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I say, I am becoming quite good at this! This is my third Lapis and all three times, they have turned out deliciously successful.
The first two cakes were baked during Chinese New Year. The strangest compliment I’ve received was when a friend told me that my Lapis was really good because her dog had liked it….. Apparently, Snowy her dog, has extremely discerning taste. She would not just eat anything given to her and apparently she loves buttery desserts…. I am not an animal person so I have no idea whether that is normal.
Back to the Lapis. I baked this again because my father’s 76 year old Malay doctor friend had been refusing to charge him when he went to see him for a skin condition. My father had been unwilling to go back for a follow up session because he knew the doctor is not going to charge him again. ( For those who are not familiar – this is an Asian thing. We feel indebted when we receive free things from friends.) To force my father to go back to the clinic again, I volunteered to present the doctor with a Lapis when we go back again.To be quite honest, at one point, I did wonder if it would be appropriate to present a 76 year old man with a cholesterol laden sweet but I went ahead with it anyway because, the Lapis is generally perceived as an indulgent treat and is extremely popular with the Malays (and non-Malays alike). In fact, I have not met anyone, who does not enjoy the Lapis.
I say, I am becoming quite good at this! This is my third Lapis and all three times, they have turned out deliciously successful.
The first two cakes were baked during Chinese New Year. The strangest compliment I’ve received was when a friend told me that my Lapis was really good because her dog had liked it….. Apparently, Snowy her dog, has extremely discerning taste. She would not just eat anything given to her and apparently she loves buttery desserts…. I am not an animal person so I have no idea whether that is normal.
Back to the Lapis. I baked this again because my father’s 76 year old Malay doctor friend had been refusing to charge him when he went to see him for a skin condition. My father had been unwilling to go back for a follow up session because he knew the doctor is not going to charge him again. ( For those who are not familiar – this is an Asian thing. We feel indebted when we receive free things from friends.) To force my father to go back to the clinic again, I volunteered to present the doctor with a Lapis when we go back again.To be quite honest, at one point, I did wonder if it would be appropriate to present a 76 year old man with a cholesterol laden sweet but I went ahead with it anyway because, the Lapis is generally perceived as an indulgent treat and is extremely popular with the Malays (and non-Malays alike). In fact, I have not met anyone, who does not enjoy the Lapis.
Coincidentally I saw Rima’s gorgeous Mocha Lapis post last week. It was the most perfect lapis I have ever seen in my life. The texture looked exceptionally gorgeous. I was literally brimming with excitement until I saw the recipe…. The 9 inch cake uses 45 egg yolks, almost 1kg of butter and a mind whopping amount of sugar. I baulked and chickened out.
I decided to take a few elements from Rima’s recipe and came up with a modified, recipe.
I am still extremely pleased with the texture of this Lapis and I hope with more practice, my lapis would one day look as good as Rima’s.
Mocha Kuih Lapis
Mocha Kuih Lapis
Recipe type: Sweets
Ingredients
- 375g butter
- 1 vanilla pod
- 180g full cream condensed milk
- 5 whole eggs
- 12 egg yolks
- 200g fine sugar
- 3g baking powder
- 130g cake flour
- 20g butter milk powder (you can substitute this with milk powder)
- 2tbsp mocha emulco
- 1tbsp cocao powder
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 230 C using the normal top and bottom heat to heat up the entire oven. If your oven has grill function with temperature control, use that.
- Line the bottom of a 8″ square pan.
- Cream butter, vanilla seed (scraped from vanilla pod) and condensed milk together until light and fluffy. Set this aside.
- Beat eggs, egg yolks, sugar and baking powder together until ribbon stage. Add the butter from (3) into the egg mixture and continue to beat at high speed.
- Sift flour and fold into the batter.
- Divide batter into 2 portions. Add mocha emulco and cocoa powder into one portion. Mix well to combine.
- Heat the empty cake pan in the oven for 2 mins.
- Remove pan from oven and spread a portion of batter in the pan. (Measure your batter for every layer to ensure that your layers will be even) Level batter with a spatula and grill for 3 mins or until dark brown.
- Remove from oven, press cake layer to remove excess air. Spread another portion of batter, level it and grill for 3 mins or until dark brown.
- Repeat 9 and 10 (alternating 3 layers of plain batter with 3 layers of mocha layer) until the batter is finished.
{ 40 comments… read them below or add one }
Looks absolutely stunning! You are really good in making kuih lapis! I need to give it a go!
Definitely artery-clogging but who cares as long as it's yummy! Nice even layers!
The layers are so perfect and I definitely can eat more than two slices
wow this is really a neat kuih lapis
So glad you came up with an alternative to 45 egg yolks Shirley! I saw your pin n Pinterest and went to the link . It was beautiful! but when i saw 45 egg yolks i was disappointed. Because it was so beautiful but yet I wld never make it. Too cholesterol laden as you say.
