Kue Lapis Surabaya

For Chinese New Year in the last two years, I have been making Kueh Lapis Legit (Thousand Layer Cake). This year, I decided to try another version of Lapis which is the Kue Lapis Surabaya. Firstly, its because I am quite busy this year now that I am a stay at home mum and also because I've always admired the moist and soft texture of the Kue Lapis Surabaya on the various blogs I've seen and want to make it myself.

Unlike the Kueh Lapis Legit, where I have to be on my feet for three hours grilling each layer one by one, Kue Lapis Surabaya is much easier to make because its just three layers. The only drawback is that you'll need three cake tins to bake the layers concurrently.    

The texture of this Kue Lapis Surabaya is fine and moist which I had expected with 30 egg yolks in just a 7 inch cake! It is quite a delicious cake. However, I really much prefer the Kueh Lapis Legit because of the flavours of the spices and the use of rum. Think next year, I'll go back to the multi-layered version :)

Kue Lapis Surabaya (7 inch square)

Recipe from Sweet Sentsations

Ingredients

• 30 egg yolks
• 280 g (1 1/2 cups) granulated sugar 
• 375 g (2 1/2 cups) butter, softened (I used Golden Churn Tin Butter)
• 150 g (1 1/4 cups) flour
• 1 tbsp mocha or chocolate paste (or 2 tbsp cocoa powder)
• Strawberry Jam

Directions

• Preheat the oven at 180 degrees C and grease the pan.
• Beat the butter at high speed for about 10 minutes until it turns pale white in colour.
• Beat the egg yolks with sugar until pale and tripled in volume. When you lift the beaters it should form a ribbon.
• Pour the yolk mixture slowly into the butter mixture and fold in until fully combined. Be sure to scrape the sides of the bowl for any butter so the entire mixture is incorporated.
• Sift in the flour and fold. Careful not to over fold, as over mixing will result in a reduced volume of batter.
• Divide the mixture equally into 3 portions. For one portion, add cocoa powder / chocolate or mocha paste and lightly fold
• Bake  in 3 separate pans for 20 minutes or until cake springs back when touched.
• Let the cake cool and spread strawberry jam between each layer.