Spiced Layer Cake

One cake that was always a special treat when I was little was the Indonesian Layer Cake. It has layers and layers of thin delicious cake filled with aromatic spices. It wasn't a cake that was had often for 2 reasons, one was that it was a little pricey and secondly it's a very rich cake so a little goes a long way. Because it wasn't eaten often and when you did it wasn't copious amounts of it, I have always remembered it as special.

When I found this recipe and decided to give it a go I realised why it was so amazingly delicious and crazily rich. It's all that eggs and butter. Delish! It's also a very time consuming cake to make but very worth it. The recipe I used was from Poh's Kitchen and I made 2 changes. Poh's recipe called for 5 spice powder but I opted to use mixed spice instead with extra cinnamon and I had no brandy so I made it without.

Spiced Layer Cake

6 egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
250g icing sugar, must be sifted
15 egg yolks
390g butter, softened and beaten lightly
120g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3 teaspoon mixed spice
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon powder
2 tablespoons brandy (optional)

1. Whisk whites and vanilla to soft peak.

2. Gradually add sifted icing sugar till stiff peaks form.

3. Add egg yolks one at a time, beating well between each yolk.

4. Add butter and beat till well incorporated.

1. 5. Sift the flour, baking powder, mixed spice and cinnamon powder together. Fold in to mixture in 3 batches. Add brandy if you have some.
2. 6. Grease a 20-22 cm square springform cake tin and line the outside of the tin with foil so batter does not leak through any gaps.
3. 7. Turn the oven to grill function.
4. 8. Put about a third of a cup of the cake mixture onto the base of the cake tin and spread it evenly over the base.
5. 9. Put the tin under the grill for 3-5 minutes or until the top is a golden brown. Keep an eye on it or it might burn.
6. 10. Remove from oven and scoop the same amount of batter for the second layer. (There is no need to wait for the cake to cool between layers). Repeat the same process. Keep going until you have finished all the batter.