INTRODUCTION
All the base recipe for different type of commercially sold lapis is basically the same. Minor changes are made to have different flavouring and most will use a base recipe of at least 30 egg yolks. The same is for this prune lapis recipe, and if you wish, you can also consider to use the base recipe as in this post: Authentic Lapis Legit (Spekkoek 印尼千层蛋糕) to prepare that are moister but more sinful.
For this recipe, I have decided to design another new base recipe to go with the prune. My rationale is to give reader another choice of healthier lapis .. This recipe uses only about 15 egg yolks and 5 whole eggs, much less than 30 egg yolks. Of course, the texture will be different from the traditional lapis. For lapis, the higher is the egg yolk content, the “moister” and softer is the lapis and the more delicious. It is therefore addictive and sinful. In extreme cases, the egg yolks can be as high as 60 egg yolks for the same cake. To pair with it, 900 grams of butter is used. But this cake uses only about a third of the butter
I have many lapis recipes with varying amount of butter and eggs used. Among the recipe that you can try is : Water Melon Lapis (Lapis tembikai or 西瓜千层蛋糕) (16 egg yolks and 6 egg whites)
Coffee Peppermint Lapis (6 whole eggs)
Cream Cheese Chocolate Lapis Cake (5 whole eggs)
Lapis Horlicks (Horlicks Layered Cake) (8 whole eggs)
Based on your health objectives, you can select one recipe that suits you . Just click on the picture above or the title of the picture.
This prune lapis is very common nowadays in Singapore. If I am not wrong, one 8” tray are selling about S$60 in Bengawan Solo. As to when this variant started to become popular, I am unsure too. I do not think this variant is as popular in West Malaysia and Sarawak because Sarawak have many other types of lapis which I intend to share one lapis recipe per year before Chinese New Year.
I never concur that preparing lapis is an extremely tedious affair. Yes, it is laborious but no body will sit in front of the oven and doing nothing waiting for the layer to be baked. Professional home makers make 6 cakes at one baking session using 3 layers, 2 tin per layer . The tin will be systematically rotated and by the time all the six tins are filled with the first layer, the first layer in the first tin has already browned enough to have the second layer. Therefore, the baker is standing in front of the oven until all the 6 cakes were done .
Of course for home makers, there is no need to bake so many trays. What I did usually is for each layer to get ready, I have about 5 minutes of slot to do other things. That is the time that I used to cleaning the working table, collecting the mixer bowl to the washing basin, dishing all the baking accessories, and also preparing for the next layer. This is rather fast and at times, I did my cooking of savoury dishes and by the time my lapis is done, every thing is cleaned and my dinner is done. Not much time was wasted.
WHAT IS REQUIRED
Servings: Prepare a 20cm x 20 cm cake
- 200 grams of plain flour
- 200 grams of milk powder
- 50 grams of castor sugar or icing sugar
- 385 grams of butter
- 15 egg yolks
- 5 whole eggs
- 1 can of condensed milk (about 380-400 gram)
- 100 grams of pitted prunes
- 3 tablespoons of rum or brandy (optional)
STEPS OF PREPARATION
- Pre-heat the oven to 180 degree Celsius. Grease the baking tin adequately with butter. Place a piece of baking paper at the bottom of the baking tin.
- Crack the eggs and put 15 egg yolks and 5 whole eggs in a bowl . Set aside.
- Beat the butter, condensed milk and icing sugar until light and fluffy. Sift in the cake flour and mixed spice. Use the standing mixer’s lowest available speed to mix for 1 minute or until well mixed.
- In another mixer, beat the egg yolks until ribbon stage which took about 10-15 minutes. Ribbon stage means that the beaten eggs will drip slowly rather than very liquid. Add the beaten egg yolks gradually to the batter and use the lowest speed to mix until well combine. If the mixer mixing are not thorough, use a spatula to manually mix the batter,
- Pre-heat the tin in the preheated oven of 180 degree Celsius for 2-3 minutes. Once done, TURN THE OVEN TO TOP GRILLING MODE. Place about 1/2 cup of the batter to the baking tin. Put it back to the oven for about 15 seconds to let the heat melt the batter, swirl around the tin to make a thin layer. (Note that in this illustration, I have used about 1 cup to expedite the process. As such, the layers are thicker)
- Bake in the oven for about 5 minutes or until the top part starts to brown. If there are bubbles noted, use a toothpick to break it and use a icing smoother to lightly press the layer.
- While the first layer is baking, shred some prunes into smaller pieces . This step is optional if you prefer to use the whole pitted prunes.
- After the first layer is done, put some prunes on top of the first layer. Put another 1/2 cup of batter on top, swirl around until even. Bake in the oven for about 5 minutes or until brown. Perform the same for the remaining batter in the following manner : Layer 1, 3, 5, 7, 9…. – plain layer ; layer 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 …. – layer with pitted prune. For the last layer, put 9 whole prunes on top and bake for 5 minutes. Once it is done, turn off the grill mode, return the oven to normal mode and change the temperature to 160 degree Celsius, bake the cake for another 15 minutes.
Note:
- If you are running of prunes , you can consider the following layering: Layer 1, 3,4, 6,7, 9,10 – plain layer; Layer 2, 5, 8 , 11 .. – layer with pitted prune.
- For moister cake, you can brush the melted layer on each layer. However, I have by passed this step and come out with equally moist cake.
CONCLUSION
Remember if you want the texture of the store bought prune lapis, you have to refer to this post Authentic Lapis Legit (Spekkoek 印尼千层蛋糕) . The method of preparation is the same. It will yield a softer and moister texture lapis cake. Having said that, if you want a healthier version, you can consider this recipe.
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