What purple yam jam is a main ingredient in ube cheesecake?

Ube halaya is a main ingredient in ube cheesecake.

Ube halaya is a Filipino dessert made from boiled and mashed purple yam, usually Dioscorea alata. The yam is cooked with ingredients such as butter, sugar and condensed milk or coconut milk until it becomes a thick, spreadable jam.

In ube cheesecake, it is blended with cream cheese to create the filling’s vivid purple color and distinctive earthy-sweet flavor. The cheesecake commonly sits on a base of crushed graham crackers, though digestive biscuits, broas or other cookie bases can also be used.

Ube halaya is not the same as taro purée, purple sweet potato or leche flan. It is also used in halo-halo, ube ice cream and Filipino cakes. Some cheesecakes use ube flavoring or coloring, but traditional ube cheesecake gets its defining ingredient from the purple-yam preserve.