12 Creative Ways To Use Ube Powder That Aren't Just For Coffee

If you've noticed a surge of purple-hued pastries, cakes, and drinks, it's likely that you've come across ube. The bright-purple yam — known for its delicate sweetness and striking color — has become a popular ingredient in baked goods, cocktails, and various desserts. Meanwhile, ube lattes are becoming the trendy thing to order from cafes, as the purple hue takes over coffees and bubble teas. 

Indigenous to the Philippines, ube has been used in the country's recipes for thousands of years. One of the most traditional dishes to feature the ingredient is ube halaya, an unctuous, pudding-like dessert, but in modern Filipino cooking, ube is used in all kinds of cakes and after-dinner treats. Now that it's gone global, there are all sorts of ube creations taking cafes and bakeries by storm. Ube's flavor isn't the easiest to describe, but it sits somewhere between vanilla and mild coconut, and has a slight nuttiness.

I'm a culinarily trained food business owner, and I've been making gourmet desserts and other baked goods for my clients for the past eight years. As a huge fan of ube who uses it regularly in my work, I'm so glad that I can easily find ube powder these days. Fresh ube is not an ingredient you can easily find outside of Southeast Asia, although you can get lucky and find it in Asian grocery stores. Thankfully, the powdered form is easy to use and imparts a subtle flavor. Plus, the color is so fun to work with! If you've got some on your hands and want to explore more ways to use it beyond making a purple latte, read on.

A key reason that more people around the world are able to bake with ube these days is thanks to the accessibility of ube extract and powder. Ube powder has the added benefit of being very straightforward to work with — especially compared to how laborious it can be to work with fresh ube — and adding it to cakes is one of the simplest ways to bake with it. It's a dry powder, so you can simply mix it into your other dry ingredients when making cake batter.

Ube powder gives cake a vivid violet hue, which makes for an extremely eye-catching dessert. It's a superb way to upgrade a plain sponge into something a little more impressive. While the ube taste can be a little bit subtle in a cake, I find it still delivers an earthy undertone that enhances vanilla flavors. I've also found it to be delicious in a coffee cake, which isn't really a surprise considering how popular it is in lattes. For a standard 8-inch cake, I find two to three tablespoons of ube powder to be the ideal amount. Pair your cake with cream cheese frosting and you have yourself a purple velvet cake.

Ube powder doesn't just work in baked goods; it's also a great addition to ice cream. Generally, the powder is made from ube that's been cooked, dried, and ground, so it often needs to be reconstituted into a paste with liquid for wet applications. Because ube is a starch, the rehydrated paste may have a starchy texture, which can affect the mouthfeel of silky-smooth desserts like crème brûlée or custard. However, I've found that it works great in ice cream. The neutral base of cream lets the nutty ube flavor really shine, and I actually prefer the slight "bite" it gives the treat. The appropriate amounts of water and powder depend on what you're making and how much of it you're making, but a ratio of 1:1.5 powder to liquid is a good place to start.

For my easiest three-ingredient recipe, I use ube powder, condensed milk, and heavy cream. I start by mixing half a cup of ube powder with 3/4 cup of hot water, whisking it into a paste, then adding one 14-fluid-ounce can of condensed milk. Next, I whip 2 cups of cream until light and airy before folding in the purple condensed milk mixture, making sure everything is well combined. You can freeze this immediately to make no-churn ice cream or add it to your ice cream maker.

The grainy texture of reconstituted ube powder is actually great for making cookies. In my experience, ube powder can even enhance the texture of chewy cookies by making them fudgier. And if you like making edible cookie dough, ube powder is a no-brainer. It's a ready-to-eat ingredient that's already been cooked, and it will improve both the flavor and the texture. Of course, it also alters the appearance, creating striking, purple, Instagram-worthy cookie dough. 

