Crème brûlée is a dessert of contrasts: a cold, smooth cream under a sheet of burning caramel that cracks under the spoon. Ube crème brûlée adds a third contrast, this one visual: under the golden disc appears a deep, natural purple that never fails to surprise people at the table. It is probably the easiest dessert to get right in the whole purple repertoire, and one of the most spectacular.
Technically, nothing changes compared with a classic crème brûlée: egg yolks, cream, sugar, gentle baking in the oven. The ube powder slots in as an extra aroma, with a vanilla-hazelnut nuance that pairs naturally with caramel. Two points need attention: rehydrating the powder, and the baking temperature, which governs both the texture and how well the colour holds. This page gives the gram-by-gram proportions, the step-by-step method, the coconut and vanilla variations, and the six mistakes behind most failures.
The ingredient in this recipe: Ube Powder Nature 200 g — 16.90 €. 100 % Kinampay ube from the Visayas, with no additives, no colourings and no added sugar, packed in Aix-en-Provence and shipped within 72 h. One 200 g pouch covers about ten batches of six ramekins. If the ingredient is new to you, our ube powder buying guide compares the sizes and the price per gram.
Why ube works so well in crème brûlée
A crème brûlée is a very rich mixture that is barely sweetened underneath — all the sugar is concentrated in the crust. That neutral base leaves room for a discreet aroma, which is exactly ube's register: where chocolate or coffee would crush the caramel, the purple tuber brings a soft, slightly vanilla note, with a finish that suggests hazelnut and chestnut.
The fat also plays a technical role. Ube powder contains starch, which tends to give a floury sensation in low-fat preparations. In a cream with 35 % fat, that starch is coated and becomes an ally instead: it thickens the mixture slightly and makes the cream more velvety, fuller on the palate than a plain crème brûlée. It is the same logic as in ube flan, where the richness of the leche flan absorbs the tuber's starch.
That leaves the colour. The purple comes from no colouring at all: it is the anthocyanins naturally present in purple yam. These pigments are sensitive to heat and to pH, which explains some of the disappointments detailed below. Our page on the natural purple colour of ube sets out the mechanism.
Ingredients (6 ramekins)
- 25 g of Ubedia Nature ube powder (about 3 level tablespoons)
- 80 ml of very hot full-fat single cream (80 °C, never boiling) — for the rehydration
- 420 ml of full-fat single cream (30 to 35 % fat)
- 100 ml of whole milk
- 6 egg yolks (at room temperature)
- 70 g of caster sugar for the custard
- 1 vanilla pod or 1 teaspoon of extract
- 1 pinch of fine salt
- 60 g of soft brown sugar or demerara for the crust (about 10 g per ramekin)
Three notes on the quantities. Full-fat cream is compulsory: a low-fat cream will not set and releases water as it bakes. The 25 g of powder give a clean purple and a distinct aroma without dominating the caramel; you can go up to 35 g for a more intense version, adding 25 ml of extra cream to make up for the absorption. Finally, keep the egg whites for ube macarons or an ube mousse.
Preparation time and servings
- Preparation: 20 minutes
- Baking: 40 to 50 minutes at 100 °C
- Chilling: 4 hours minimum, ideally overnight
- Caramelising: 3 minutes
- Total time: 5 hr 15 min (including 4 hr of refrigeration)
- Yield: 6 ramekins
- Difficulty: easy
The recipe step by step
- Rehydrate the ube powder (5 min + 10 min resting). Pour the 25 g of powder into a bowl and add the 80 ml of hot cream in three goes, whisking vigorously between each addition. You end up with a smooth, glossy paste with no lumps. Let it swell for 10 minutes: the colour shifts from a greyish mauve to a clear purple. Let it cool to lukewarm before going on.
- Infuse the cream (10 min). In a saucepan, bring the 420 ml of cream and the 100 ml of milk to a simmer with the vanilla pod split and scraped. Turn off the heat at the first bubbles, cover and leave to infuse for 10 minutes off the heat.
