Ube Cupcakes

That is what cooked ube (ubi or purple yam) looks like. If you think they are a little hairy you should have seen them before they underwent a massive hair loss treatment courtesy of me right before they went to the pot to be boiled. Really, really hairy. It took forever to cook. Hairy ube = not good!

So anyway I made ube cupcakes. The rest I made into a halaya for future use. We originally made this in class as a cake but I didn't want to wait that long and instead pour them into muffin pans lined with cupcake paper.

Ingredients
2 1/2 c. cake flour
1 1/2 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
3 tsp. baking powder
1/2 c. oil
1/2 c. water or ube broth
6 eggs, separated
1/2 tsp. ube flavoring
1/2 tsp. ube coloring
1 c. mashed ube
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar

Procedure
Shift all dry ingredients in to bowl (use only 3/4 sugar), make a well in the center and dump in the liquid ingredients (oil, water, eggyolks and flavoring) and mix well. Add the mashed ube and blend well.

Make a meringue with the eggwhites, cream of tartar, and remaining sugar and fold it into the batter. Pour into a 9x3 pan lined with a wax paper and bake at 350F for 40 minutes or until done.

The ube flavoring can be substitued with vanilla if it's not available. The ube coloring is there because purple yams aren't always purple. I've seen almost white ube before. Omit it at your own preference. I would served cupcakes this with 7 minute frosting and a dollop of halaya on top. The cake I would serve with a ube filling.

Durian Roll

Filipinos believe that serving twelve rounded fruits during the New Year will bring you and your family good luck for the coming year. Well that's not always possible, either because of money constraints - fruit prices skyrockets during this time of year - or simply because of unavailability of the rounded fruits.

Durian is definitely not one of those fruits you'd served during New Year. Not only is it off season, it really smells and has spiky thorns - qualities you wouldn't want adapt for the rest of the coming year. But my father wanted some durian in the table and supply was not an issue so I doctored a Brazo de Mercedes recipe into a Durian Roll.

Ingredietns
1 c. cake flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/4 c. sugar
6 large eggs
1/4 c. water
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar

Procedure
Shift all dry ingredients in to bowl (use only 3/4 sugar), make a well in the center and dump in the liquid ingredients (water, eggyolks and flavoring) and mix well.

Make a meringue with the eggwhites, cream of tartar, and remaining sugar and fold it into the batter. Pour into a 12x16 pan lined with an oiled wax paper and bake at 350F for 15 minutes or until done.

Generously dust a clean towel with sugar. Turn the cake out onto the towel, and peel off the wax paper. Gently roll up the cake using the towel, and let cool. Unroll the cake, spread an even coating of filling onto the top and roll the cake back up into a tight spiral, and remove the towel. Dust with confectioners' sugar before serving. The filling I used was some durian jam mother made a while ago thinned with evaporated milk.