This week’s Baked Sunday Mornings project is the Gonzo Cake, made with ube (purple yam powder) – or sweet potatoes, but it’s more fun and interesting with ube.

The cake is in honor of Hunter S. Thompson (born July 18, 1937), who popularized gonzo journalism. Then why purple? Because of Gonzo the Muppet, of course. At the bakery, the cake is marketed as a purple velvet cake – so of course, there’s a decadent cream cheese frosting to top it off.

I made this as a three-layer cake during recipe testing for the book, so this time I made cupcakes, which are a bit easier to take to work. This cake is really fun as cupcakes! The recipe is perfect for 24 cupcakes with just the right amount of (delicious) frosting.

Ube can easily be found online, but there happens to be a Filipino grocery in my neighborhood – so it was no problem to source. One of my coworkers is married to a Filipino, and she loved the cake. She told me that I win the prize for “the best ube-based dessert made by a white person”. Ha.

Even if you don’t make the cake, the cream cheese frosting is something to keep in mind for other projects – it’s just about perfect, if you ask me.

For the recipe and to see how the other Baked Sunday Mornings bakers fared, head over to Baked Sunday Mornings.

• Gonzo Cake (Baked Occasions, p. 146)