Sugar Yam Cupcakes with Sweet Coconut Sport (Ube and Macapuno Cupcakes)

Two of my favorite native Philippine delicacies are halayang ube and macapuno (sweet coconut sport).  These two often go together, which make for a real sugar high. Yum!

Ube is purple yam, which can be bought grated and frozen in most Asian stores.  I don’t know for sure if sugar yam and purple yam are one and the same but I’ve been using fresh sugar yams to make halayang ube since I discovered them.

After my Sweet Potato Cupcakes success, I thought of using the same recipe to make Sugar Yam Cupcakes.  I simply substituted the sweet potatoes with sugar yams.  I thought it would be an injustice of sorts if I didn’t pair the cupcakes with macapuno so I bought 2 small jars each of macapuno strings and macapuno balls at the Asian supermarket.

This, being my first batch of made from scratch sugar yam cupcakes (I made ube cake last year using boxed cake mix. :D), I didn’t use any food color, either on the cupcakes or the Italian meringue buttercream icing.  I wanted to see how they will come out without any tampering on my part. This was how the freshly baked cupcakes looked like…

The cupcakes looked like they couldn’t decide if they wanted to come out purple or blue or green.  I can almost guarantee you that you will not get your dream perfect purple color sans food color.  Whether you’re making putong ube (purple yam rice cakes), halayang ube or ube cake, you will most likely need food color for the perfect purple.  At least, you probably won’t have to use as much food color as you would with red velvet cupcakes, which I hope to make one day, after I get over the amount of red folor that goes into them.

I topped half the cupcakes with macapuno strings, while the other half, I topped with macapuno balls.

Topping the cupcakes with only one ball of macapuno was a bad idea, in that we were left craving for more macapuno balls.  Next time, I will have to put more macapuno balls on the cupcakes.  Hee hee.

Here’s the recipe:

INGREDIENTS:

2 C all-purpose flour

2 t baking powder

1 t ground cinnamon

1/2 t baking soda

1/4 t salt

1 C butter, softened

1 1/2 C sugar

3 eggs

2 C mashed boiled sugar/purple yam

1/2 t vanilla

1 recipe Italian Meringue Buttercream

DIRECTIONS:

1.  Preheat oven to 350F.  Line 2 12-cavity muffin pans with baking cups.  Set aside.

2.  Combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl.  Stir to mix; set aside.

3.  In a large bowl, beat the butter with an electric mixer on medium speed for approximately 30 seconds.  Slowly add sugar and beat on high speed until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes).  Add eggs, one at a time, beating on slow speed after each addition until combined.  Add the sugar/purple yam and vanilla, beating until combined.  Add flour mixture and beat until combined.

4.  Scoop batter into muffin pans and bake for about 20 minutes or until a tester/wooden toothpick inserted near the center of the cupcakes comes out clean.  Allow cupcakes to cool in muffin pans for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.

5.  Enjoy the cupcakes without frosting or pipe Italian Meringue Buttercream on the cupcakes for that added oomph. ;)

ITALIAN MERINGUE BUTTERCREAM

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/4 cups sugar

5 large egg whites

Pinch of cream of tartar

1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a small saucepan over medium heat, bring sugar and 2/3 cup water to a boil. Continue boiling until syrup reaches 238 F on a candy thermometer (soft-ball stage).

2. Meanwhile, place egg whites in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, and beat on low speed until foamy. Add cream of tartar, and beat on medium-high speed until stiff but not dry; do not overbeat.

3. With mixer running, add syrup to whites in a stream, beating on high speed until no longer steaming, about 3 minutes. Add butter bit by bit, beating until spreadable, 3 to 5 minutes; beat in vanilla. If icing curdles, keep beating until smooth.  Set aside.

I’m thinking of making these for Halloween.  I’ll add some purple food color to both the cake batter and the frosting.  What do you think about adding black food color to the macapuno?  Will that work?  I’ll do a test on a small amount of macapuno first.

I’m trying to snap out of a lazy spell. I’ll be working my stand mixer hard this weekend and because I have yet to get a 2nd mixing bowl for the mixer, my non-Hansgrohe faucet will be working hard as well, what with all the washing I’ll be doing.

Mabuhay, y’all!