Layer Cakes - Sapin Sapin And Kueh Lapis

I have never made sapin sapin nor was I enthusiastic about it before. To me it is just a three-color layered bibingka. The sapan sapin that I remember had only 4 ingredients: sweet rice, coconut milk, sugar, and food coloring, which probably is the Laguna style. The recipe in my Little Kakanin book uses three kinds of milk: coconut, sweetened condensed, and evaporated, and has ube and langka (jack fruit). Well, I made my sapin sapin with more flavoring, the ever present buco pandan and anise extract for a 4-layer sapin sapin. It was not easy to remove from the pan because it sticks everywhere but I love it!
While browsing the internet for the recipe I found several Malaysian layer cakes called Kueh Lapis and I was attracted by the thin beautiful layers. Looking at the ingredients and procedure, it's very similar to the sapin sapin. The finished cake has a firmer texture, more like a softer Chinese tikoy and not as sticky as sapin sapin, and therefore easier to slice and makes a lovely but yummy snack. I also love it.

Sapin Sapin

2¼ cups sweet rice flour
1¼ cup rice flour
1 cup sugar
2 cups coconut milk
red, yellow, and purple food coloring
optional ingredients:
1 cup finely minced buco
pandan extract
4 tablespoons ube powder
½ cup finely minced langka
½ teaspoon anise extract
banana leaf

• Line a 9-inch round pan with banana leaf, set aside. Mix flours, sugar, and coconut milk until smooth. Divide into four portions. Color one portion with red and add anise extract, add buco and pandan extract into the second, add yellow coloring and langka into the third, and add the ube powder and purple coloring, if a deeper purple is desired, to the remaining portion.
• Preheat the pan in the steamer for 5 minutes. Pour one color of your choice and steam for 15 minutes. Pour the next 3 portions, one at a time, steaming for 15 minutes each time.
• Cool completely before removing from pan. Serve with cooked until brown thick coconut milk (latik or budbod).

Malaysian Kueh Lapis

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950 ml coconut milk
400 gm rice flour
280 gm tapioca flour
½ teaspoon salt
550 gm sugar
10 pandan leaves
350 ml water
food coloring and flavoring

• Mix coconut milk, flours, and salt. Boil pandan, water, and sugar until sugar has dissolved. Remove pandan and stir into the flour mixture and mix well until smooth. Divide into 3 portions. Add green pandan paste to one portion and pink color to another portion, leave the third plain.
• Lightly oil a square baking pan. Steam pan for 5 minutes in boiling water. Pour 1 cup of white mixture and steam for 10 minutes. Pour 1 cup of green mixture on top of white mixture and steam for 5 minutes. Pour 1 cup of pink mixture and steam for 5 minutes. Repeat with white and green mixtures steaming 5 minutes each. Add more pink or a drop of red coloring to the pink mixture and pour on top of green. Steam for 10 minutes. Cool completely before cutting into shapes.

pretty yummy