Selamat Hari Raya Adilfitri!

This has been a rare mega long weekend for us. Last Thursday was the Deepavali (pronounced dee-waa-li ; the Indian Festival of Lights) holiday, and today is the make-up holiday for Hari Raya Adilfitri (the marking of the end of the Muslim Holy Month) which fell yesterday. Thus, if you had taken last Friday off (like I did), it would have given you a luxuriously long 5-day weekend. Now, how often did that happen? It was the perfect opportunity to get away from the City for a short break, to chill and to just catch some R & R.

There are many Indian and Malay snacks on my list of all-time favorite foods. These are loves that have been nurtured since I was a little girl. Long before I knew them to be Indian, I adored the deep-fried, slightly spicy muruku. As a child, I felt my Chinese god-mother made the best muruku ever. And even now, more than a decade after her death, my wistful memories still feel hers to be simply the best.

I also have many fond memories of visiting friends during Hari Raya in Brunei. Much like Chinese New Year, it is a festival that is punctuated with many, many edible goodies… biscuits (cookies), cakes, curries, rendangs, ketupat (individual savory rice cakes wrapped in small baskets woven from young coconut leaves) and all sorts of scrumptious eats.

Similar to the frenzy that usually precedes the Chinese New Year, Malay households cook and bake up a storm in preparation for the Hari Raya festivities; the array of cookies and cakes that stream out of the kitchen of a prolific baker and cook can be mind-boggling. And what I’ve always found distinctive about Malay cookies and cakes, compared with our Chinese ones, are their often eye-catching, vibrant hues and intricate (read painstakingly created) designs.

Many traditional Malay Hari Raya delicacies have even made it into mainstream Chinese New Year food customs in places like Brunei and Malaysia. Things like kueh mur (click and scroll down till you see round white balls) are much loved by people like me, and something feels amiss if they are not present during Chinese New Year!

There is one cake that my thoughts immediately turn to every time Hari Raya rolls around -- Kek Batik. This is a uniquely Bruneian cake; I haven’t seen it anywhere else. It used to be a special festive cake made only for Hari Raya. Nowadays, it is sold year-round at some cake-shops. Still, it is at Hari Raya that Kek Batik feels most special, and it is always the home-made version that is the best.

Kek Batik is a rich, densely fudgy, somewhat brownie-esque cake made with sweetened condensed milk (how can anyone not like a cake made with that?), Milo and Marie biscuits. It is incredibly easy to make (as I’ve recently found out), and enjoyably moreish to eat. Why it is named after the distinctive Indonesian wax-drawn cloth, batik, I’m not entirely sure. Perhaps it is from the patterns created by the pieces of white Marie biscuits scattered through the dark brown cake dough -- a little reminiscent of the simple yet intricately designed batik cloth.

What makes this cake rather unique (apart from its taste and texture) is the way it is made -- rather than being baked in the oven, the batter is cooked on the stove-top and then refrigerated. This makes it an unspeakably fun (kids will love making this, and it’s easy enough for them to do so) and indescribably sensuous and sensual thing to make. Imagine, standing at the stove stirring a pot of thick, luxuriously rich, chocolatily (yes, there is such a word; I just made it up) aromatic, dark fudgily brown batter. As a kid, I had fantasies of being the Goddess of Chocolate and spending my days stirring huge vats of rich chocolate. Well, making Kek Batik comes pretty close to realizing that dream!

The cake texture is interestingly unique, and a little hard to pinpoint exactly. It is sort of a cross between rich fudge and dense brownie, yet it also has a certain lightness to it. Whilst rich, it is not cloyingly so -- it doesn’t end up feeling like a rock sitting in the pit of the stomach. It is also not as sweet as fudge or brownies, or indeed as sweet as the recipe may seem to indicate -- the Marie biscuits provide a nice, bland counterbalance.

