Filipino Desserts Reimagined: Ube, Champorado; Tropical Flavours

Filipino desserts are colourful, comforting and full of character. From the deep chocolate flavour of champorado to vibrant purple ube and creamy coconut-based treats, they reflect the Philippines' love of bold flavours and food made for sharing.

At Siocolat, Filipino and Southeast Asian flavours are at the heart of what we do. We take inspiration from traditional favourites and give them a modern Siocolat twist, with plant-based ingredients and no-added-sugar options designed for today's tastes.

Whether you grew up with these flavours or are discovering Filipino food for the first time, here are some of the desserts and ingredients worth knowing.

What Makes Filipino Desserts Special?

Dessert in the Philippines isn't reserved for the end of a meal.

Sweet dishes are enjoyed at celebrations, family gatherings and during merienda — the much-loved Filipino tradition of having a snack between meals.

Filipino desserts often feature ingredients that may be less familiar to UK shoppers, including:

- Ube or purple yam

- Sticky rice

- Cacao

- Coconut

- Mango

- Pandan

- Cassava

These ingredients create an enormous variety of colours, textures and flavours, from chewy rice cakes and creamy puddings to chocolate rice porridge and brightly coloured ube desserts.

Champorado: Filipino Chocolate Rice Porridge

One of the ultimate Filipino comfort foods is champorado.

Champorado is a chocolate rice porridge traditionally made by cooking sticky rice with cacao or cocoa and sweetening it to taste. It's usually served warm and is particularly associated with breakfast and merienda.

For many Filipinos, champorado is also wonderfully nostalgic — the kind of food associated with home, family and rainy mornings.

The Siocolat Twist

Siocolat's Vegan Friendly No Added Sugar Chocolate Rice Porridge takes inspiration from traditional champorado while offering a convenient plant-based version.

Cacao provides its characteristic chocolate flavour, while coconut complements the creamy rice base.

Serve it warm on its own or customise your bowl with a splash of plant-based milk, sliced banana, berries, coconut flakes or chopped nuts.

And if you want the truly traditional Filipino experience, champorado is famously eaten with tuyo, a salty dried fish. Chocolate and fish may sound surprising, but the sweet-and-salty contrast is a Filipino classic.

Ube: The Famous Purple Yam

Few Filipino ingredients are as instantly recognisable as ube.

Ube is a purple yam (Dioscorea alata) traditionally used in Filipino sweets and desserts. Its striking violet colour and gently sweet, slightly nutty flavour have helped it become increasingly popular outside the Philippines.

In Filipino cuisine, you'll find ube in everything from cakes and ice cream to ube halaya, a traditional purple yam preserve.

Today, it's also appearing in contemporary creations such as ube lattes, cookies, pastries and drinks.

Ube Meets Modern Café Culture

One of our favourite ways to introduce people to ube is through an Ube Latte.

The naturally distinctive flavour of ube pairs beautifully with creamy ingredients and makes a colourful alternative to more familiar café drinks.

It can be enjoyed warm for a comforting drink or poured over ice for something refreshing.

Ube also pairs particularly well with other Asian-inspired flavours, including coconut and matcha.

That's what makes it such an exciting ingredient for Siocolat: it's deeply connected to Filipino food culture while offering enormous possibilities for new creations.

Mango Sticky Rice: A Tropical Favourite

Sticky rice and mango is another combination that captures the flavours of Southeast Asia.

Soft sticky rice, creamy coconut and fragrant ripe mango create a wonderful contrast of texture and flavour.

Siocolat's Vegan Friendly No Added Sugar Mango Sticky Rice Mix takes inspiration from this much-loved combination and provides a convenient way to prepare it at home.

Serve it as a dessert, an afternoon treat or as part of a Southeast Asian-inspired meal.

Why Coconut Appears in So Many Filipino Desserts

Coconut is fundamental to cooking across the Philippines.

Depending on the recipe, coconut milk, coconut cream, grated coconut or toasted coconut may be used to create richness, aroma and texture.

It's particularly good alongside cacao, sticky rice, mango and ube — which explains why it appears so frequently in both traditional Filipino desserts and Siocolat creations.

Using coconut-based ingredients also allows us to create creamy flavours while keeping many of our own products plant-based.

Traditional Inspiration, Modern Siocolat

We don't want to replace traditional Filipino desserts.

They're part of a rich food culture that deserves to be celebrated.

Instead, Siocolat takes inspiration from familiar flavours and presents them in new ways for people who want convenient, vegan-friendly and no-added-sugar options.

That might mean turning ube into a colourful latte, creating an easy-to-prepare version of champorado or bringing together cacao, coconut, matcha and other Asian-inspired flavours in unexpected combinations.

Filipino Flavours to Discover

If you're new to Filipino desserts, these are some wonderful flavours and dishes to explore:

Champorado — chocolate sticky rice porridge traditionally enjoyed for breakfast or merienda.

Ube — purple yam used in cakes, ice cream, halaya, pastries and modern drinks.

Ube Halaya — a rich purple yam preserve that's also used as an ingredient in many desserts.

Bibingka — a traditional Filipino rice cake particularly associated with the Christmas season.

Puto — soft steamed rice cakes available in many variations.

Cassava Cake — a dense, chewy dessert traditionally made with grated cassava and coconut.

Leche Flan — the Filipino version of crème caramel, famous for its rich custard texture.

Halo-Halo — perhaps the most colourful Filipino dessert of all, combining shaved ice with an assortment of sweet ingredients and toppings.

There's an extraordinary amount to discover beyond the dishes most commonly found in the UK.

Bringing Filipino Flavours to the UK

For Filipinos living abroad, food can provide an immediate connection to home.

For everyone else, it can be an introduction to an entirely new food culture.

That's part of the inspiration behind Siocolat.

We want more people in the UK to discover flavours such as ube, cacao, coconut and Filipino-style chocolate rice porridge, while creating products that feel contemporary and easy to enjoy.

Some will recognise these flavours from childhood.

Others might encounter ube for the first time through a purple latte.

Both are welcome at our table.

Discover Siocolat

Explore Siocolat's growing collection of Filipino and Southeast Asian-inspired food and drinks, including Ube Latte, Chocolate Rice Porridge, Matcha creations and our signature Hot Chocolate.

Traditional inspiration. Modern flavours. No added sugar.