Mocha Kuih Lapis

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I say, I am becoming quite good at this! This is my third Lapis and all three times, they have turned out deliciously successful.
The first two cakes were baked during Chinese New Year. The strangest compliment I've received was when a friend told me that my Lapis was really good because her dog had liked it.....  Apparently, Snowy her dog, has extremely discerning taste. She would not just eat anything given to her and apparently she loves buttery desserts.... I am not an animal person so I have no idea whether that is normal.



Back to the Lapis. I baked this again because my father's 76 year old Malay doctor friend had been refusing to charge him when he went to see him for a skin condition. My father had been unwilling to go back for a follow up session because he knew the doctor is not going to charge him again. ( For those who are not familiar - this is an Asian thing. We feel indebted when we receive free things from friends.)  To force my father to go back to the clinic again, I volunteered to present the doctor with a Lapis when we go back again.

To be quite honest, at one point, I did wonder if it would be appropriate to present a 76 year old man with a cholesterol laden sweet but I went ahead with it anyway because, the Lapis is generally perceived as an indulgent treat and is extremely popular with the Malays (and non-Malays alike).  In fact, I have not met anyone, who does not enjoy the Lapis.

Coincidentally I saw Rima's gorgeous Mocha Lapis post last week. It was the most perfect lapis I have ever seen in my life. The texture looked exceptionally gorgeous. I was literally brimming with excitement until I saw the recipe.... The 9 inch cake uses 45 egg yolks, almost 1kg of butter and a mind whopping amount of sugar. I baulked and chickened out.

I decided to take a few elements from Rima's recipe and came up with a modified, recipe.
I am still extremely pleased with the texture of this Lapis and I hope with more practice, my lapis would one day look as good as Rima's.

Mocha Kuih Lapis

Recipe : 
(makes a 8″ square)
375g      butter
1            vanilla pod
180g      full cream condensed milk
5            whole eggs
12          egg yolks
200g      fine sugar
3g          baking powder
130g      cake flour
20g        butter milk powder (you can substitute this with milk powder)
2tbsp      mocha emulco
1tbsp      cocao powder
Method
1. Preheat oven to 230 C using the normal top and bottom heat to heat up the entire oven. If your oven has grill function with temperature control, use that.  
2. Line the bottom of a 8″ square pan. 
3.Cream butter, vanilla seed (scraped from vanilla pod) and condensed milk together until light and fluffy. Set this aside.
4. Beat eggs, egg yolks, sugar and baking powder together until ribbon stage.  Add the butter from (3) into the egg mixture and continue to beat at high speed.
6. Sift flour and fold into the batter.
7. Divide batter into 2 portions. Add mocha emulco and cocoa powder into one portion. Mix well to combine.
8. Heat the empty cake pan in the oven for 2 mins. 
9. Remove pan from oven and spread a portion of batter in the pan. (Measure your batter for every layer to ensure that your layers will be even) Level batter with a spatula and grill for 3 mins or until dark brown. 
10. Remove from oven, press cake layer to remove excess air. Spread another portion of batter, level it and grill for 3 mins or until dark brown. 
11. Repeat 9 and 10 (alternating 3 layers of plain batter with 3 layers of mocha layer) until the batter is finished.