But now your version is more sane and just as beautiful. I must give it a go one day. The key word here is One Day of course. lol..but perhaps i will.. for a very special ocassion coming soon
Thanks for the recipe and experimenting . You are getting very good at this!
Hi Zurin! Yes, I was disappointed too…Maybe one day I will halve the portion and make a smaller cake just to understand the difference….
aiyo…I score you 10/10 for this…Every layer is so clearly defined. My previous attempt to bake a layer cake was a failure. I must try to make it again after seeing your mouth watering lapis!
Your modified version still look beautiful! Bet it is just as delicious too!
Totally new to me.. Looks great.. a must try one..
It looks perfect!! You should be proud! The great thing is that with such a rich cake, little is enough- that's why I like how you photograph it! Small sliver but looks amazing!
Fantastic job. As someone else noted, each layer is so uniform and clearly defined. As you note, kue lapis is not for those watching their cholesterol.
How you get the layers to be so even. I remember making it once and the layers were thick and thin. I always like Kuih Lapis but skeptical to make it when I look at the amount of egg yolk and butter in it. I like you lighter version and might try it out one day.
By the way, may I know when you add the butter mixture into the eggs mixture or the other way round?
Gert- Oh I missed out the step. Sorry. You add the butter to the egg batter after the ribbon stage has been achieved.
As for the even layers, did you press?
A gorgeous work of art Shirley. Amazing! I miss having these from my Singapore days (I used to love the Pandan one)
Beautiful cake!
To make this needs a lot of patience…and lots of egg yolks!! But of course cake is super super delicious!!
I had tried to leave comments to all your previous post, but my computer had some problem screening out the "two words" for me to view to type comments in).
well done Shirley, it look just perfect!
Shirley, 功夫到家！！
Your kuih lapis looks so delectable!! I'm totally speechless!!! Love your healthy version.
LaiKuan- this is by no means healthy!! It is still cholesterol laden…
Absolutely stunning, I love lapis and would love to try this mocha version!
Just one question though. Your Malay doctor being Muslim (I imagine), would he accept anything baked or cooked in a non-halal kitchen? (And I assumed that yours isn't?)
I wonder because my Malay nanny and most of my Muslim friends wouldn't.
@BeauLotus- Yes, he has no problem with that. I think, many modern day Muslims are more open minded today. I actually deliberately leave out rum – otherwise, this cake would taste even better with rum….
I'm not that familiar with Lapis. It's beautiful. I'm missing something in the recipe; how do you assemble the cake? Is there a liquid poured over it? Do you trim the final cake?
Thanks so much. It's so beautiful! I want to try it.
@Christina- The cake is not assembled. It is made by grilling layers upon layers. This is described in steps 9 and 10. You need to grill small quantity of batter layer by layer. A typical cake has at least 12 layers if not more. Mine, I believe have about 14 to 16 layers. You can measure the batter for each layer with a measuring cup e.g. 1/2 cup for each layer. Yes, I trim the final cake but if you don't mind the edges, you can eat it as well. It will be a little harder and drier.
Just quite good? Very good!
I heard that dogs cannot have chocolates – hmmm, how about mocha? ;p
Gorgeous kuih lapis and this is really tempting me to make another one. But the thought of the work/hours behind it … nah~!
Totally in awe with your kuih lapis and very defined individual layers!
Loving it…
This looks so rich! Love the color. This dessert is so similar to a dessert called Bibanca(i think).. it's from Goa, a state in India
Very nicely layered….thin and even. Indeed you are very good at this! So nice of u to bake this for your dad's doctor…anyone would live to have it…young or old!
Thanks for sharing your condensed version of that monstrous recipe. It looks perfect! I'll have to bookmark it for future references.
I’m so glad I stumbled upon your site. It’s awesome and thanks for sharing these wonderful recipes! I love your stunning pictures too! I’m half inspired to make lapis even though I am completely talentless in baking.
Hey Karen – how have you been? Have you been attending classes at Shermay’s?
Hi Shirley!
Such a small world. Nope, I haven’t been attending classes at Shermay’s for close to a year now, I think. Have you been attending classes? Catch up soon on Twitter’s PM!
Cheerio!
Karen aka SFF
Hi! Your lapis cake looks fabulous! What type of oven do you use for baking this?
Hi Fatin – thank you. I use a convection oven and set it to top grilling mode.
I’m intending to buy an oven which I can use to bake lapis. What brand would you recommend? Thanks!
Hi this blog is absolutely amazing and I’d just like to say that am so excited to try all your recipes. I’m actually just really amazed that I’ve found a blog that has recipes for nyonya and western desserts XD Please keep up the fantastic work (and the photography is stunning)
DDD
Thanks, K-Tyn!
Trying this!!
(also that is so not exclusively Asian 
)