What I find rather fascinating (simple things do so intrigue me at times) is the textural change that the Marie biscuits undergo. From being hard, somewhat dry biscuits, they take on a soft, fluffy, almost cake-like (yet never soggy) texture when mixed into the hot batter. And that is what makes this cake so deliciously good to eat: that balance of texture between soft, almost sponge cake-like pieces of biscuits and rich, densely fudgy cake dough; that play of flavors between luscious chocolaty indulgence and anchoring biscuity neutrality.

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A couple of months ago, during one of our email conversations, pinkcocoa and I were discussing the different Bruneian foods we were missing, and the subject of Kek Batik came up. In between us both swooning and pining for this cake and musing about how it was made, pinkcocoa sent me two web links to recipes for the cake. That inspired me to do a quick trawl of the Net, during which I found several more recipes written in Malay.

For some reason, none of the recipes really appealed to me. But now armed with a general idea of the key ingredients and a stockpile of memories of the different versions I had tasted before: the ones I liked and the ones I didn’t like, I decided to create my own recipe.

I reduced the amount of butter suggested by most of the recipes by more than half. In the past, a lot of the time, I found the cake to be overpoweringly (almost greasily) buttery; I wanted the fudge notes to come through more strongly instead. Besides, since the cake wasn’t going to be baked, the butter wasn’t needed as a leavening agent ; its role was more to enrich the batter and to enhance the rich, smooth, fudgy mouth-feel. It thus wouldn’t really matter if the quantity of butter was cut so drastically; I figured the same textural results could be achieved using other ingredients.

The amount of sugar was also halved. At the same time, instead of using just white sugar, I opted to add some dark Muscovado sugar too -- to give the batter added color, aroma and of course a denser, more fudgy texture. To help the latter cause along further, I upped the amount of sweetened condensed milk used. I mean, what better excuse reason to add more sweetened condensed milk (don’t you just love that stuff?). No, it didn't make the cake overbearingly sweet -- in fact, the cake was surprisingly not very sweet at all; it was just right. And oh, here’s something else to assuage the guilt a little (if you are feeling guilty at all that is): full cream sweetened condensed milk has, gram for gram, only one tenth the amount of fat of butter (which it partially replaced in my recipe) -- butter has over 73g of fat per 100g, whilst full cream sweetened condensed milk weighs in at a lightweight 8g per 100g! I thought it was a rather ingenious way to lighten the cake considerably and yet still give it that distinctive rich, dense, fudgy texture.

Finally, the last big change that I made was to use a mix of Dutch-process unsweetened cocoa and Milo, instead of purely just Milo. This gave the cake the most incredibly chocolatey flavor that was noticeable yet not overpowering.

I have to say, my very first attempt ever at making Kek Batik -- from my “wild concoction” of a recipe at that -- was a stunning success. Every single person I served it to raved about the cake. My domestic help, A, became an instant convert and possibly an instant addict! I’ve since made the cake another two times, and each time, people clamored for more.

And me being me, I’m now very tempted to experiment further and to add a couple of new ingredients to the recipe -- just to see what happens. But that is for another time. In the meantime, this recipe is very, very good as is. This is great to make with kids. Or, simply whenever you feel like taking a few minutes out of a hectic day to feel like a Goddess (or God) of Chocolate stirring a pot of divine ambrosia!

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Before I get to the recipe proper though, just a few quick notes about some of the ingredients.

I highly recommend using dark Muscovado sugar; it may be a little bit more expensive, but I do feel it lends an added nuance of flavor and aroma to the cake. However, regular dark brown sugar can be used in substitute; this will still give that dark coloring and fudgy texture, only without the distinctive fragrance of Muscovado. If you don’t have either, simply use the same amount of white sugar.

I use full cream sweetened condensed milk, but feel free to use the skimmed or partially-skimmed versions (which cannot be found in Singapore) if that is readily available to you. This will of course lighten the fat content of the cake further.

The sweetness of Milo varies greatly depending on where it is made. The ones made in Singapore and Malaysia are considerably less sweet than those made in Australia or the UK for example. So, depending on how sweet you like the cake, you may wish to make adjustments to the sugar levels accordingly.

Dutch-process cocoa gives a smoother, more rounded flavor (in my opinion), but regular unsweetened cocoa can just as easily be substituted instead.

