I had the initial inspiration for this cake when I was visiting my friend, Ann, who lives in Oahu. There was a shrub with these gorgeous purple flowers, and I had the idea to make a cake with that kind of visual inspiration. In light of everything going on in Maui, I felt like it was even more important to bring an appreciation to Hawaiian ingredients, since the islands have so much to offer(I personally have never been to Maui, just Big Island and Oahu, but I would love to go one day, and one way to make sure Maui is still visitable in the future for all of us is to donate to causes like Maui United Way, which is dedicated to helping the island recover from the wildfires that devastated so much of the land). When it came to the flavors of this cake, my first thought was ube, since that was purple. Ube pairs well with coconut, so that was a natural connection there. For the third flavor, that’s where I got a little stuck. Mango would not be a bad idea, but I have already done a cake like that before. Then I figured, since this was honoring my time in Oahu, lilikoi, or passionfruit, made the best sense to round out these three flavors. Ube and coconut are both similarly nutty, while coconut adds a creaminess, so something tart and acidic like passionfruit would contrast and balance those flavors perfectly! When it came to the visuals on this cake, I wanted an almost hombre effect, with yellow fading into white on the exterior, a passionfruit gelee disk on top, and these gorgeous purple florets on the sides of the cake. The idea to do butterfly tuiles came later on, since they added much-needed height and movement to the cake as well, and I am 100% glad I went that route! The cake almost radiates sunshine and joy!

For the components, we have an ube chiffon cake, passionfruit curd gelee, passionfruit and coconut mousses, ube whipped cream, and ube tuiles. For those who have never heard of it before, ube is a purple yam native to the Philippines, but it is also grown in tropical areas(though not in Hawaii). It is a popular flavor for cakes and ice creams in Hawaii, although for this recipe, I opted for just ube extract that has purple food coloring mixed into it as opposed to ube paste. The reason for this being that when I tried to make a chiffon cake with ube paste in the past, the air from the whipped egg whites causes the ube to oxidize and turn brown in the baking process. So to avoid that, ube extract with purple food coloring it is! For the curd gelee, to clarify, we are making a passionfruit curd, similar to a lemon curd, but using passionfruit instead, and we are adding agar to that to solidify it into a gelee. We are doing this so that the curd will be an easy to cut layer that sits on the top of the cake, as well as between the two layers of chiffon cake. With the coconut and passionfruit mousses, I wanted to do an hombre effect with them, so I split the mousses into 2 portions each, and partially mixed some of the coconut and passionfruit from 1 of the portions so that half of my coconut mousse is partially tinted yellow from the passionfruit, and vice versa with half of the passionfruit mousse. I used 5-inch ring molds for the chiffon cakes and curd gelee disks, and a 6-inch ring mold with acetate for the mousse cake itself. The tuiles were baked with a Pavoni butterfly tuile mold, and I used egg white powder since 1 egg white’s worth of tuile batter would make around 100 butterfly tuiles, which would be WAY too many for the size of cake we are making here. You can also use the liquid egg whites, and measure out the equivalent of 1/4 of an egg white(subbing that for the egg white powder + water) as well, if that makes things easier for you!

For the passionfruit curd disks:
Seeds and pulp from 4 passionfruit
2oz passionfruit puree
1oz granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp agar powder
a pinch of salt

In a pot, bring everything to a simmer on low heat, stirring until the sugar and agar are fully dissolved into the puree. Line two 5-inch ring molds with cling wrap and cooking spray and place them onto a sheet tray. Divide the passionfruit liquid between the two ring molds and freeze them solid, at least 1 hour.

For the ube chiffon cake:
2 egg whites
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg yolk
1oz coconut milk
1oz melted coconut oil
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tbsp coconut flour
a pinch of salt
2 drops ube extract

In a bowl, whip the egg whites with sugar to stiff peaks. In another bowl, combine the egg yolk, coconut milk, and melted coconut oil. Sift into the egg yolk mixture your flours, salt, and add in the drops of ube extract – do not mix the flours with the egg yolk yet! Fold into the egg yolk-flour mixture the egg whites to form your batter. Line two 5-inch ring molds with oil and place onto a parchment or silpat-lined baking sheet. Divide the batter among the ring molds. Bake the cakes at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes. Allow the cakes to cool before unmolding.