- Whisk the yolks pale (3 min). Whisk the yolks with the 70 g of sugar and the salt, without overdoing it. The aim is to dissolve the sugar, not to aerate the mixture: every trapped bubble will become a crater on the surface of the baked custard.
- Combine. Pour the infused cream over the yolks in a thin stream, stirring with a spatula. Then stir in the lukewarm ube paste. The whole thing turns an even, slightly greyish purple — it will deepen in the fridge.
- Strain. Pass the mixture through a fine sieve to remove the pod, the chalazae and any remaining ube grains. Skim the foam off the surface with a spoon: that is what gives a perfectly flat surface, essential for an even crust.
- Divide and bake at 100 °C for 40 to 50 minutes. Fill the ramekins three-quarters full. Unlike flan, crème brûlée is not baked in a water bath: at 100 °C a fan oven is enough, and having no water avoids splashes. The custard is done when the edges are set and the centre still wobbles clearly at the slightest movement of the tray.
- Cool, then chill for at least 4 hours. Let them cool to room temperature, then wrap in contact with the surface and place in the fridge. A full night gives a distinctly better result: the custard firms up and the ube aroma melts into the vanilla.
- Caramelise at the last moment. Sprinkle 10 g of brown sugar per ramekin in a thin, even layer — tilt the ramekin and roll the sugar around to cover the whole surface, then tip out the excess. Move the blowtorch in circles until you have an amber crust. Serve within five minutes, while the hot-cold contrast is at its greatest.
To adjust the intensity of the purple to your taste, our guide to ube powder dosage gives the benchmarks recipe by recipe.
Why bake at 100 °C and not at 150 °C
Most French recipes call for 150 °C in a water bath. That works, but it is a compromise inherited from imprecise ovens. At a low temperature, two things clearly improve.
First the texture. The proteins in the yolks coagulate between 65 and 70 °C. The hotter the oven, the narrower the gap between setting and overcooking, and the higher the risk of a grainy custard. At 100 °C the temperature rises slowly and the baking window widens to a good ten minutes: the custard is far harder to ruin.
Then the colour. Anthocyanins break down under prolonged or intense heat and turn brown-grey. Gentle baking preserves the purple. It is the same reason why the powder is rehydrated at 80 °C and never with boiling water.
The 6 mistakes that ruin ube crème brûlée
1. Adding the ube powder dry to cold cream. This is mistake number one, across every dessert. Thrown in dry, the powder stays as micro-grains that straining does not fully catch: the custard feels gritty and the colour stays dull. Always rehydrate separately, in a hot liquid, in three goes.
2. Using low-fat cream. Below 30 % fat, the ube starch is no longer coated and the custard turns floury, as well as releasing water. Full-fat cream, no exceptions.
3. Whisking the yolks too hard. A frothy mixture gives a surface riddled with bubbles, impossible to caramelise cleanly. Hand whisk, short movements, and systematic skimming before it goes in the oven.
4. Baking too hot or too long. A crème brûlée that no longer wobbles at all when it comes out of the oven is already overcooked: it carries on setting as it cools. Take it out while the centre is still moving.
5. Caramelising in advance. Melted sugar absorbs moisture from the custard and turns syrupy again within about twenty minutes. The crust is made as you serve, never before.
6. Using too much brown sugar. A thick layer melts badly, burns on top and stays sandy underneath. Ten grams per ramekin, spread thinly, is plenty.
Variations
Coconut version
Replace 150 ml of the cream with full-fat coconut milk. Ube and coconut is the Filipino pairing par excellence, the one found in almost every dessert of the archipelago. Our Ube Coconut Powder 100 g — 15.90 € gives the same profile without changing the hydration of the recipe.
Extra-vanilla version
The Ube Vanilla Powder 100 g — 15.90 € replaces the plain powder and the pod: the aroma is rounder, more of a childhood dessert, and the preparation saves five minutes.
In glasses, without an oven
For a quick version, replace the baking with gelatine setting (3 g for 600 ml) and pour into glasses. The result then comes close to our ube panna cotta, with a crust caramelised with a blowtorch just before serving.
