Indonesian Spekkoek Lapis Legit (Thousand-Layer Spice Cake)

A mildly spiced layered cake

My friend Genie (Bunny. Eats. Design) in New Zealand very kindly invited me to participate in a new forum called Our Growing Edge which will be held monthly. It’s content will be defined by our cooking bucket list, so to speak — things that we want to conquer or need to conquer and upon our success (or failure!) we will create a post and link it to her page for the month. This is rather exciting because we all have our arch nemesis in cooking. Please click on over to Genie’s lovely blog (particularly on Tofu Tuesday’s when she showcases her most adorable flop eared bunny).

In early January, my friend Sam (Sweet Samsations) posted a recipe for an Indonesian cake I had never heard of, which is not rare in this very large world of ours, but what caught my eye was the huge quantity of eggs used in this cake, Sweet Samsations uses 30 – THIRTY; I even found one that used 45 eggs! I just can’t imagine buying that many eggs for one recipe. But it is a beloved cake that’s for sure so I knew I had to look around and find a recipe with a more reasonable egg content because I HAD to make it. Fast forward to late January when Genie asked me to participate in Our Growing Edge, I knew what I wanted to make: Indonesian Spekkoek Lapis Legit. Now to find the time to bake it because it’s quite labourious as you bake each layer individually over the other in the same pan.

I landed on Food Network’s Emeril Lagasse’s recipe (didn’t make sense to me either) because his cake only used 12 eggs, and 12 is easily divided into two; I found my recipe, only 6 eggs! I did a quick assessment of the baking container that Emeril’s recipe used and determined that if I halved his recipe it would fit snugly into my 4″ x 6.7″ loaf pan. I didn’t get as many layers as I had hoped, but it still looked nice and it still had good flavour. Emeril suggests to decorate with powered sugar, and I added candied orange peel as garnish. I will serve it with the orange syrup that was the left over from candying the peel.

Serves 4-6 depending on how thick you slice it

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground allspice
• 1 tsp ground mace
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp anise extract
• 170 g (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 6 large eggs, separated
• 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tbsp confectioners’ sugar
• Candied orange peel as garnish

Directions:

1. Preheat the broiler (I have this range with two ovens, I used the larger oven with the rack in the lower middle so it’s not too close to the broiler).
2. Butter the bottom and sides of a 4″ x 6.7″ loaf pan and line with buttered parchment paper. I left enough of the parchment to go past the top of the pan, so I could use it to lift the cake out when it was done.
3. Combine the nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, mace and ginger and set aside.
4. Weigh your empty bowl, write down the measurement. In this bowl, cream the softened butter, 1/4 cup of sugar, vanilla, and salt. Add the egg yolks one at a time and beat until smooth. Fold the flour into the batter with a rubber spatula.
5. In a clean bowl with clean beaters, beat the egg whites with the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar until stiff and shiny but not dry. Fold the whites into the egg yolk mixture, being careful not to over-mix. Divide the batter between 2 bowls. Add combined spices to 1 bowl and stir well.
6. Weigh your bowl with the cake batter. Subtract this new weight from the old weight so you know how much your batter weighs and divide in half. Put your second bowl on a scale that can tare and zero it out. Pour half the batter into this bowl (you can see exactly when you reach half on the scale).
7. Mix the spices into the second batter along with the anise extract.
8. Pour 4-6 tablespoons of the batter into the bottom of the pan and spread out evenly. Sammy suggests to pre-heat the pan, which I didn’t do, but I suspect it makes spreading the batter much easier since my subsequent layers spread easier on the hot layer.
9. Bake in a hot broiler for 2 minutes. Watch carefully.
10. Pour 4-6 tablespoons of the spiced batter, spreading it over the first layer to form a thin second layer. Place the pan under the preheated broiler for 2 minutes, or until the layer is firm and very lightly browned. Continue until you have exhausted both batters. Emeril noted that the cake typically has between 12 and 15 layers — I ended up with 10, not bad for a first timer!
11. Allow  the cake cool on a wire rack, turn out onto a cutting board and even up the sides by cutting clean new edges.
12. Sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar and garnish with candied orange rind.
13. Slice thinly and serve warm or at room temperature with additional orange syrup, if you so desire.

I should have made the layers much thinner

It’s quite a show stopper!

My notes:

• It’s a mildly spiced cake with a predominant butter flavour, I think I might increase the spices a bit more if I make it again because I thought it tasted a bit greasy.
• The butter really does need to be soft so it makes a lovely smooth batter.
• Many Indonesian bakers suggest to press down each layer after you bake it, although I did that, mine bounced right back.
• It’s a very rich cake so you needn’t cut large pieces.
• Next time I may try chocolate and vanilla layers or even vanilla and espresso flavour!

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Moroccan Inspired Navy Beans with Mushrooms

This weeknight meal started out to be a navy bean curry, but I went a little overboard on the spices and it ended up with the flavouring of our holiday in Morocco. If you please you could add some raisins, currents or even dates. Perhaps a nut or two for some crunch. All in all a very flavourful recipe that I hope you will enjoy.

Serves 1 (just multiply by the number you need). I eyeballed this recipe, so if you decide to make it, make sure you alter it to your own taste! The only important bits are to soak the beans and cook them all the way through, the rest is really up to you!

The beans were cooked in the ‘curry’ until creamy

Ingredients:

• 75 g dried Navy Beans, soaked overnight
• 1 cup finely chopped sweet onion
• 1-3 cloves of garlic finely minced (I like my microplane for this)
• 1/4 cup dried mushrooms, reconstituted in warm water, liquid reserved
• 1 1/2 cups fresh cremini and white mushrooms, sliced thickly
• 1 tsp Garam Masala
• 2 tsp Meat Masala
• 3 tsp curry powder
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp ginger (I used the powdered Moroccan ginger)
• 1 tbsp white vinegar
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• Water, as much as the beans will absorb
• 1/2 cup celery chopped
• 1/4 cup grape tomatoes cut in half
• 1 tbsp cilantro, chopped
• 1 tbsp green onions
• Hot pepper flakes (to taste)
• Non-stick spray

I like to add pepper flakes for a bit of heat

Directions:

1. Lightly spray a pressure cooker with non-stick spray and heat. Add onions. Cook the onions until they are brown, you’ll have to watch this as the spray doesn’t really give you enough fat so you’ll need to add very little bits of the stock. We don’t want to steam the onions, we want to BROWN them.
2. Add 1-2 minced cloves of garlic and ALL of the dry spices and cook until you can smell the wonderful aroma (you are cooking the bitterness out of them). Add the drained beans and cook for a minute or so.
3. Add the white vinegar and mix well. Add the remaining stock and about 2 cups of water. Close the lid and put the timer on for 10 minutes. At the end of 10 minutes, check to see if the beans have absorbed all of the water (how fast they absorb will depend on how dry they were…and how long you soaked them. Cooking the beans can take anywhere from 30 minutes to 1 hour). Keep adding water, or the reserved mushroom liquid until the beans are soft.
4. In the meantime, heat a skillet and spray lightly with the non stick spray. Add the mushrooms and sauté until they are cooked (even the rehydrated ones). About half way through the cooking, add the remaining minced garlic. Set aside.
5. When the beans are fully cooked, add the mushrooms, chopped celery and tomatoes and heat through.
6. Serve garnished with the cilantro, green onions and hot pepper flakes.
7. Enjoy.

This photo shows just a small portion, 75 g of dry beans is actually quite a lot of food

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