantham gum works the best. Xantham gum helps prevent the formation of large ice-crystals in your ice-cream, giving it a creamier texture and smoother mouthfeel. You don't need a lot for it to work is magic. If you add too much it can add a chewy texture to your ice-cream, so make sure you stick to the amount stated in the recipe.

If you don't have xantham gum or can't find it, tapioca starch is a great alternative. Tapioca starch is widely available in supermarkets, so you won't have any problems sourcing it for your ice-cream. Tapioca starch works in a similar way to xantham gum, but its properties aren't as strong.

• Chill your ice-cream base

It's important to chill your base completely before churning. This helps the ice-cream form evenly as it churns, creating perfect ice-cream.

• Freeze your ice-cream after churning

After the ice-cream has churned you'll notice that it has a soft serve consistency. While it is edible I highly recommend transferring it to an airtight container and placing it in the freezer to set up for a couple of hours. This process results in ice-cream with a texture better than anything store-bought.

Let's Get Cooking!

The lightly sweet and vanilla-y flavour of ube is perfect for ice-cream and if you haven't tried it yet you'll fall in love it after this.

If you liked this recipe make sure to leave me a comment and rating down below, I would love to know how you went.

Also, don't forget to tag me on Instagram @catherine.desserts and hashtag #cattycakes so I can see and share your desserts. Follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, Youtube, and TikTok for more of my baking creations and updates! Until next time... happy caking!

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