Lapis Legit / Thousand Layer Cake / Spekkoek
Servings: 1 9 x 5 inch or 5 x 5 inch of 20 layers cake
Lapis legit is popular Indonesian cake that is characterized by its 10-20 thin layers of rich, moist, and buttery cakes flavored with spices and studded with flattened prunes. Time-consuming to make but every layer is worth it!
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Ingredients
- 250 gr high-quality unsalted butter cut into cubes, plus more for greasing the pan and brushing each layer
- 2 Tbsp condensed milk
- 15 egg yolks from large eggs (room temperature) 270 - 280 gr
- 100 gr icing sugar
Dry ingredients:
- 1 Tbsp milk powder
- 1 tsp Spekkoek spices Available at Asian grocery store or you may skip if unable to find one
- 45 gr all-purpose flour
- ¼ tsp salt
Optional:
- 15 pieces large prune
Instructions
Prepare the prune (if using-can be done the day before):
- Cut the prune in half and press with your fingers until they are really flat
- Preheat oven to 350 F (177 C). Grease the loaf pan with some butter. Place the oven rack at 3rd position from the top. Brush the bottom and sides of the pan with some butter. Place a parchment paper at the bottom of the pan for easy release later. Place the pan in the oven to let it preheat as well
Prepare cake batter:
- Mix all the dry ingredients and set aside. Place the butter and condensed milk in a large mixing bowl or stand mixer bowl with a paddle attachment. Cream them until they are pale.
- Beat the egg yolk with sugar until they are light and airy in another mixing bowl. Gradually add the egg yolk mixture into the butter mixture and beat at low speed until just combined
- Fold in the dry ingredients using rubber spatula in 3 batches until just combined. Do not overmix
Baking and Layering:
- Remove pan from the oven and spoon about 4 Tbsp of the batter on the pan for the first layer and tip the pan slightly to evenly cover the surface of the pan. Pop into the oven and let it cook for 5 minutes. Bake until it is golden brown and the cake is no longer "jiggly". Remove from the oven. I don't have a special tool to flatten the cake. You can use a rubber spatula or fondant smoother to gently flatten the cake. Brush the cake with some melted butter. Brush every layer before you pour the next layer to be baked
- Switch the oven to top heat only. My oven can't do that so I need to turn off my oven and turn on the broiler on low heat
- Spoon about 3 Tbsp of cake batter as a second layer and bake with the top heat now. Watch closely if you use a broiler as you don't want to burn the cake. Bake until just golden brown and the cake is no longer jiggly. Repeat this process until you run out of cake batter. You may need to move the rack down one or two level so if the cake brown too quickly before it gets time to bake the inside
- Once you have 3 layers baked, spoon more cake batter as usual and arrange 6 slices of prune on the surface. Repeat this after every 3 layers and ending with the last layer with prune on top
- Once you get to the last layer, layer 20 or maybe less or more layers, arrange 6 slices of prune and still bake with the broiler until it is golden brown and no longer jiggly. Remove from the oven. If you think the cake is not cooked through, preheat the oven again to 325 F (162 C). Cover the cake with aluminum foil and bake for 10 minutes if necessary
Cooling:
- Remove from the oven and let it cool down in the pan for about 5 minutes. Then loosen the edge of the cake with a knife and then gently pull the cake out and let it cool down completely on a cooling rack
Age the cake:
- Store in a tight container or wrap it up with a wrapper and if you can, let the cake "mature" and consume it in 2-3 days. It tastes the best after being "aged". This is good at room temperature for 3-4 days (if weather is not humid)
Serving:
- The layers of the cake will not be visible until you cut the 4 edges thinly to reveal it. Slice into the desired size and serve at room temperature
Storing leftover:
- For longer storage, wrap the cake with cling wrap or store in air-tight container and keep in the fridge. Just note that the longer you keep in the fridge, the dryer the cake will get
Notes
This is only 1/2 recipe. If you want to use a larger size, simply double the recipe and this will fill the 10 x 10-inch square pan and ladle about 4-5 Tbsp of batter for each layer
