Indonesia Kueh Lapis

From : Florence (Do what I like)
Traditional Kek Lapis
Ingredients: (17cm square cake pan)
250g butter at room temperature
60g castor sugar

10 egg yolks
60g castor sugar
1 tbsp rum/brandy
2 tbsp condensed milk

66g cake flour
1 tsp mixed spice
1/4 tsp baking powder

4 egg whites
30g sugar
1/2 tsp cream of tartar


Method:
1. Preheat oven to 170C - 180C. Line the baking tin with baking paper and grease it well with butter.
2. Cream butter with 60g sugar till creamy.
3. Beat egg yolk with 60g sugar till thick. Stir in rum/brandy and condensed milk.
4. Sieve flour, baking powder and mixed spice onto a plate.
5. Mix butter and egg yolk mixture well. Fold in flour mixture by thirds and mix well. (I use the beater on low speed to mix this).
6. Beat egg white till big bubbles form, add in cream of tartar, beat till white in colour then add in sugar and beat till stiff (about 7 -10 minutes).
7. Fold egg white into egg yolk mixture and mix well.
8. Turn on the top fire only, grill baking pan for 1 minute and spoon 2 tbsp batter into baking pan. Spread the batter evenly, put to grill at top fire in the oven. Grill for about 4.5 - 5 minutes or till brown. Remove from oven, use a cake tester or toothpick to prick holes on the top of cake. Repeat this layer by layer till batter finish.
9. Unmould cake immediately and turn on to wire rack to cool.

Notes & Tips:
1. Best to use oven with top and bottom fire. Please adjust oven temperature and check cooking time required for each layer according to your oven.
2. Do not grease the sides of the baking tin.
3. Make sure the lined paper fits the baking tin exactly.
4. Do not put too much batter for each layer, else the centre of the cake will not be cooked.
5. Adjust sweetness and flavour of cake by increasing or decreasing amount of sugar and spices.
6. Make sure you use the same spoon and same amount of batter for each layer, so that the layers will be even.
7. Bake each layer till quite brown before adding new layer (the browning should be like the very top layer of my baked kek lapis). This way when the whole cake is baked, the layers will be explicit.

From Bernie (Beaten and Baked)Kuih Lapis
Adapted from Terry Tan’s Straits Chinese Cooking
(A very old book that my mom still uses, seems to be out of print)
Makes a 18 by 18 cm (originally a 14 by 20 cm) cake

•10 egg yolks
•180g caster sugar
•250g unsalted butter
•75g plain flour, sifted
•1/2 tsp rempah powder (a spice mix/no image! found in the baking section of asian stores/baking stores)
•4 egg whites
•2 tbsp rum or brandy (NOT HALAL!)
1.Grease and line a 18 by 18 cm square tin with baking paper. Preheat the oven to 180˚C on the grill setting.
2.Beat the egg yolks and castor sugar in a bowl until thick and creamy.
3.In a seperate bowl, cream the butter until soft and add the egg mixture a little at a time until thoroughly mixed. Fold in the flour and rempah powder.
4.Beat the egg whites till stiff peaks form and fold it into the batter. Add the rum or brandy and mix gently but well.
5.Layer the base of the tin with roughly 3 tablespoons of batter and bake the first layer until light brown (or however brown you would like it to be)
6.After each layer, use a flat bottomed glass (or the presser I mentioned earlier) and press gently all over the cake to remove any air bubbles.
7.Continue to layer the cake and watch it carefully as it bakes under the grill. There is no definite time to bake the layers. Just watch it. Repeat the process until all the batter is used up.