Kueh Lapis - Chinese New Year sweet cake

Happy Lunar New Year everyone! Welcome to the Year of the Tiger :)

Associating food with tradition and festivity signifies how essential food is to people, society, culture and to the extent of basic survival. This time of the year, I can see bloggers busily baking Chinese New Year goodies and happily cooking up Chinese New Year dishes. Most of you know that I don't do the former but the latter, yes...sure.


The Kueh Lapis (Cake Layers) is not my favorite sweet treat during Chinese New Year. I prefer melt-in-the-mouth SWEET cookies and definitely, can't escape savory Bak Kwa. As festive dishes and goodies of Chinese New Year, they are all supposed to symbolize something, right? What is the Chinese New Year symbolism of Kueh Lapis then? The only aspect I know of Kueh Lapis ...is how difficult it is to bake.

These thin mulitple layers (building the layers up) of the cake are known to symbolize longevity.

As a variant, there is also prune Kueh Lapis but what is the significance of prune in this cake? Maybe it means SWEETNESS...and relates to a sweet happy long life? You tell me.


Enjoy all the goodies, my friends. Share the food and love.

Read about other symbolism of Chinese New Year food:
Abalone
Scallops
Corn and Sweet Peas - ้‡‘็Ž‰ๆปกๅ ‚

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37 comments:

  1. Gong Xi Fa Cai and Happy New Year!

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  2. Tigerfish,

    In Indonesia, we use the term kue lapis legit for this particular cake type, then there is another baked kue lapis (3 layers), called kue lapis Surabaya. The other kue lapis (pepe; pronounced: pay-pay) is the steamed one made with tapioca flour, rice flour & coconut milk.

    Gong Xi Fa Choi

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  3. Great year of Tiger to Tigerfish!
    And happy Chinese New Year to you too!

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  4. Hi Tigerfish, Happy New Year in the ear of Tiger! Enjoy your new day... its only the second day. :)

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  5. Happy New Year Tigerfish!! More prosperity and blogging this year =)

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  6. Happy Lunar New Year! This kue lapis is no easy job ~ well done!

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  7. Happy New Year! It's your year, TIGERfish! :) I love Kueh Lapis, but only a few slices. I saw a TV programme about how they use 20 egg yolks in 1 cake. Gulp.

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  8. Your kueh lapis looks awsome! With a few more tries, it will look like it's from Bengawan :)

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  9. This is my favorite!! I like the one without prunes though but this is one sweet treat that I must have whenever I go back. I got it at Lavender cake shop, yummy!

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  10. kue lapis prune! i haven't made that for ages!

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  11. Happy Chinese New Year!
    What a great recipe! :)

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  12. Kue lapis!

    In Indonesia we have three varieties :)

    I love kue lapis Surabaya the most. Since I'm living in Surabaya :P

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  13. this looks truly amazing!!!!!

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  14. Happy Lunar New Year!! Hope it isn't too late to send you this message. But, may the Year of the Tiger bring you prosperity and good health!

    Your kek lapis looks so tasty and well-done!! Perhaps I should make some after the post-Lunar New Year stock clearance! Too much food in our house now! LOL!

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  15. Happy New Year! That looks yummy.

    My entries:
    Moms... Check nyo
    Yummy-as-can-be

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  16. Happy Chinese New Year!!! I would love to have a bite on this kueh!

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  17. Beautiful cake! Happy Chinese New Year!

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  18. So many layers...so many fluffy, layers of deliciousness.

    I'm hungry now ;)

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  19. Oh my.. the cake looks sooo good.. :)

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  20. I'm a great fan of prunes. I think I'm gonna like this.

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  21. That's looks so delicious. Happy New Year Tigerfish!

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  22. Happy New Year! The cake looks yummy!

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  23. Happy New Year, Gong Xi Fa Cai! :)

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  24. Oh I was just thinking how I wanted some CNY cake (which I don't have) and then I came over here to find such lovely pictures. I could eat my screen now. I do like kueh lapis now and again, it's a real treat.

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  25. Thanks for having the patience to put this one together and share it with us. Looks amazing! Happy New Year!

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  26. Lapis with prune is my very favourite!

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  27. I've never tried kek lapis with prunes before, interesting. Happy CNY!

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  28. Haha I was just itching for a piece of kueh lapis the other day. Didn't get to have any this year! Not that I had any room left for it... =)

    Happy new year tigerfish!

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  29. Happy CNY. This cake is on my list of cakes to bake. Hopefully one day...

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  30. heya.. 1st time dropping by your blog.. very interesting blog!! And one common interest- FOOD. ahh.. kueh lapis.. its originated from indonesia right? I never had it during CNY though, normally only have it as a snack, when someone comes back from indonesia ;) great blog you have there.

    www.mysavourylife.com

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  31. Tigerfish, thanks for visiting me :)

    I very much prefer the prune version over the plain ones but I'm procrastinating baking kueh lapis for the amount of egg yolks used. And like you, between cookies and lapis, I prefer the melt-in-mouth cookies.

    BTW, you've got a great blog!

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