Chocolate Vanilla Kek Lapis

Finally, finally, finally,....I have been wanting to do something for this month's Malaysia Food Festival which features Sarawak. So busy, what to do? But! I finally did it! Yay! Frankly speaking, I have little to no knowledge of Sarawak food heritage except that they make fantastic lapis cake. ;)) Actually I am not sure if this recipe I made pass the criteria or not, ...try first die later, lol! Introducing my post today....Chocolate Vanilla Kek Lapis!

I have been eying on several lapis recipes online, particularly Rima's from Bisous À Toi. Her lapis are ALWAYS perfect...seriously. So I trust that her recipe will turn out great. So I decided to take a recipe of hers and make some changes to it. :) Thanks Rima for sharing your recipes!

 I have no problem baking this, its the time involved doing it....3 long hours standing next to the hot oven....*faint*. It is truly a bake with love and patience. Note that my version has reduced the sugar level so feel free to increase it if you like yours sweeter. 

Ingredients for Chocolate Vanilla Kek Lapis (makes 8"x8"x3")

Egg yolk batter
250g unsalted butter, room temperature (I'll try salted next time)
130g caster sugar
14 egg yolks
4 tbsp condense milk

Egg White Batter
130g caster sugar
7 egg white
10g cornflour

Dry ingredients
150g Hong Kong flour (I used top flour)
40g Horlick
1 tsp baking powder

Flavoring
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract

1 tbsp chocolate emulco + 2 tbsp cocoa powder (valrhona) + 3 tbsp hot water - mix together

• For the egg yolk batter; Beat the butter and caster sugar till light and fluffy. Then add the egg yolks one at a time, beat well to combine after each add. Lastly, add in the vanilla extract, stir well.
•  
• Add in sifted dry ingredients. Stir gently to combine everything. Set aside.
• Preheat the oven to 180C at grill mode. Grease and line a 8"x8" square pan.
• In a large mixing bowl, beat the egg white till foamy, then continue beating and add in the sugar gradually. Continue to beat till stiff peaks.
• Add 1/3 of the white to the yolk and mix well. Then gently fold in the other 2 portions and be sure not to deflate the white.
• Lastly, divide the batter into half. (I just eyeball, feel free to weigh it out. Or do what Rima did, bake all vanilla then chocolate or vise versa)
• One portion of the batter, add in the chocolate flavoring mixture. Stir well.
• Weigh out 100g (Rima did 70g) for each batter. Bake one layer at a time for 7 minutes and alternating the flavors. Give the cake a gently press all round when it comes out of the oven. Then add on the next layer. 
• The last layer, bake at 170C normal oven mode (both top and bottom heat) for 10-12 minutes.

 If you look closely, I think the heat was a wee bit too strong and my most bottom layer got dried up. So after trimming the sides, I had to trim off the most bottom layer so as to remove that dry crumbly taste. My 12 layer becomes 11.*haiz*

My impression of lapis cake is it's greasy...perhaps those I ate from store bought are. But I was very please that mine turned out perfect, no greasy / oily feel on the hands or in the mouth. 250g butter for a 8"x8" square pan ain't that much if you ask me. The chocolate flavor is more prominent then vanilla, which is no problem for me because I love chocolate!

Actually I have to thank my BIL for sending over a tray of 30 eggs over a couple nights back. If its not for those big pretty eggs (which I have no room in my fridge), I wouldn't have bake this lapis cake, hahaha! 

My family love this cake, chocolaty, nice texture and not too dense, since it did use the egg separation method. Next time I would love to try out with Mocha flavor, should be yummy! 

I am proud to submit this to this month's  Malaysian Food Fest, Sarawak Month hosted by Sharon of Feats of Feasts. Thanks Wendy for the invitation! ;)

 Okay, got to run...am so late! See you all soon!