Ube Biko (Filipino Sticky Rice Cake)

How old were you when you learned that puto bumbong, despite its purple color, is not ube-flavored? Traditionally, it gets its hue from a purple-colored variety of glutinous rice known as pirurutong. But pirurutong tends to cost more than regular malagkit rice, so many puto bumbong vendors resort to artificial purple coloring (like ube extract) to achieve color—not an ube flavor.

The ube in this biko is no accident, and tastes like your expectations out of puto bumbong before you knew the truth. Cooked sticky rice simmers in coconut milk enriched with ube halaya and ube extract, forming a nutty, sweet, and decidedly ube-flavored rice cake. Top your biko with latik as per usual, or take a puto bumbong-inspired route with shredded coconut and grated cheese. Want to push it further? Try thinly sliced leche flan!

Why add ube extract when I’m already using ube halaya?

Ube extract acts as a flavor and color booster for ube halaya. Without extract, you’ll get pale-colored biko with a muted ube flavor that’s barely there.

Here’s why: Ube halaya, or sweetened ube jam, is already cooked and mixed with sugar (and sometimes milk), which mellows its flavor. It’s good on its own, but not so much as an ingredient. Ube halaya doesn’t pack enough ube flavor and color to impart into cooking or baking.

Enter ube extract, which makes up for everything ube halaya lacks. It’s concentrated and intense. With just a small spoonful, you get a bold ube taste and vibrant purple color that might otherwise get lost during cooking or baking. Together with ube halaya, the combination adds that one-two punch of ube you can see and taste.