The Hirshon Indonesian Thousand Layer Cake – Kue Lapis Legit

Citizens, few desserts are as rich, visually stunning and delicious as this Indo (Dutch-Indonesian fusion) recipe!

Spekkoek (spekuk in Indonesian), also more popularly called (kue) lapis legit in Indonesia, was developed during colonial times in the Dutch East Indies and may have been based on Dutch cake recipes using local ingredients.

The firm-textured cake is the Indo version of baumkuchen, but without a chocolate or sugar shell.

It contains a mix of spices, such as cardamom, cinnamon, clove, mace and anise. The cake is very rich – a 20 cm × 20 cm (7.9 in × 7.9 in) cake can contain up to thirty egg yolks, 500 grams (18 oz) of butter, and 400 grams (14 oz) of sugar.

In Indonesia, the cake is popularly known as (kue) lapis legit, literally “delicious layers (cake)”, because it consists of many thin layers of cake. As a decent lapis legit has at minimum 18 layers (and preferably up to 30), baking it is a very labor-intensive process requiring much patience.

Each layer is made by pouring a small amount of batter from a cup into the baking tin, which is then put into an oven until the layer has turned golden from the heat. The tin is then removed from the oven and the process repeated to build up the remaining layers.

Dutch ovens with a charcoal fire on top of the lid are said to produce the best results, while electric ovens are superior to gas ovens as cakes bake much faster in the former.

Citizens, my version of this recipe uses my special blend of spices and vanilla – I hope you enjoy it!

Battle on – The Generalissimo

The Hirshon Indonesian Thousand Layer Cake – Kue Lapis Legit

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Ingredients

Units MUS Scale 1x2x3x

• 500 grams of butter at room temperature
• 100 grams of condensed milk
• 200 grams of icing sugar
• 120 grams of cake flour
• 1 tbsp. rum
• 30 egg yolks
• Spice Mix:
• 1 teaspoon ginger powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg powder
• 1/2 teaspoon aniseed powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 teaspoons cardamom powder
• 1/2 teaspoon mace
• 1/2 teaspoon clove powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
• Additional 100 grams of melted butter for layering (optional)

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Instructions

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degree Celsius.
2. Crack the eggs and keep the egg yolks only. You can freeze the egg whites for recipes such as angel food cake, meringue nest, egg white biscuits, Pavlova etc.
3. Grease the baking tin with butter. Place a piece of baking paper on the bottom of the baking tin.
4. Beat the butter, condensed milk and icing sugar until light and fluffy. Sift in the cake flour and mixed spices. Use the standing mixer’s lowest available speed to mix for 1 minute or until well mixed.
5. In another mixer, beat the egg yolks until ribbon stage which took about 10-15 minutes. Ribbon stage means that the beaten eggs will drip slowly rather than very liquid.
6. Add the beaten egg yolks gradually to the batter and use the lowest speed to mix until well combine. If the mixer mixing is not sufficiently thorough, use a spatula to manually mix the batter.
7. Pre-heat the tin in the preheated oven of 180 degree Celsius for 2-3 minutes. Once done, TURN THE OVEN TO TOP GRILLING MODE. Place about ½ cup of the batter (I like using approximately 60g-80g per layer / 4-5 tbsp. The first layer can be a little thicker (100g). This is for a 20cm×20cm pan.) into the baking tin. Put it back to the oven for about 15 seconds to let the heat melt the batter, swirl around the tin to make a thin layer.
8. Bake in the oven for about 5 minutes or until the top part starts to brown. Once it browns, put another ½ cup of the batter to the baking tin, repeat the same process. If there are bubbles, use a toothpick to break them and use an icing smoother to lightly press the layer.
9. Repeat the same for all the layers until all the batter is used. For a moister cake, you can optionally brush the melted butter onto each layer.
10. For the last layer, reduce the temperature to 160 degree Celsius and bake for 15 minutes. Keep an eye on each layer to ensure the browning is even.
11. When cool, turn the tin upside down and gently remove cake. Storing your lapis: Lapis usually taste better as it ages. I like mine best after 3 – 4 days, since the flavors continue to develop even after it has been baked. Thanks to using rum in the lapis, it will preserve for even longer.

• Prep Time: 0 hours
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• Category: Recipes

Nutrition

• Calories: 1630.59 kcal
• Sugar: 63.43 g
• Sodium: 97.24 mg
• Fat: 131.2 g
• Saturated Fat: 75.54 g
• Trans Fat: 4.1 g
• Carbohydrates: 93.42 g
• Fiber: 1.68 g
• Protein: 21.87 g
• Cholesterol: 1373.1 mg