Kueh lapis originated from Indonesia, where my mum was born. This is probably the best cake in terms of aroma and taste for me. However, it is also full of egg yolks. For a 20cm by 20cm sqaure cake, it is not uncommon to find recipes that call for 25 egg yolks. This, to me, is kind of expensive and wasteful, since I only use free range eggs.
So, I set out to experiment and derived this combination, which should be the most efficient I have found, without compromising on the taste and aroma while retaining the moist texture.
Kueh Lapis (Efficient Version)
Ingredients
Butter mixture
- 270 g Unsalted butter
- 100 g sugar
- 7 egg yolks
- 1 tsp mixed spice
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 3 Tbsp XO cognac or any kind of brandy
- 100 g Self-raising flour sifted
- 3 Tbsp Condensed milk
Egg white mixture
- 7 egg whites
- 100 g Sugar
- 7 egg yolks
Instructions
Butter mixture
- Make the butter mixture first because it takes longer.
- Cream the butter and sugar until very light and fluffy.
- Add egg yolk one at a time..
- Beat until the mixture is pale
- Add the vanilla essence, brandy, condensed milk
- Fold in the flour
Egg white mixture
- Beat the egg whites until frothy, then add the sugar gradually.
- When it reaches firm peak, add the egg yolks one at a time.
Combining
- Set up the oven on grill mode.
- Combine the butter and egg white mixtures.
Grill
- Take a ladle full of batter and spread evenly on a lined baking pan of size 10 inches x 10 inches.
- Grill for 3 to 5 minutes. Decide how brown you want and record time taken.
- Remove from oven, poke a few holes on the cake, and spread another ladle full. Set the time you took for the first layer to obtain desired colour.
- Repeat this procedure until all the batter is used up.
- Bake it at 180C for another 10 minutes.
How to have an even cake
- The ladle used must be scrapped clean every time.
- The time taken must be consistent for each layer.
