SARAWAK FAMOUS FOOD

KEK LAPIS SARAWAK

Kek Lapis Sarawak is a layered cake, traditionally served in Sarawak, Malaysia on special occasions. In the Malay language, they are known as Kek Lapis Sarawak, Kek Lapis Moden Sarawak, Kek Sarawak or Kek Lapis. They are often baked for religious or cultural celebrations such as Eid ul-Fitr, Christmas,Deepavali, birthdays and weddings.

People in Malaysia practice an open house on festival day. A unique feature of Sarawak's open houses is the modern layered cakes.

Modern Sarawakian layered cakes were introduced to the people of Sarawak from Indonesia officially around 1988. The Indonesian version has been known since the Dutch colonial era; its most famous varieties are the Lapis Legit, a spice-flavored multilayered cake, and Lapis Surabaya.

In 2011, the history of Sarawak layered cakes once again change by a new generation (Sarawakian) of innovative natural layer cakes evangelist named Kek Lapis Qalas Qalas. By introducing modern design and traditional layer, coupled with new flavors which inspired from home-made inspiration,each layer is tastefully interlaced with various natural flavours in between the original recipe, modern taste and knowledge from their ancestor.

Sarawakian modern layered cakes can be divided into two categories: cakes with ordinary layers and cakes with patterns, motifs, or shapes. All must have at least two colors. The cake can be baked in an oven or microwave. The batter uses butter or vegetable oil, milk and eggs, and requires a strong arm or electric mixer to be properly prepared. The baked cake has a high, firm texture and the layers are fastened together with jam or a similarly sticky sweet substance. More detailed cakes often require special moulds to maintain the perfect layer thickness.

Spekkoek (also called Spiku in some cities in Indonesia) or more popularly called lapis legit in Indonesia is a Dutch-Indonesian layered cake. It was developed during colonial times in the Dutch East Indies and may have been based on Dutch cake recipes using local ingredients.[citation needed] The cake is the Indische (Dutch people that had lived for years if not generation in Indonesia during the colonial time) version of Baumkuchen and contain popular mix spices of cinnamon, clove, mace and anise. In Indonesia, the cake is very popularly known as lapis legit, which literally means (very) rich layer-cake. The cake is very rich for a 20x20cm size cake contains up to 30 egg yolks, half a kilo butter, and 400g sugar. The name of the cake is derived from its layered structure. This layered structured is achieved because of the many very thin layers of cake that are piled on the top of each other. A good lapis legit has more than 18 layers. This makes the baking of spekkoek a very labour-intensive process. The product is therefore a rather expensive delicacy: about EUR 20 per kg in 2010.[1] In Indonesia, a 20x20cm-sized spekkoek (or lapis legit) can cost up to IDR 400,000 (approx. EUR 12.5).

Spekkoek on sale in Indo (Eurasian) shop in Amsterdam, Netherlands. In Indonesia, spekkoek is enjoyed during Chinese New Year, Aidilfitri and Christmas celebrations. It is also served or given as gifts in many local festivities, sometimes in a birthday party and wedding. In the Netherlands, the sliced cake is traditionally served as dessert in rijsttafel.[2] The cake has a firm texture, similar to the one of a Baumkuchen in a baking plate but without a chocolate or sugar shell. Baking the cake requires much patience. Each thin layer is made by pouring a small amount of the batter from a small cup, baked one layer after another in the oven until golden with heat from the top. Cakes baked in electric ovens have a better taste as the cake can bake a lot faster gas is not recommended, but Dutch ovens with charcoal fire on top of the lid produces the best results. In some cases where clove buds or cardamon seeds are difficult to find, bakers use spekkoek powder as a replacement. Milling and mixing the spice before baking produces a cake with an excellent aroma. Actually the spice must be sieved into the flour at least 3 times as the spice is very fine and balls of spice will appear in the batter