Indo-Dutch Spekkoek Recipe—Lapis Legit— Layered Spice Cake

Gather the ingredients.

Beat the butter until smooth, preferably with an electric hand- or stand mixer.

Add half of sugar and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy.

Add the egg yolks and vanilla extract and beat thoroughly.

Whisk the egg whites in a spotless, grease-free bowl until light and frothy. Remember that the whisk should also be clean and free of the merest trace of grease, otherwise you will not get the desired volume from your egg whites.

Gradually add the other half of the sugar to the foamy egg whites, while continuing to whip the egg whites slowly and steadily.

Once you've added all the sugar, set the mixer setting higher and beat until the egg whites form stiff peaks that do not collapse when you pull out the whisk.

Add a generous tablespoon of the egg whites to the butter mixture and mix well.

Using a spatula, gently fold in one-third of the flour mixture into the butter batter, followed by a third of the remaining egg whites.

Repeat twice, each time folding in a third of the flour mixture and then a third of the egg whites. Do not overmix; stop folding once the batter becomes uniform in color.

Place half of the batter into another bowl.

Carefully but thoroughly whisk the spices into the batter of one of the bowls.

Heat the oven to broil, until it's nice and hot. Grease the 8-inch spring form pan.

Using a plastic dough scraper, spread a quarter of the unspiced batter over the bottom of the pan, ensuring a flat, smooth layer. The batter should be evenly distributed, without thick or thin spots and the side of the mold should be kept clean.

Place the spring form pan under the broiler until the batter becomes puffed, golden and cooked. The first layer will take longer than the rest, because it is slightly lower in the pan and therefore further from the heat source. It should take about 5 minutes to cook, but make sure the layer is cooked before adding the next layer of batter. Remove the pan from the oven.

Brush the top of the cake layer with melted butter.

Spread a quarter of the spiced batter on top. Again, spread the batter out evenly and smoothly, and place the pan back under the broiler.

Once this layer is cooked (after about 3 minutes), remove the pan from the oven and brush with butter.

Again, spread a quarter of the unspiced batter over the cooked layer and keep repeating this process using contrasting layers of spiced and unspiced batter until all the batter and butter are used up. You should end up with eight cake layers with alternating light and dark colors.

When the last layer has been cooked and removed from under the broiler, carefully loosen the cake from the side of the spring form pan.

Release the clamp of the spring form, remove the cake and allow to cool on a wire cooling rack.

Once the cake has cooled down, wrap it up in a few layers of plastic wrap and store in a cool place outside of the refrigerator. Serve spekkoek in thin slices.