Without a blowtorch
Put the ramekins under the oven grill, very close to the element, for 2 to 3 minutes, watching without a break. Set them beforehand in a dish filled with ice cubes so the custard does not warm up.
Gluten-free version
The recipe contains no flour at all: it is naturally gluten-free. See our page on gluten-free ube powder.
Storage
Uncaramelised custards keep for 3 days in the fridge, wrapped in contact with the surface. They even gain in firmness after 24 hours — this is a dessert best made the day before. Once the crust is made, crème brûlée does not keep: the caramel softens within about twenty minutes. Freezing is not advised, as defrosting releases water.
As for the raw ingredient, our advice on storing ube powder explains how to preserve the colour and aroma of a pouch once it is open — away from light and moisture, the number one enemy of anthocyanins.
Which ube powder should you choose for a crème brûlée?
Crème brûlée is a bare dessert: no pastry case, no filling, nothing to hide a flaw. Three criteria really matter. The variety first — Kinampay from the Visayas has the reputation of being the most fragrant in the archipelago, and it is the one we work with. Then purity: a 100 % ube powder, with no filler starch and no added flavouring, the only guarantee of a natural purple and a clean taste. And finally the fineness of the grind, decisive here since the whole texture rests on the smoothness of the custard.
- Ube Powder Nature 200 g — 16.90 € — the reference size for baking: around ten batches.
- Ube Powder Nature 100 g — 12.90 € — the trial size, to test before committing.
To compare the whole range, see which size of ube powder to choose, our page on ube powder for baking and the profile of the Ube Kinampay variety.
Frequently asked questions about ube crème brûlée
How much ube powder for 6 ramekins?
25 g give a clean purple and a distinct aroma without dominating the caramel. Go up to 35 g for Filipino-bakery intensity, adding 25 ml of extra cream to make up for the starch absorption.
Why is my custard grey rather than purple?
Either the powder was rehydrated with a liquid that was too hot (above 85 °C), or the baking was too long or too fierce. Anthocyanins are heat-sensitive: turn the oven down to 100 °C and check the temperature of your cream with a thermometer.
My custard is grainy, what happened?
In nine cases out of ten, the powder was not rehydrated separately. Otherwise, the custard went above 85 °C at the centre: the proteins contracted and squeezed out the water. Lower the temperature and take the custards out while the centre is still wobbling.
Can you make ube crème brûlée without a blowtorch?
Yes, under the oven grill, for 2 to 3 minutes, setting the ramekins in a dish filled with ice cubes to protect the custard. The result is slightly less even than with a blowtorch but perfectly satisfying.
Should it be baked in a water bath?
Not at 100 °C. The water bath is there to cap the temperature when the oven is set to 150 °C or more; at a low temperature it becomes pointless and makes handling harder.
Does ube crème brûlée contain colourings?
None. The purple comes entirely from the anthocyanins in the tuber. That is exactly the point of ube powder as a natural colouring in baking.
Can the powder be replaced with fresh ube?
Technically yes, using ube purée, but the hydration of the recipe then has to be reworked entirely and the fresh tuber remains very hard to find in France. Our comparison of fresh ube versus ube powder sets out the practical differences.
What does ube crème brûlée taste like?
A soft, vanilla note, with a hazelnut-chestnut finish, which goes very well with the caramel of the crust. Nothing aggressive or vegetal. Our page on what ube powder tastes like describes the aromatic profile in detail.
Going further
If you enjoyed the crème brûlée, the other purple custards are waiting: ube flan for the Filipino version with caramel, ube panna cotta for a no-oven version, and ube mousse for lightness. The essential ube halaya remains the starting point of all Filipino baking. The full repertoire is gathered on our ube recipes page.
To understand the tuber itself — its origin, its taste and its uses — start with our guide Ube: the ultimate guide to the purple superfood of the Philippines, together with the page on ube powder: origin, dosage and where to buy it.
