Kueh Lapis Legit

Kueh Lapis Legit.. one of my absolute favourites that has been on my to-bake list for eons! It's a tough cake to bake though as it's really time consuming and you need all 3 hours of it! Once you've started baking, you're basically camping in front of the oven watching this darling delicate kueh/cake work wonders! 

This recipe is from Richard Goh and I'm an absolute fan of his. It's just a pity that school's starting soon and I won't be able to attend his classes any time soon. In any case, this recipe takes 3 full hours (sometimes more) to bake and it yields a 25cm by 25cm Kueh Lapis Legit! (:

Kueh Lapis Legit Recipe

This recipe yields a 25cm by 25cm cake/kueh

Ingredients:

500g semi-hard butter (I used Liv salted butter)

300g condensed milk

3 tsp rum (optional but makes a whole lot of difference)

150g plain flour

1 tsp gingerbread spice

20 egg yolks

200g castor sugar

10 egg whites

50g castor sugar

1/4 tsp cream of tar tar

Steps:

The ingredients! Preheat oven to 200 degree Celsius (both top and bottom heat).

Add the gingerbread spice to the plain flour. Sift them.

Have the butter, condensed milk and rum ready in a bowl. Mix them well with an electric mixer till creamy. This will take about 5 minutes.

My mixture is ready!

Add in the sifted mixture and mix well.

Well mixed! 

Separate the yolks from the egg whites. I had 10 egg whites left from this recipe which I used in my cooking and also as a mask! XD 

Add the sugar in and mix at maximum speed till thick.

The thick yolk mixture!

Add in the butter mixture 1/3 at a time till well mixed.

Well mixed! (:

Whisk the egg whites of room temperature in a bowl with an electric mixer. When it is slightly frothy, add in the cream of tartar and sugar. Whisk it till it's stiff. On a side note, I really want my Kitchen-Aid! 

If the whites are stiff, the mixture will not 'slide' off the bowl. 

Fold in 1/3 of the egg white mixture into the batter till it's well incorporated.

Fold in the other 1/3. 

And the last 1/3. 

The completed batter! At this point of time, if you need the loo.. quick go! Else, it's really tough to find time when you're camping in front of the oven. 

Butter/Oil only the base of the cake tin and line with baking sheet/parchment paper. Layer one! Smooth the batter out as evenly as you can. With a 25cm by 25cm pan, my layers were 100g each. Each layer has to be weighed with precision so if you don't have an electronic weighing scale yet, I suggest you get one! (: Bake the first layer with top and bottom heat using the middle rack for 3-5 minutes or till it's brown. This really depends on your oven so keep a close eye on it.

My station!

Layer one baking! (:

Layer one has been baked! Not too brown, just nice.. just for this layer. Once you've removed the first layer from the oven, crank the heat up to 240 degree Celsius, TOP HEAT ONLY. For my Cornell oven, I realised that I did not have top heat function only! So, I used a tray of water using the pan that came with the oven on the lowest rack to block the heat from the lower heating element. Subsequent layers were baked with TOP HEAT only.

I used a fondant smoother to 'pat and press' each layer down. This has to be done after each cooked layer to ensure that there are no air bubbles between each layer and that the cake is nicely compressed. 

Layer 2! Each layer has to be baked for 3-5 minutes or till it's nice and brown. Mine baked for about 3 mins 30 seconds per layer.

Prop the cake layer to the highest possible height in order to get the top heat.

Loving the brown layer!

This was how I baked the subsequent layers. Bake each layer till all the batter has been used up.

My last layer! I baked this layer a lil' longer till I got the desired colour I wanted.

Once the cake has been baked, invert on a raised cooling rack and allow to cool.

After the cake/kueh has cooled, remove the pan and peel off the parchment paper. Allow to cool completely before before storing.. Couldn't resist but had slices of it once it was more or less cooled! Do cover the cake/kueh with a cling wrap if you're storing it to prevent the cake/kueh from drying up.

YUM! 

I really loved how this cake tasted and I really like peeling it layer by layer to enjoy the goodness of it! Do try this sometime soon and let me know how it goes! (:

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Updated on 19 Feb 2013, I'm submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #27: Through Thick and Thin - Kue Lapis Classics hosted by Sam of Sweet Samsations. Check out the link here! 

I'd love to see the bakes or stuff you've cooked using the blog's recipe! Do share photos of stuff you've baked or cooked using the blog's recipe with me either via FB message to http://facebook.com/limcynthia OR http://facebook.com/thebakingbiatch OR via email at cynthia.lim.hl@gmail.com! I look forward to hearing from you! (: