Ube Cheesecake Recipe with Ube Powder

01 // The recipe

Ube cheesecake (one 20 cm / 8-inch cake)

This is a New York-style cheesecake. It's dense without being heavy, and the sour cream gives it a slightly tangy edge. Ube has a mild flavor, so we keep the vanilla small and let the ube lead. Take the cream cheese, sour cream and eggs out of the fridge an hour before you start.

Prep time
30 minutes

Baking time
1 hour 15 minutes

Cooling and chilling
at least 7 hours

Serves
12 slices

Ingredients

Base

180 g digestive biscuits or graham crackers
70 g unsalted butter, melted
15 g (1 tbsp) sugar

Ube paste

30 g Big Moca ube powder (about 3 scoops)
60 ml whole milk, warm

Filling

600 g full-fat cream cheese, at room temperature
150 g caster sugar
10 g (1 tbsp) cornstarch
1/4 tsp fine salt
150 g sour cream, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 large eggs, at room temperature

To serve (optional)

200 ml whipping cream, whipped with 20 g icing sugar
A pinch of ube powder for dusting

Method

Heat the oven and line the tin. Heat the oven to 160°C (320°F) without fan, or 140°C with fan. Line the base of a 20 cm (8-inch) springform tin with baking paper. Put a roasting tin of hot water on the lowest rack; the steam helps keep the top from cracking.
Make the base. Crush the biscuits into fine crumbs and mix them with the melted butter and sugar. Press the crumbs firmly into the tin with the bottom of a glass. Bake for 10 minutes, then let it cool while you make the filling.
Bloom the ube. Whisk the ube powder into the warm milk until smooth and leave it for 10 minutes. The paste thickens and turns a deeper purple as the powder takes up the milk.
Mix the filling. Beat the cream cheese with the sugar, cornstarch and salt on low speed for about a minute, until smooth. Add the ube paste, sour cream and vanilla and mix until the color is even. Add the eggs one at a time and stop mixing as soon as each one has disappeared. Beating adds air, and air is what makes a cheesecake crack.
Bake. Pour the filling onto the base and tap the tin on the counter a few times to bring up air bubbles. Bake for 55 to 65 minutes. It's ready when the edge is set and the middle 5 to 7 cm still wobbles like jelly when you nudge the tin.
Cool slowly. Turn off the oven, prop the door open with a wooden spoon and leave the cheesecake inside for an hour. Run a thin knife around the edge, let it come to room temperature, then refrigerate for at least 6 hours. Overnight is better.
Serve. Release the tin and cut the cheesecake with a knife dipped in hot water and wiped dry. Top it with the whipped cream and a light dusting of ube powder if you like.

Buy ube powder Ube ice cream recipe

Two friends laughing while eating slices of ube cheesecake at a dinner table

Ube cheesecake with a biscuit base

02 // Color and texture

Getting the purple right.

Pure ube powder gives a natural soft purple, not the neon shade you see in cakes made with ube flavoring. We don't add any coloring, so what you see is the yam itself. Blooming the powder in warm milk makes the biggest difference. Dry powder stirred straight into cream cheese stays speckled and tastes a little floury.

The top of a baked cheesecake always comes out paler than the inside, so cut a slice before you judge the color. For a deeper shade, use 40 g of powder with 80 ml of milk. We wouldn't go higher than that, because the filling starts to taste starchy.

Texture is mostly about temperature. Cold cream cheese leaves small lumps that no amount of beating will fix. A hot oven puffs the filling up, and it cracks as it settles again. Bake it low, keep some steam in the oven and let it cool down slowly.

03 // Tips

Tips for a smooth ube cheesecake.

Speculoos biscuits work well instead of digestives if you like a little spice with the ube. Use the same weight.
If you don't have a springform tin, line a 20 cm cake tin with two long strips of baking paper in a cross. Once the cheesecake is cold, you can lift it out by the ends.
A crack on top is only a cosmetic problem. The whipped cream covers it and the cheesecake tastes exactly the same.
Our ube powder is unsweetened, so all the sweetness comes from the sugar in the recipe. Taste the raw filling before the eggs go in and add a spoonful more sugar if you like it sweeter.
Short on oven time? There's a no-bake version in the questions below.

04 // The ube

Start with pure ube powder.

Our ube powder is dried purple yam, ground fine, with nothing added. It comes in 100 g pouches, which is enough for three of these cheesecakes. You can order it on our ube powder product page, or read our guide to buying ube powder first.

New to ube? What is ube? explains where it comes from and how it differs from taro. For other bakes, our guide to baking with ube has the ratios we use for cakes, cookies and batters.

100% pure ube powder

05 // Questions

Ube cheesecake questions.

How much ube powder do I need for an ube cheesecake?

For a 20 cm (8-inch) cheesecake we use 30 g of ube powder, bloomed in 60 ml of warm milk. That gives a soft purple filling with a clear ube flavor. You can go up to 40 g with 80 ml of milk for a deeper color. More than that makes the filling taste starchy.

Why did my ube cheesecake crack?

Most cracks come from beating too much air into the eggs, an oven that runs hot, or cooling the cake too quickly. Mix the eggs in on low speed, bake at 160°C with a tray of hot water below, and let the cheesecake cool in the switched-off oven with the door ajar.

Can I make a no-bake ube cheesecake?

Yes. Bloom 25 g ube powder in 50 ml warm milk and let it cool. Beat it with 500 g cream cheese and 80 g icing sugar, then fold in 250 ml whipping cream (at least 35% fat) whipped to soft peaks. Spread it over the same biscuit base without baking it and chill for at least 6 hours, ideally overnight.

How long does ube cheesecake keep?

Covered, it keeps for 4 days in the fridge. Slices freeze well for up to a month. Wrap them one by one and thaw them overnight in the fridge.

Ube cheesecake
recipe