Naturally, the more ube powder you add to your cookie dough, the darker purple it will be, and the stronger the ube flavor will become. Always start with a small amount and adjust to taste, as you can always add more if needed. If you're baking your dough into cookies, you will still need to rehydrate the ube powder with water and then mix the resulting paste into your creamed butter and sugar mixture. Then you can proceed with your cookie recipe as usual. I like to make ube cookies with white chocolate chips, as I find the flavors and colors are a better match than those of milk or dark chocolate. 

We already know that ube powder works well in a coffee-based latte, but its flavor also works great with matcha. The ube mellows out the grassier notes in matcha while adding a natural sweetness. Plus, you can imagine just how gorgeous your cup will look with a milky purple base topped with a green matcha shot — it's unlikely you'll find a more aesthetically interesting latte this summer.

Whether you're vegan, can't eat dairy, or just love a creamy coconut milk-based drink, you should try out this recipe for an iced ube matcha latte. It just needs some slight adjustments, as we're using ube powder instead of extract. First, mix the powder with water to form a paste. You'll find that this process is pretty similar to making a matcha shot, and you can even use a matcha whisk to make your ube paste. Combine the paste with the coconut milk, and then proceed to follow the rest of the recipe above. If you don't like your drink tasting too sugary, you can skip the maple syrup, as both the ube powder and coconut milk have a mild sweetness.

You may be thinking that ube only belongs in the types of drinks you'd find in a cafe, but it can be a delicious addition to cocktails, too. It would be a shame not to pair that nutty ube powder with a creamy cocktail — a piña colada immediately comes to mind. Ube and coconut are a match made in heaven, plus the tropical hit of pineapple will bring a zingy freshness to balance the starchy ube. And let's not forget the delightful pop of purple it will add to your drink.

Simply mix about one tablespoon of ube powder with one and a half tablespoons of water to create a paste to shake with the rest of your cocktail ingredients. If you like making frozen piña coladas, then throw in some extra ice cubes — the more, the slushier. Garnish the glass with a pineapple wedge and a dusting of ube powder for an eye-catching finish.

Brownies are another baked good that get a textural boost from ube powder. They should already have a fudgy bite to them, but because of the grainy ube's starchiness, adding some paste will maximize your brownies' fudginess. In fact, I find the starchy nature of genuine ube powder works better texturally than ube extract and comes a close second to the real thing — just be careful not to overuse it, or it may dry out your batter. We've already seen brownies made with zucchini, black beans, and sweet potato, so it makes sense that a sweet tuber like ube also works well as an ingredient.

However, if you want your brownies to come out purple, you will need to make white chocolate brownies or blondies, rather than using cocoa powder, milk chocolate, or dark chocolate (as most recipes call for). You can even use the ube paste to create a purple swirl in your batter for a visually stunning sweet treat. That said, if you don't care about changing the color of your brownies, you can just add reconstituted ube powder to your favorite recipe. If you're unsure of how much to use, start with a quarter cup for a 20x20cm brownie pan. 

Ube powder is a great addition to cake batter, so why not double up and make ube frosting to go with it? Not only will it bolster the ube flavor, but you'll end up with two vibrant tones of purple in your finished cake. Ube frosting pairs well with vanilla and chocolate cake, too. 

While ube powder should work with most kinds of frosting, I find that a denser type — like buttercream — is more effective at masking the gritty texture of the ube powder once it's been rehydrated. It's super simple to make — just mix your reconstituted ube paste into the butter and sugar as you're creaming them. You'll see the buttercream turn from cream-colored with purple swirls to completely purple once everything's been fully combined. For a standard batch of frosting (around two and a half cups), I recommend using two tablespoons of ube powder. Depending on the recipe, the frosting can become quite dense once the powder has been added — my trick is to add a tablespoon or two of dairy milk or coconut milk. This will help loosen up the frosting, giving it a glossier sheen and making it easier to pipe.

You may be a traditionalist when it comes to making sweet potato pie, but you'll be missing out if you don't try an ube-enhanced version of the classic dessert. Ube sweet potato pie has all the flavor of the original recipe, but with an added hint of nutty sweetness and a glorious pop of purple.

