Due to an unexpected day of fun in South Bend to watch some college football, my weekend got cut a bit short. Unfortunately, my to-do list did not, and I spent most of yesterday cooking, cleaning, and laundry-ing. Mostly cooking. On that to-do list was…
Simple cream scones are the perfect accompaniment to afternoon tea, or any breakfast spread- easy to throw to together and always a favorite.
It’s jam time, again. Jam and bread. Possibly my two favorite things. Or at least very, very near the top. Jam and Bread. Not only to be eaten as a side to some tea, but also a very popular breakfast choice throughout the world, each nation touting its own variation. Today, I offer another: Malaysian Kaya and Roti …or Malaysian flat bread with coconut-egg jam. Let’s go.
Not surprisingly, Malaysia has some pretty interesting sweets. Today’s dessert, onde onde, is a sweet pastry type cookie and a popular snack in Malaysia and Indonesia. However, unlike those French concoctions of buttery goodness that may come to mind, these little nuggets are made of…
Okay, so with this one, I can’t offer you any historical facts or profound tidbits. All I can say is that when I searched for popular East Timor dishes, this came up first each time. Admittedly the thought of making Batar Da’an, a stew, with…
Clearly, I like to try new foods. I mean, duh…why else would I be doing this? Maybe to discover and love this Portuguese Pao.
Lemon-filled vanilla cupcakes filled with a homemade lemon curd and topped with an easy vanilla American buttercream frosting.
The more I try and find swaps for my beloved Sunday morning feast, the more I realize I should just stick with what works, my regular plain Jane pancakes. Not that there was anything wrong with the Serabi that I made. It’s just that there…
Well, here’s something different, but also pretty amazing. It’s a broiled cake. Yup, you read that right. Broiled. But how can that be, you ask? Lucy, let me ‘splain.
Spekkoek, or Spiku, today’s dessert, is a Dutch-Indonesian cake, and a fine example of the influence European colonization has historically had on the nation’s cuisine. This Dutch cake base maximizes the gifts of the Spice Islands with a fragrant array of cinnamon, ginger, anise, nutmeg, cardamom and cloves. In Indonesia, this also known as lapis legit, which literally translates to “very rich layer cake” and, given the amount of butter in the recipe, it’s a very appropriate moniker. Not only rich, but aesthetically, it’s pretty awesome, and a full-blown cake can have up to 15 layers. Impressive indeed. Too legit to quit.
What I found most intriguing about this is that the layers are actually broiled, one by one atop the other, which means this cake actually takes very little time and little skill besides a watchful. It made me think of the traditional Dobos tortes from the motherland back in Hungary with an equally impressive amount of layers, all of which are individually baked. No doubt much more laborious. Maybe the Hungarians should take a page out of the Indo-Dutch cookbook.
My version was a mini since I live in a mini-household. As such, I only put ten layers in mine. Equally impressive, I say, and no less tasty. I was actually so blown away by this method of layering, I’m wondering in what other sorts of cakes I can try this method…stay tuned to see what my inner squint will concoct. Mwahahahaha…
Recipe adapted from The IndoChef
Ingredients
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup plus 2 TB sugar
10 large eggs, separated
pinch of salt
1 cup flour
2 TB powdered sugar
Spice mixture
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground anise
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1/4 tsp ground cloves
Directions
1. Preheat the broiler. Cream butter and sugar together with an electric mixer. Beat in eggs yolks a few at a time.
2. In another bowl, using clean beaters, beat the egg whites with the salt until stiff. Fold into yolk mixture. Fold in flour.
3. Divide batter between two bowls. Add the spice mixture to one bowl and mix in well. Line the bottom of a buttered 9″ (25 cm) round cake pan (or springform pan) with wax paper and butter the wax paper.
4. Pour about ½ cup of the spiced batter into the pan, spreading to form a thin (about pancake thickness) layer.
5. Place pan under a preheated broiler (oven grill) for 2 minutes, or until the layer is firm and very lightly browned. Spread ½ cup of the plain batter over the top and broil until firm. Repeat layering and broiling until all batter is used. Leave cake to cool, then remove from pan.
6. Sprinkle top with icing (confectioners) sugar. Serve in thin slices.
My cake looks a bit sloppy because, after almost burning one of the layers (like I said, careful eye…), I of course undercooked the next one. Rookie mistake. Therefore, slicing sort of smushed it a bit. Still tasted great. Next time, it’ll be much prettier.
Cassava pudding is a traditional dish from the Solomon Islands using local ingredients cassava, sweet potato and coconut milk, steamed in banana leaves.