Dutch-Indonesian thousand layer cake a.k.a. spekkoek

Preparation – 15 minutes

If you're making your own spice mix, you have to do this first. Coat the spring form with butter and the bottom with a round piece of parchment paper. Degrease the bowl and whisk of your standmixer with a few drops of lemon juice and a paper kitchen towel.

ADD 7 egg whites to that bowl along with a tablespoon of powdered sugar. The other 2 egg whites can be used for another recipe, such as pavlova and set 9 egg yolks aside. BEAT the egg whites for a few minutes, until stiff peaks appear.

Combine the soft butter with the rest of the powdered sugar and stir until you've reached a smooth mixture. You can also use a standmixer to do this, but it doesn't need to be fluffy so a regular whisk will do.

Add the egg yolks and the seeds of a vanilla bean. Gradually add the egg whites until it's smooth again and then divide the batter into 2 equal parts. Add the speculaas spices and nutmeg to one part of the batter.

Pre-heat the oven to 160 degrees celsius or 320 degrees fahrenheit, with warmth from the bottom if your oven has that setting.  

Finishing the Dutch-Indonesian thousand layer cake a.k.a. spekkoek – 1 hour

Divide 2,5 tablespoons white batter over the bottom of the spring form. Make sure it's a thin and equal layer. Bake for about 5 minutes, remove from the oven and set the oven to grill setting if your oven has this setting.

Divide 2,5 tablespoons of spiced batter over the first layer and again, make sure it's thin and equal. Bake again for about 5 minutes, the exact baking time will depend on your oven.

The dough should be just cooked, soft and don't get any color. Repeat until all the batter is used and you've created lots of layers. Let this spekkoek cool off a bit before you're removing it from the spring form.

If you like you can remove the outside edge with a knife, enjoy!