For the ube milk soak:
2oz coconut milk
1 drop ube extract
a pinch of salt

Mix everything together until combined. Pour the soak over the two cakes, and then transfer them to the freezer – the colder the cakes, the easier it will be for the initial assembly.

For the passionfruit mousse:
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp granulated sugar
a pinch of salt
2oz passionfruit puree
1/2 tsp gelatin powder + 2 tbsp cold water
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup heavy cream, whipped stiff

In a bowl, mix together the egg yolk, sugar, and salt. In a pot, bring passionfruit puree and gelatin + cold water to a simmer. Pour half of the passionfruit puree into the bowl with the egg yolk and whisk. Then transfer all of the egg yolk mixture back into the pot with the passionfruit puree and whisk on low heat for 2-3 minutes. Pass through a sieve and mix in the vanilla extract. Allow the passionfruit-egg yolk mix to cool down to room temperature and fold in the heavy cream to form your mousse. Divide the mousse into two portions.

For the coconut mousse:
3oz coconut milk
1 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp gelatin powder + 2 tbsp cold water
1 tbsp granulated sugar
a pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup heavy cream, whipped stiff

In a pot, bring coconut milk, cornstarch, gelatin + cold water, sugar, and salt to a simmer while whisking constantly. Once the coconut milk has thickened enough to cling to the sides of the whisk, pass through a sieve and mix in the vanilla extract. Allow the coconut milk mix to cool down to room temperature and fold in the heavy cream to form your mousse. Divide the mousse into two portions.

For initial assembly:
To start, take one portion each of your coconut and passionfruit mousses. Remove 2 tbsp of the passionfruit mousse and 2 tbsp of the coconut mousse, and then mix the 2tbsp of the passionfruit into the coconut and vice versa – you want an hombre effect between the two portions of mousses, so doing this will tint one portion of the coconut mousse slightly more yellow, and one portion of the passionfruit mousse slightly more white. Transfer all four portions of the mousses into four piping bags.

Line a 6-inch ring mold with cling wrap, cooking spray, and a 3-inch acetate collar and place onto a lined sheet tray. Place down one disk of the passionfruit curd first. Then pipe around that disk the entire piping bag containing the un-tinted passionfruit mousse, using a bent spoon to flatten out the mousse into a neat, clean layer. Then press in one of the rounds of cake. Then pipe around that the tinted passionfruit mousse and flatten the mousse with a bent spoon again. Place down the second disk of curd, and the cake, and then pipe in the tinted coconut mousse, and the un-tinted coconut mousse, using a bent spoon to flatten the mousse again. Freeze the cake solid, at least 2 hours, before attempting to unmold the cake.

For the ube whip:
2oz heavy cream
1 tsp confectioner’s sugar
a pinch of salt
1 drop ube extract

In a bowl, whip cream, sugar, and salt to soft peaks. Divide the cream into two portions and whip one portion to stiff peaks. With the other, add in the ube extract and then whisk to soft peaks. Place both creams into a piping bag with a flower tip and pipe the flowers either directly onto the unmolded cake, or onto parchment first, then freeze them for 2 hours before transferring onto the cake.

For the ube tuiles:
1/4 tsp egg white powder
1 tbsp cold water
1 drop ube extract
1 tbsp all-purpose flour
2g melted coconut oil
1 tsp granulated sugar
a pinch of salt

In a bowl, mix everything together until combined into a batter. Spread half of the batter across Pavoni silicone butterfly molds and bake at 325 degrees F for 10 minutes. While the tuiles are still warm, partially fold each one so that they resemble a butterfly with folded back wings. Store the tuiles in an airtight container until time to garnish the cake with.