jeudi, novembre 19, 2009

Indonesian Layer Cake (Kueh Lapis)

Indonesian Layer Cake

It is Baby Boy's turn to have fever today. Now I have 2 kids at home and had to cancel today's Grade 1 lunch. Can only cross the fingers that the Teenager doesn't catch the fever as he will be going to Munich next week.

Baby Boy loves Kueh Lapis, so I've decided to bake him one today when he's feeling miserable - from not being with his friends and from having to endure the suppositories for the fever. I felt quite queasy whenever I gave him a suppository, couldn't help thinking of how horrible it must be for those children who were sexually abused. I do not know about other children, but mine really hate having the suppository stuffed into their rectums. But they do not know how to swallow a pill and dislike swallowing syrup either. Meanwhile, I find the suppositories quite effective in reducing fever quickly.

Kueh Lapis :

10 Egg yolks
190g Sugar
1 Tsp Vanilla essence
220g Butter (softened at room temperature and beaten)
1 Tbsp Brandy or Rum
2 Tbsp sweetened Condensed Milk
130g plain Flour to sift together with
1 Tsp Mixed Spice (ground cinnamon, cloves, cumin, coriander, nutmeg & allspice)
6 Egg whites

Grease springform pan and line with greaseproof paper.

Heat oven to 175°C.

Whisk egg yolks with the sugar and vanilla essence till creamy. Beat in the butter and brandy, then stir in the condensed milk followed by the sifted flour and mixed spice.

Whisk egg whites until just stiff. Pour egg yolk mixture into the egg whites and fold gently.

I heated my grill to moderate with fan when the oven is hot and placed my empty tin under it for 1 minute. Then I removed it, pour in a ladleful of batter and spread the batter evenly by tilting the tin. Grill for 5 minutes, remove tin and repeat operation until the batter is used up. Then return to bake mode and bake at 160°C for 10 minutes. Cool before eating.

As usual, whatever I bake or cook doesn't ever come out looking remotely nice. And from the look of things I can't even cut straight either. But this cake is quite edible and will require more adjustment to the oven settings, probably I will also cut down on the number of egg whites, use something to press down on the cake and remove the bubbles, and use a smaller cake pan (so that I can have more layers). In any case I'm on kueh lapis overdose. Have experimented with 2 lapis in 4 days...

Update 01/06/2011 : Made a more successful version here.

2 commentaires:

Dutchess a dit…

I still remember the kueh lapis I made you the first time we visited!

There's a special metal press one uses to compact the layers. It's very much like what a bricklayer uses to lay cement. However, I've found that the back of a spatula or big dinner spoon does the job too. Just make sure you grease it first or else the browned top layer will peel off.

Beau Lotus 涟 a dit…

You know J, I was thinking of the Kueh Lapis you made me when I made mine. And stupid me, I should have thought of asking you for the finer points. Thanks, will do better the next time!