Lapis legit
Indonesia’s festive cake, which arose in the Dutch colonial era — in the Netherlands it is known as spekkoek. It combines the European layer-cake technique with the spices Indonesia is famous for. Its name means roughly “layered and sweet”, and a slice says the rest: a dozen or more very thin layers, each browned separately under the oven grill, alternating pale gold and dark brown. The cake is very buttery, dense and scented with cinnamon, clove, cardamom and nutmeg. It is a bake for a free afternoon — you stand by the oven for over an hour — but it is cut in thin slices and lasts a long time.
Your own work in that: 30 min.
- Making the batter 30 min
- Baking the layers 80 min
- Final bake 10 min
- Cooling 60 min
Step by step
0 / 8 donePrepare the tin and oven
Line a 20 × 20 cm square tin with baking paper and butter it. Heat the oven to 200°C, top and bottom heat.
Ingredients: 70 g plain flour · 2 tsp ground cinnamon · ½ tsp ground cardamom · ½ tsp ground cloves · ½ tsp nutmeg · 10 g butter for the tin
Cream the butter
Beat the soft butter with the condensed milk and vanilla to a pale, fluffy mixture, about 5 minutes.
Ingredients: 250 g butter, softened · 50 g sweetened condensed milk · 1 tsp vanilla extract
Whisk yolks with sugar
In another bowl whisk the yolks and whole eggs with the sugar to a very thick, pale foam that falls in a ribbon, 8–10 minutes.
Ingredients: 12 pcs egg yolks · 3 pcs eggs · 150 g caster sugar
Combine the mixtures
Fold the butter mixture into the egg foam in three additions with a spatula. Sift in the flour and spices and fold gently until there are no lumps.
Ingredients: 70 g plain flour · 2 tsp ground cinnamon · ½ tsp ground cardamom · ½ tsp ground cloves · ½ tsp nutmeg · 10 g butter for the tin
Butter mixture into the egg foam — gently, with a spatula.Bake the first layer
Spread about 65 g of batter (4–5 tablespoons; most accurately measured by keeping the bowl of batter on the scales) thinly and evenly in the tin and bake 8–10 minutes at 200°C on the middle shelf, until set and golden.
Ingredients: 70 g plain flour · 2 tsp ground cinnamon · ½ tsp ground cardamom · ½ tsp ground cloves · ½ tsp nutmeg · 10 g butter for the tin
Grill the next layers
Switch the oven to the top grill at 200°C. Spread the next 65 g or so of batter and grill 4–5 minutes, until evenly brown. Repeat until the batter is used — about 14 layers, around 70 minutes in all. Watch every layer, as golden turns to burnt in well under a minute.
Ingredients: 70 g plain flour · 2 tsp ground cinnamon · ½ tsp ground cardamom · ½ tsp ground cloves · ½ tsp nutmeg · 10 g butter for the tin
Each layer separately — watch the grill.Press each layer
After each layer comes out, press it flat with a small flat lid or the base of a glass to push out bubbles. This keeps the layers even and tight. Turn the tin every few layers for even colour, and once the cake has risen and the layers brown too fast, move it a shelf lower.
Ingredients: 70 g plain flour · 2 tsp ground cinnamon · ½ tsp ground cardamom · ½ tsp ground cloves · ½ tsp nutmeg · 10 g butter for the tin
Press after every layer — no bubbles.Final bake and cool
After the last layer, switch to top and bottom heat at 180°C and bake 10 more minutes on the lowest shelf. Cool the cake in the tin for an hour, then cut into thin slices across the layers with a sharp knife.
Ingredients: 70 g plain flour · 2 tsp ground cinnamon · ½ tsp ground cardamom · ½ tsp ground cloves · ½ tsp nutmeg · 10 g butter for the tin
Before you start
The spice
In Indonesia a ready mix called bumbu spekuk is used. Replace it with 1 tablespoon of gingerbread spice plus half a teaspoon of cardamom.
What to do with the whites
You will have 12 whites left. Make meringues, coconut macaroons or angel food cake. They also freeze for 3 months.
Storage
Tightly wrapped, the cake keeps 5 days somewhere cool and 2 weeks in the fridge. The spice flavour deepens with time. Slice it cold — the slices will be neater.