And finally, the Marie biscuits. I suspect these are uniquely Asian biscuits (though I could be wrong). I like the Khong Guan brand, but any brand will suffice. And if you can’t get your hands on Marie biscuits (although Khong Guan does export to many places in Europe and the US), I will hazard a guess and say that any kind of hard, fairly dry, plain biscuits will do -- such as Rich Tea maybe, for those in the UK. Sorry, I can’t, at this moment, for the world of me think of something that may be an equivalent in America. Basically, we want something that is plain (Marie biscuits do have a hint of coconut to them though), hard and fairly dry, but that won’t become soggy or disintegrate when heated or mixed with batter.

Okay, here’s the recipe…

Kek Batik a la Renee

Makes 24 pieces.

½ cup (120g) softened unsalted butter
¼ cup (35g) loosely packed dark Muscovado sugar
¼ cup (60g) caster sugar
5 medium eggs
1 396g-can sweetened condensed milk
½ cup (55g) Milo
½ cup (50g) Dutch-process unsweetened cocoa, sifted
1½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
approx. 20 pieces (150g) big Marie biscuits

• Line an 8” square cake pan with a piece of long rectangular-shaped greaseproof paper, such that the bottom and two sides of the cake pan are lined, and that the two ends of the greaseproof paper extend a few inches beyond the cake pan. These will act as “handles” and help facilitate the easy unmoulding of the cake later. I also like to give the lined cake pan a very light spritz of cooking spray (on the bottom and sides) ; again for ease of cake removal.

• Combine the sweetened condensed milk, Milo and cocoa powder in a medium bowl. Mix well to get a smooth, thick paste. Set aside.

• Break each Marie biscuit into four or five pieces. (If using the smaller Marie biscuits, break into thirds.) Set aside.

• Using either an electric mixer or a strong arm (whichever is more readily available), beat the butter and sugars together until the sugars are just about dissolved and the mixture is light and fluffy. If using the machine, scrape down the sides of the bowl once or twice, if necessary.

• Add the eggs one at a time, and beat until just fully incorporated. Scrape the sides of the bowl as and when necessary.

• Add the vanilla and cocoa-Milo mixture. Mix on low speed until just incorporated. (The batter will be liquidy.)

• Transfer batter to a large pot (I find a deep non-stick skillet or even a non-stick wok works very well, as they remove the risk of the batter scorching).

• Cook on a low flame, stirring constantly, until the batter comes together into a soft dough. [Avoid cooking with too high a heat, as this will give the batter a rather rough, perhaps even clumpy, texture. Also avoid over-cooking the batter, as the dough will then be too hard to mix the biscuits into without them disintegrating into tiny pieces, and it will also be harder to spread the dough into the cake pan.]

• Remove from the heat. Put in the broken Marie biscuit pieces and fold until just mixed through.

• Spoon dough into the prepared cake pan, and level it out, making sure to press the dough into the corners and edges of the cake pan. [I find that the most efficient way to do this is to slip my hand into a plastic bag before using my fingertips to press the dough into shape. The dough will be hot, so be careful ; but this is the best way I’ve found to eliminate the problem of the dough sticking to the spatulas, backs of spoons or fingers.

• Put cake into the refrigerator and leave to chill overnight (yes, this will be extremely difficult to do, but try ; you’ll be glad you did). Once the cake has cooled (a couple of hours after being put into the fridge), cover the top of the cake pan with plastic wrap.

• To unmould the cake: simply run a bread knife along the two unlined sides of the cake pan, hold on to the two long ends of greaseproof paper and pull the cake free of the pan. Tear away the greaseproof paper and place the cake on a plate.

The cake is at its fudgy best when served at room temperature; but it is just as lip-smackingly good straight from the fridge.

Happy Batik Kek-ing!

And to all my Hindu readers, a belated Happy Deepavali; and to all Muslim readers, Selamat Hari Raya Adilfitri!

Copyright © 2004 Renee Kho. All Rights Reserved.
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