The Queen of Kitchen Disasters

As much as I love to cook and bake, I'm lazy and I'm horrid at following recipes. Together with my natural capability of clumsiness and inability of handling anything sharp, it's the perfect recipe for ... disasters.

Friday, January 20, 2006

Kueh Lapis Recipe

Got this off a magazine which I really don't remember which one - only have the page that's torn off :P

Why I picked this recipe over others that I've found on the internet? Because:
1. It only required 20 egg yolks
2. Method of preparation I'm somewhat familiar other than the egg white bit
3. It comes with photo illustrations!
4. It gave some basic tips so I'm comfortable to try it out

Recipe for Kueh Lapis (adapted somewhat from my research)

Baking items required
1 Kueh Lapis press
1 25 X 25 cm square tin pan (i used 8 X 8 inch square tin pan)

Ingredients
500g butter
220g caster sugar
4 tablespoon condense milk
1 tablespoon rempah kueh (lapis spice) (I bought mine from Phoon Huat)
20 egg yolks
150g plain flour
6 egg whites with 90g caster sugar


Method
1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celcius.
2. Line the base of the cake tin with grease proof paper. Butter the base before laying the paper, and butter again on top of the paper.
3. Cream butter, sugar, condensed milk and lapis spice till fluffy and pale in colour.
4. Add egg yolks one by one (I had a pulse function on my kenwood chef classic so i used it when i added an yolk - really cool!). Beat on high speed when adding the egg yolk to prevent curdling. Set aside.
5. Using a clean stainless steel or glass bowl, whisk egg whites till glossy (with soft peaks forming). Add sugar slowly while whisking on high peak. Stop when the egg white is thick (can form stiff peaks). See *
6. Fold egg white into the butter mixture, followed by the flour.
7. Spoon one ladle (I used my soup ladle) of batter (it will be thick) unto the base of the tin and spread evenly. Bake at 170 degrees Celcius for 10 minutes or till surface is brown.
8. Remove cake tin from oven. Switch oven to grill mode.
9, Spread another ladle of batter on top of the first layer and grill top till brown (place on the rack nearest to the top - i used my 2nd rack since my tin won't fit into the first rack).
10. Remove cake tin from oven. Press the cake with the Kueh Lapis press to remove any air bubbles.
11. Spread a ladle of batter on top of the cake and grill. Repeat till the last layer.
12. The last layer should be slightly thicker than the rest - about 1.5 ladle full.
13. Grill till brown, remove cake tin from oven. Switch oven back to baking mode (top and bottom heat) and lower the temperature to 160 degree Celsius.
14. Cover the top of the cake tin with aluminium foil. Return cake tin to the oven and bake for 10 minutes.
15. Allow the cake to cool completely in the tin upright for ONE day.
16. On the second day, turn out and invert the cake. Keep in a box and stand for another day.
17. On the third day, invert cake and it's now ready to be eaten!

Note: I notice that while grilling, some of my bottom layers weren't getting "cooked" properly. So one of the layers, I put it on the 3rd rack (from top) and grill it. When no more liquid was oozing out after that layer, I returned back to the 2nd rack. I also baked the cake at the end for 20 minutes at 150 degree Celcius. But you have to wait for 36 hours before I can tell you if the cake is any good :P hang in there!

* if using plastic bowls, it tends to retain the oil very well. So you have to really clean it very very very well - no oil or any form of grease. Also make sure there's no speck of egg yolk in it too! otherwise it will not rise!

14 Comments:

At 6:45 PM, February 02, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Why no coconut milk being used?

 
At 10:29 PM, February 02, 2006, Blogger muminthemaking said...

becuz the recipe didn't state that it requires coconut milk?

anyway various recipes I've looked doesn't require coconut milk either.

 
At 7:05 AM, February 21, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said...

May I ask is your end result ,the cake, a success. Is it as good as the one sold in Bangawan Solo.

 
At 10:47 AM, February 21, 2006, Blogger muminthemaking said...

Hmmm I would say the taste is comparable? In fact, I find Bengawan's Solo on the sweet side. Come back after 2 days, someone just tried the recipe and I can ask her to post her verdict here so you at least have a 2nd person's opinion =)

 
At 1:46 PM, February 21, 2006, Blogger inez said...

Hi! I'm the one who tried the recipe. By tonight, my lapis would be ready to be consumed, but I've already tasted it by shaving away the sides.

Frankly, I find Bengawan Solo's not so fresh most of the time and a little 'hard' and dry. The one that I made is moist and just nice. Really really like the recipe!

 
At 11:31 AM, February 12, 2007, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi, I have tried the recipe of the Kueh Lapis yesterday and must say that it is not that difficult to do as I thought so. Tried it today and the taste is quite good except that I may have put a little too much of the spices. Anyway, thanks for the recipe and am glad to have something good on my first attempt.

 
At 12:05 AM, June 10, 2007, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey Popoheads...

Fantastic, i've tried out this recipe and was so worrid that it wont turn out ok as i didnt whisk egg white till glossy and my egg white never form stiff peaks...my Gosh, almost gave up..but luckily i didnt, cake turn out very nice, i made many thin layers..everyone loves it..just tht it's a little bit too sweet, oh yeah, that part where we outta bake the cake at the end for 20 mins was really useful for a perfect cake..thanks yea

 
At 8:45 AM, June 13, 2007, Blogger muminthemaking said...

Hi Eugene
Glad you had success! Yes, tt's the reason why I posted up the recipe too! Because I managed to do my first ever kueh lapis successfully although as usual I ended with 1/2 the cake in disaster ;P

 
At 8:47 AM, June 13, 2007, Blogger muminthemaking said...

lovetobake: glad you enjoy baking kueh lapis too! I'm trying to learn how to bake more of the traditional "chinese" stuff as I think it helps us to reconnect back to our roots =)

 
At 2:15 PM, January 21, 2009, Anonymous Anonymous said...

star: i heard most put Rum or brandy...is there a need for it?

 
At 5:05 PM, January 21, 2009, Blogger muminthemaking said...

different recipes call for different ingredients. Yes there are some ingredients asking for rum/ brandy (if you make prune lapis, you can soak the prunes in lapis too), but this recipe didn't ask for it.

Frankly speaking, I am more than happy to douse my cakes with alcohol (people have said my fruit cakes gives off fumes of brandy), but I am happy with the taste without any additional brandy or rum.

If you really wan a recipe with brandy, i can raid my recipe books, I was just reading the book the other night for leisure.

 
At 12:53 AM, January 24, 2009, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi, why my 4 sides of the lapis are not cook? The center cook perfectly well....

 
At 10:33 PM, January 27, 2009, Blogger muminthemaking said...

my guesses are:

1) your oven wasn't preheated when you started
2) you place it too close to the top of the oven
3) your baking tin is too big

 
At 1:37 PM, December 05, 2011, Blogger Jacq said...

Hi, I tried your recipe for the Kueh Lapis just this weekend and this was my first attempt. Though I am a seasoned baker,I was really nervous how it would turned out to be as I've heard of friends who told me their lapis was a disaster. After baking, to my greatest joy, my lapis turned out perfect, and it looked just like those bought from the bakeries. I brought it to share with all my in-laws and everyone raved about my kueh lapis! They even told me I am qualified to make business!Thanks for the receipes.

 

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