Irresistibly delicious: a thin slice of Indonesian Thousand Layer cake (lapis legit) that melts on the tongue. This spicy and vanilla version is my favorite.
Thousand layer cake (‘Spekkoek’ in Dutch) is a typical Indonesian cake made up of many thin layers. There are two varieties, the classic thousand layer cake (shown in the photos accompanying this recipe) and the pandan layer cake. The classic recipe has alternating layers of light and dark dough.
The light cake/yellow layer is flavored with vanilla and the dark cake layer with a mixture of spices. The pandan thousand layer cake also has green layers of pandan batter in addition to the layers of vanilla batter. This cake tends to have a softer taste, although you can still taste a subtle pandan flavor.
This thinly layered Indonesian cake originated in the Dutch East Indies during the colonial era. You can find this delicacy in almost all Asian markets or Asian grocery store.
Originally, spekkoek seems to have been made only occasionally, for festive occasions, like Chinese new year. Not something you would find in every Asian supermarket. Making a lapis legit is so much work, that the cake is cut into thin slices. This is a token of respect to the baker, who put in all the work.
Now one funny story as the name in Dutch is spekkoek, which – literally translated – means bacon cake. I always thought the name had something to do with the amount of butter in the cake and creamy texture maybe, but nothing could be further from the truth.
Bacon cake owes its name to the beautiful layers of cake that resemble marbled bacon. It is also called spekuk or kueh lapis legit in Indonesian and kek lapis in Malay. But the most common name in other parts of the world would be thousand layer cake.
I have not been able to find specific information on this in authentic recipes, but the thinner the layers, the better. Also, the more layers, the longer you bake it. You will usually see a cake with between 15 and 25 layers. And no, that is obviously not a thousand layers!
For this recipe, I used a 20 cm springform tin, but if you want to make a larger cake with more layers, I recommend using an 18 cm springform tin or cake pan.
Making your own thousand layer cake is not difficult, but it is a laborious process. The cake is characterized by its many layers and these layers are baked one by one under the grill of the oven. As a result, it takes a pretty long time to finish.
Although making a thousand layer cake is a big job, you don’t need any fancy ingredients. The basic ingredients are eggs, butter, sugar and flour. From these, you make a batter according to the exact recipe and flavour it with vanilla and spices. Here are all the ingredients you need to make this classic Indian bacon cake.
This Indonesian cake takes a while to make, but then you can get a lot of servings out of it if you cut it into nice thin slices. It will keep for a long time if you keep it well wrapped in cling wrap.
Always wrap your cake well, preferably first in plastic wrap and then in aluminium foil or a plastic bag. This will ensure that the cake is well wrapped and airtight and will not dry out. You can store the cake for 3-4 days at room temperature or up to 5 weeks in the refrigerator.
Freezing lapis legit is not a problem. Wrap each slice well and airtight: first in cling film and then in aluminium foil. This will keep the slices in the freezer for up to three months.
I would love to try more Indonesian recipes, so if you have any suggestions, please let me know in the comments below the recipe. For example, the pandan version of this Indonesian layer cake sounds incredibly delicious.
At the moment, I have been trying out some Indonesian recipes that I am very excited about and will be sharing here shortly!:
Make sure that the first thing you do is get all your ingredients at room temperature. This applies to all my recipes (unless otherwise stated), but it is really important for this one. If the unsalted butter is at room temperature, you can mix it until it is nice and creamy and then spread the batter evenly in the cake tin.
Try to make the layers as thin as possible and make sure you bake them well before moving on to the second layer. This takes a little more patience and precision, but it is the most delicious. Would you like your thousand layer cake taller than in my photos? If so, use an 18cm springform pan and the cake will automatically be taller (and you will have to bake more layers!).
The layers of this Indonesian cake are baked under the oven grill. This is often set at the maximum temperature and cannot always be adjusted. In my case, I was able to set the grill to 200°C, where a baking time of 5 minutes per layer worked perfectly. Remember that this time is only a guide and be careful not to burn your layer. It is sometimes necessary to test the ideal baking time for each layer before moving on to the next. Make sure to start with a preheated oven.
Spekkoek tastes even better the day after it is baked. The flavor of the spices is richer and comes out better. But don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with eating it straight away 😉
Cut the cake into thin slices. As far as I know, 1 – 2 cm thick slices are common and it also allows you to enjoy your cake for a longer period of time.
Serve your freshly baked thousand layer cake at room temperature. A large part of the cake is butter and this will set in the fridge or at cooler temperatures. The flavors of the layers really come into their own at room temperature.
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