Thousand Layer Cake (Lapis Legit Spekkoek)

Intro: Thousand Layer Cake (Lapis Legit Spekkoek)

This is a Dutch influenced cake that is super famous in Indonesia. It's using spekkoek spice. Some Indonesians who moved to Malaysia a long time ago made a variation of this cake and call it as Lapis Sarawak.

And If you like German Baumkuchen? Lapis Legit is similar to that :)

STEP 1: Ingredients

2 9 inch round pan

Parchment paper

10 yolks

10 egg whites

250 g butter, soften

1 c sugar

a pinch of salt

1 c flour

1/2 tbsp lapis legit spice (available at Asian stores or online, see NOTE)

Additional butter for brushing

Brush a pan with butter then line with parchment/wax paper, set aside

Cream sugar and butter until smooth then beat in egg yolk, one at a time, until all yolks used up, set aside

With clean beaters, beat egg whites with a pinch of salt until very stiff, then fold egg whites into sugar mixture lightly, then fold in flour

Divide batter into two differ bowl, one leave it as is, and into the other, stir in lapis legit spice

STEP 2: Baking the Cake

Preheat your broiler

Take about 1/2 c of plain batter, pour into lined pan and spread nicely then broil for 1.5 - 2 minutes long, take out

Then take 1/2 c of spiced batter, spread nicely covering the first layer, then back to the broiler for 1.5 - 2 minutes (until brownish), take out

Now brush the outside bottom of the other pan with butter, press it to the cake tightly

Take 1/2 c of plain batter, spread on the 2nd layer and broil again

Repeat this step of plain batter, broil then press with buttered bottom of other pan, spiced batter, broil then press with buttered bottom of other pan until all batter used up. Each time pressing, always butter the bottom of the pan

Once all batter used up, take out and turn off the broiler

Preheat oven to 350 F and bake for 10 minutes long

Cool before slicing, enjoy :)

NOTE:

If you cannot find store bought spices, here is how to make your own: Mix 2 tsp of cinnamon power with 1 tsp ginger powder and 1/2 tsp each of nutmeg powder and cardamom powder plus 1/4 tsp clove powder

Slice thinly as this cake is rich (the original cake uses 30 yolks even!)

IMHO it is best served the next day but of course you can serve it right away once its cooled :)

The purpose of broiling it is to create the visible layers btw.

Have fun!

Comments

[nanaverm]

At first glance this looks like a 15-layer caramel cake that is popular in the US South. But those are made using thin layers cooked on a flat griddle on the stove, then layered with caramel frosting in between. (YUM!)

Is the spice mixture the same as used in the speculoos cookies?

[klinong]

yes! Spekulas, speculoos, spekuk, spekkoek, they are the same :)

I am gonna have to google that caramel cake you mentioned, sounds amazing!

[MaddieJ3]

I thought that too! I still wanna drizzle it with caramel though! haha

[klinong]

that sounds almost like crepe cake :)

I have never made spekkulas cookies, but I would assume similar

[dords]

Looks great - is it dry? Can't imagine it being moist with no filling etc. Will give it a try though as it looks yummy!

[klinong]

No. It's moist. Beside the fact that it uses a lot of eggs, layered thinly, and buttered generously for each layer. The original for the cake is even using 30-45 yolks, and never with filling etc. We do add prunes sometimes for variety.

[DIY Hacks and How Tos]

Great looking cake.

[klinong]

thank you!

[livichris]

from the first photo I thought that this was a plywood instructable

[klinong]

lol

[jessyratfink]

This technique is really neat! It's beautiful. :)

[klinong]

thank you!

I used two pans as I didnt have the layer cake presser :P but it worked :)

[Purwanto AdiN]

woww kue indonesia

[klinong]

Halo! Salam kenal :)

[madbee123]

thats awsome! not for heart patients tho,so give it to me yum!!!

[klinong]

TRUE! Whenever we have the original layer cake (made with 30-45 yolks), we would always say that "not for the heart patients!"

[JennaWrites]

This is going to be the perfect base for a book cake I want to make my mom for her birthday - I have had baumkuchen before (I'm really blessed - between blood family and heart family, our reunions look like United Nation meetings. Godparents & adopted uncles/aunts/cousins from all over mean I've gotten a chance to basically eat the planet) but the whole 'grilling a cake on a spit' thing is beyond even my vast cooking toy collection so I had sadly discounted it as an option. Besides which, the shape would have been wrong. But this looks absolutely perfect! Thanks so much - I think I'll make some orange (flavored, not colored) marshmallow fondant to pair with the spice, and maybe a simple buttercream to stick one to the other. I've been racking my brains for months trying to figure out how to make what I saw in my head and now it all seems to fall together just perfectly.

[klinong]

YESSSSS the original thousand layer cake really use charcoal to grill the layers hahaha I can never do that, thank goodness for oven grill ;)