Now, it would be most ideal to make this entirely using fresh ube instead of regular sweet potatoes, but a combination of ube powder and sweet potatoes is the next best thing. You can use any kind of sweet potato, but the purple variety will make the color of your pie much brighter. Start by making an ube puree. Reconstitute one cup of ube powder with one and a half cups of water and cook the mixture on the stove for about ten minutes using a low heat. Then, stir the puree into your sweet potato filling mixture before baking.

You can also use ube extract to amp up the flavor of sweet potato pie. I find the most balanced approach is to use ube powder to make a puree for the filling, and then add a few drops of ube extract to your crust pastry. This results in a more layered and subtle ube flavor that's less likely to taste too overpowering. It also produces a brilliant two-toned purple pie with delicious ube flavor in every bite. For a complementary garnish, top each slice with a dollop of whipped coconut cream.

If you've never heard of halo-halo, I'm jealous that you get to try it for the first time. This marvelous layered dessert is a Filipino classic, composed of layers of shaved ice, condensed milk, various jellies, ice cream, fresh fruit, red bean paste, palm seeds, and more. It's a novel sensory experience in terms of looks, taste, temperature, and texture, and it's the perfect summer dessert. While there isn't only one way to make halo-halo, it commonly features a signature scoop of purple ube ice cream, perched atop the tall glass crammed full of multicolored ingredients.

As I mentioned previously, you can easily make your own ube ice cream with ube powder, but you can also take a significant shortcut by using a blender or ice cream maker to mix two tablespoons of reconstituted ube powder into a quart of ready-made vanilla ice cream. This is easier if you let the ice cream melt a bit first and refreeze it for half an hour before serving. Either of these methods will make ube ice cream worthy of halo-halo. 

You can also make ube jellies. First, use two tablespoons of ube powder and three tablespoons of water to make a reconstituted ube paste. Then, stir in three tablespoons of melted agar agar and a 14oz can of coconut milk, and add the mixture to a deep baking tray. Place the tray in the fridge for 15 minutes to set, then cut the purple jelly into cubes to mix into your halo-halo.

Perhaps the easiest way to use ube powder is to add it to your favorite smoothie recipe. There's no need to rehydrate it, as it's going to be mixed into a liquid, and the blender will combine it fully into the smoothie. 

The recipe combinations are endless — I love adding it to banana and peanut butter smoothies, as the nuttiness of the ube perfectly complements the other ingredients. It's also delicious in a mixed berry smoothie, as it makes the texture slightly creamier, and its coconut notes mellow out the sharpness of the berries. As a general rule, use one tablespoon of ube powder per cup of smoothie.

You could also make a non-alcoholic, smoothie-style ube piña colada that's perfect for cooling down on a hot summer afternoon. Simply blend some frozen pineapple chunks with coconut milk and ube powder for a rich, tropical beverage.

Another deliciously easy way to use ube powder is by mixing it into your pancake batter. The result is fluffy, purple, and mildly sweet pancakes that can be paired with maple syrup, melted butter, sliced bananas, or even ube halaya jam. Just use two tablespoons of ube powder for every cup of flour and fully combine the dry ingredients before adding the wet ones. Then give everything a thorough whisk to smooth out any lumps.

Pancakes are a forgiving dish for adding starchy ingredients like ube because you can make them as dense or runny as you like. If the ube powder makes your pancake mix a little too dense, you can always add more milk until you achieve the desired consistency. These purple pancakes are a huge hit with kids, and the addition of chocolate chips can make them even yummier.

It may sound strange if you've never tried it before, but ube powder can also be mixed into yogurt to make your creamy, tangy breakfast bowl a bit more exciting. The powder will also thicken up the yogurt so it feels a little more substantial and filling. The topping combinations are endless — granola, peanut butter, coconut flakes, almonds, blueberries, sliced peaches, bananas, or even decadent dark chocolate shavings.

Mix two tablespoons of ube powder with three tablespoons of water to form a paste and stir it into one cup of plain yogurt. While you could skip the water and stir the ube powder straight into the yogurt, this tends to create powdery clumps in the yogurt that take a lot of whisking to smooth out.