Ube Halaya Babka Dairy Free Recipe (2024)

Ube Halaya Babka

Recipe adapted from Frosting and Fettuccine. This Ube Halaya Babka updates the traditional recipe by using dairy free milk and butter and adding a little Filipino flare with a creamy Ube filling.

Ube Halaya

• ▢ 2 Pounds Frozen or Fresh Grated Ube
• ▢ ½ Cup Simple Mills Vanilla Frosting
• ▢ 2 Cups Ripple Pea Milk
• ▢ ½ Cup Coconut Sugar
• ▢ 1 Tablespoon Vanilla Powder

Babka

• ▢ 2 Teaspoons Dry Active Yeast Red Star Yeast is the best I have used
• ▢ 100 g Ripple Pea Milk
• ▢ 1 Teaspoon Coconut Sugar
• ▢ 1 Egg at Room Temperture
• ▢ 280 g Bread Flour
• ▢ 90 g Miyoko Vegan Butter at Room Temperature

Extras for the Glaze

• ▢ 1-2 Tablespoons Ripple Pea Milk
• ▢ Sprinkles

Make the Ube Halaya

• Put all the ingredients in a food processor and blend until it's smooth. It will be pretty loose at this stage. Transfer to a large sauce pan and stir until it starts getting firm on low heat. This will take about 20 minutes.
  

  Once it starts getting thick transfer to a shallow dish and spread out to cool at room temperature. Cover with some cling wrap and place in the fridge to harden.
  

Make the Babka Dough

• In the bowl of a stand mixer add in the yeast, milk, sugar and egg. Mix well. Add in the bread flour and lightly mix with a wooden spoon until it starts forming little dough balls around the flour.
  

• Add in all the butter and use the dough hook and mix the dough on low until the dough combines.
  

• Increase the speed and mix for about 4-5 minutes until the bowl is clean and the dough starts to form a nice soft ball around the hook. When you hear a slight slapping sound the dough is done.
  

• Grease a new bowl with coconut oil and let the dough rest for an hour. It should double in size.
  

Get the Ube Halaya Filling Ready

• Take half the Ube Halaya that you made and put it in the food processor to nice and smooth. If necessary add more milk to make it spreadable a tablespoon at a time. Set aside and leave at room temperature while the dough is resting.
  

Shape the Babka

• Spray a 9 inch loaf pan with coconut oil and line with some parchment paper.
  

• Punch down the dough and then shape into a square. Using a rolling pin roll out the dough to a 20x12 inch square. Spread the room temperature Ube Halaya all over the dough right to the edges.
  

• Starting at the long end roll into a tight log. Cut the log in half. Spread more of the ube over one log and drape the other log on top. Like in this video.
  

• Place in the prepared loaf pan and leave to rise for up to 2 hours covered with a tea towel.
  

• Pre-Heat oven to 375F and bake for 45 minutes.
  

• You can leave the babka as is, or pour some thinned out Ube Halaya while the babka is still warm and decorate it with some sprinkles.

  Leave to cool the glazed babka in the tin and then take out and let it cool overnight.

  Don’t be tempted to cut it while it’s still warm as it will just be a big glooby mess. Wait until the next morning and enjoy with some tea or coffee.

• You can purchase frozen or fresh Ube from Filipino Grocery Stores like Seafood City. Alternatively you can also order some freeze dried Ube powder from Amazon. Follow the directions to re-hydrate it and then cook as per the instructions in this recipe.
• To make the ube glaze, you might have some left over ube filling, just take the filling and keep adding some milk a teaspoon at a time until you are able to pour it over the babka.