How to make an all-natural Lavender flavoured Kueh Lapis with butterfly blue pea colouring.
Kueh Lapis, or layer cake, is a Singapore favourite dessert! Don’t get me wrong, I love my Rainbow Kueh Lapis. The fun is in the super bright colours, that you just can’t replicate naturally (without much effort). Some days, I want to feel (slightly) healthier, so I attempted this lavender kueh lapis!
Kueh lapis are steamed cakes, and this recipe uses no artificial flavours and colouring.
Culinary grade Lavender
I had some leftover culinary lavender that I was eager to use up. I let it simmer in the sugar syrup to extract the flavours, before straining the syrup to remove the lavender flowers.
The resulting flavour is a delicate lavender taste and smell. You might be tempted to add more lavender – practice caution. Too much lavender can result in a soap-like flavour. I find lavender needs to pair with another flavour, or else it might be too overwhelming. You don’t want to feel like you’re eating potpourri! Consider pairing it with lemon juice, or earl grey tea.
I used a tablespoon of lavender for this recipe. If your lavender is older, or is not as fragrant as when you first purchase it, add another tablespoon.
The lavender flavour is infused into the sugar syrup. Make sure to gently simmer, so as to not overdraw the lavender flowers. The lavender might also turn bitter from too much heat, which will leech into the syrup. Keep a low heat.
Blue Pea Flower as natural colouring
For colour, I used butterfly blue pea flowers. Extracting the colours is super simply. Steep the flowers in hot water for about 5 minutes or so. Then strain the liquid to remove the flowers, and voila! Blue food colouring.
Blue Pea flower does have a faint flavour, but I don’t find it noticeable in this kueh. The lavender taste definitely came through more.
Tapioca Starch to Rice Flour Ratio
For this recipe, I did a higher concentration of tapioca starch. In my original rainbow kueh lapis recipe, I used a higher ratio of rice flour. The result is a springy, yet soft kueh. This version resulted in a more chewy and stretchy kueh. While I prefer my rainbow lapis flour ratios, there is an equal number of people who prefer this stretchier kueh as it’s a lot more fun to eat.
Using more tapioca starch will also result in a more translucent kueh, as the rice flour contributes to opacity.
A heads up: This version was also harder to cut as it was so sticky! I used a plastic knife to cut it through, and found it hard to get a crisp line as it kept sticking to the knife. I switched to an oiled metal knife after a while, and it was even worse. Hence my not-too-pretty kueh shot :p Best bet is to use a plastic knife (such as the ones that come free with your birthday cake) or a bread spatula. Lay the kueh on a completely flat surface before cutting in.
Tips for perfect Kueh Lapis
Kueh Lapis is a fun recipe with minimal ingredients, but it can be tricky to make perfect. These are some tips to ensure a pain-free kueh lapis-making process:
- Strain batter a few times to remove any frothy bubbles that might have appeared from mixing.
- Make sure steamer is on a rolling boil before cooking the kueh lapis. To also warm up the container or baking pan in the steamer first before adding the batter.
- Do not add too much oil to the pan. This can result the kueh to not form properly. Too much oil will cause the batter to “sit” on top of the oil; instead of a smooth, flat layer, you will end up with dents.
- Use a measuring cup, or a water pitcher to pour in the layers in the steamer! It’s a lot faster, and will minimise any chances of being burnt by the hot steam!
- Cover lid with a towel, or wipe down every time a layer is added. This to prevent the water droplets from dropping into the kueh and causing holes.
If you want even more information, do check out the Rainbow Kueh Lapis recipe.
Lavender Butterfly Pea Kueh Lapis
4
servings20
minutes1
hourKeep the screen of your device on
Ingredients
- Lavender Sugar Syrup
120g Sugar
150ml Water
1 tbsp Culinary Lavender
- Kueh Lapis Batter
400ml Light Coconut Milk
200g Tapioca Starch
20g Rice Flour
Pinch of Salt
- Butterfly Blue Pea Food Colouring
- 1-2 tbsps Butterfly Blue Pea Flowers
2 tbsps Hot Water
Directions
- To a small sauce pan, add sugar, water and the lavender flowers. Gently simmer over low heat and stir to let sugar melt into the water. The sugar syrup is done once all the sugar melts, and it comes to a gentle boil. Strain syrup to remove the lavender.
- Meanwhile, add butterfly pea flowers and hot water to a bowl. Let flowers steep until the colour is extracted. Strain to remove the flowers and keep the blue liquid colouring.
- Add the sugar syrup to coconut milk, and stir. Once incorporated, add the tapioca starch, rice flour and salt and continue to stir to combine. Once combined, option to strain mixture a few times to remove frothy bubbles that might have appeared from the mixing.
- Separate the batter into two equal portions. Add all of the food colouring into one portion and stir to combine.
- Switch steamer on and let it come to a boil. Prepare kueh lapis container by brushing on a light layer of oil. Do not let oil pool in the container – blot with paper towels if there is too much oil. Place container in the steamer to let it warm up for about 5 minutes.
- Add the first white layer, and let it steam for 7 minutes. At 7-minute mark, check that the surface is solid but still sticky. Add the second blue layer and steam for 5 minutes. Repeat by alternating the colour layers.
- At the final layer, steam for 10 minutes to let the kueh set fully.
- Allow kueh to cool completely, so that it can fully set. This can take about 2 to 4 hours. A speedier option is to pop this in the fridge for about an hour. Take care to not keep it in the fridge for too long though, as it can harden. Once set, cut kueh and serve!
Did you make this recipe?
Tag @nomadetteats on Instagram
