Killer Sugee Cake

Wanna make a sugee cake that's light and fluffy? That's right, the Eurasian classic doesn't have to be dense and heavy. Let me, a half-Eurasian, show you how. What? You didn't know I'm half-Eurasian? Hey, half of Eurasian is Asian and I'm 100% Asian. That makes me 50% Eurasian, right?

There're many sugee cake recipes out there and after comparing several, I became very confused. How much sugee should you use? Do you fry it? Do you soak it? If you do, how long should it be? A few hours? Overnight? What do you soak it in? Melted butter, soft butter or creamed butter? Or maybe it's milk? How many egg whites? How many yolks? Baking powder, baking soda or neither? How much flour? How much almond?

So many questions and, I tell ya, soooo many different answers. Every recipe I looked at was different. The conclusion I came to was: sugee cakes are like zebras; no two are alike.

Guess what? Another zebra just joined the herd zeal. Here's my take on the Eurasians' most loved cake:

To fry or not to fry? The sugee, that is, aka semolina. Definitely fry. If you don't believe me, try it and see how fragrant the semolina is after it turns brown. Too lazy to stand by the stove and stir? You could do what I do. Just bung the semolina into the oven. Baking browns just as well as frying, minus the stirring . . . . Oh hang on, you do have to stir but it's just once midway whilst baking.

To soak or not to soak? Definitely soak because browned semolina is very dry and sandy.

What to soak in? Definitely butter, whipped to within an inch of its life. Why not softened or melted butter? Because the butter must have lots of air if you want a light and fluffy cake. Why not milk? Because the batter has the right thickness without any milk (or cream). It's what I call the "plop consistency", i.e. the batter goes "plop" when you drop it from your spatula/spoon/whatever.

For how long? Till the semolina loses its crunch but not its bite. I find that an hour is ample. How do you tell when it's done? By tasting, of course. How else?

How many egg whites? Two. How many yolks? Five. To be exact, it's 80 g each for a 18 cm cake. This is the right amount if light and fluffy is your kind of thing. The cake rises well but doesn't collapse or crack. There may be a slight dome but it subsides nicely once the cake is removed from the oven.

Should you add a leavener? Definitely, to help the cake rise. I go for baking soda but I'd imagine an appropriate amount of baking powder works just as well.

A light sugee cake is nice but a denser version has its merits too (and character). Why? Because you can get a grainier, nuttier crumb by using coarsely ground almonds. The dense batter prevents big almond bits from sinking to the bottom of the pan. For a fluffy cake, the almonds must be finely ground.

How much semolina, almond and flour? The first cake I baked had one part plain flour, two parts almond and four parts semolina. I'd never eaten sugee cake before and was expecting something dense because that's how everyone describes it. To my surprise, what I got was very light and fluffy. I liked the cake very much but thought it could be nuttier. The second time round, I used an equal amount of semolina and ground almond and, hey presto, magic happened. The cake knocked everyone's socks off. It was so light it flew off the table (into everyone's mouth). The third time, I used cake flour instead of plain flour. That cake didn't send any socks flying. Instead, it knocked everyone dead. They all died, smiling and still wearing their socks.

Would you dare bake a killer cake? Of course you would! Good cake is worth dying for . . .  isn't it?

Here it is, the making of a killer:



The Eurasians serve sugee cake on special occasions such as weddings, birthdays, Christmas, New Year, christenings and, I hear, funerals.

SUGEE (SUJI) CAKE  Source: adapted from Rose's Kitchen (Recipe for one 18 x 5 cm cake) 165 g unsalted butter, at room temperature 35 g castor sugar 1 tsp golden syrup 2 tsp brandy 60 g semolina spread thinly on baking tray lined with aluminium foil; bake 10 minutes at 180°C; stir thoroughly; continue baking till light brown and fragrant, another 5 minutes or so; leave till cool 80 g yolks 35 g castor sugar 1 tsp vanilla extract 60 g almonds bake at 180°C till brown and fragrant, 6-8 mins; chop roughly when cool; grind till fine 20 g cake flour 1/6 tsp baking soda 80 g egg whites 1/8 tsp cream of tartar  35 g castor sugar Whisk 165 g butter and 35 g sugar till thick and pale. Add 1 tsp golden syrup and 2 tsp brandy. Mix till combined. Add baked semolina. Mix thoroughly. Set aside till semolina is soft, about 1 hour, in air-conditioned comfort if weather is unusually hot. Preheat oven to 170°C. Line 18 x 5 cm round cake pan with parchment paper. Whisk 80 g yolks and 35 g castor sugar till thick and pale. Add 1 tsp vanilla extract and ground almonds. Sift 20 g cake flour and 1/6 tsp baking soda into mixture. Mix evenly. Add to butter mixture. Fold till almost even. Whisk 80 g egg whites till thick foam forms. Add 1/8 tsp cream of tartar. Whisk till foam thickens further. Gradually add 35 g castor sugar as you continue whisking. Keep whisking till egg whites just reach stiff peak stage. Fold into yolk and butter mixture in 2 batches till just evenly mixed, scraping down thoroughly as you fold. Pour batter into cake pan and level top. Bake till cake shrinks very slightly from sides, around 40 minutes. If cake browns too fast – check 25 minutes into baking – block oven's top heat with baking tray. Remove cake from oven. Let cool a few minutes. Unmould and leave on wire rack till completely cool.

Ang Ku Kueh (紅龟粿; Kuih Angkoo)

I've just made some 紅龟粿. Is it good? Heheheh . . . heh . . . . Is your mother a woman?

It's my virgin attempt but the results are as good as the best store-bought ang ku kueh in town. The mung bean filling is uber smooth, has a very strong "beany" fragrance and isn't too sweet. The "skin" is very chewy and yet very soft. I tell ya, this 紅龟粿 is really to die for.

I'd like to think my kick-ass AKK is because of my brilliant culinary talent and all that. But the truth is the success is due to the excellent recipe from none other than Cooking for the President. I just followed the instructions (more or less).

C4P's dough recipe is quite unusual. The ingredients are roughly the same as other recipes but the method is very different. First, glutinous rice flour is combined with water and then refrigerated overnight. Second, coconut milk is cooked with rice flour, oil and sugar into a paste before it's mixed with mashed sweet potato and the wet glutinous rice flour. Other recipes don't have these two steps. Instead, the ingredients are just mixed together.

I think the extra work in C4P's method is the key to the chewy and soft "skin", which is so good I shan't bother to try other recipes. It doesn't get better than this, seriously.

What about the mung bean filling? That's less complicated compared to what it's wrapped in. It's not rocket science but a lot of people get it wrong. Why? Because of their obsession over cutting down as much fat as possible. Compared to other recipes, there's a lot of oil in C4P's filling. The amount is absolutely necessary to give the mung bean paste its velvety smoothness and strong fragrance, without making it overly rich.

I've made 紅龟粿 all of one time but, hey, I already have quite a few tips for conquering the traditional kueh. Here we go:

Don't soak split mung beans for too long. The longer the beans sit in water, the more flavour (and nutrition) they lose. An hour is ample, IMO. C4P says three hours, which might be ok. Some recipes go for an overnight soak. That's definitely too long.

A lot of recipes, including C4P's, have the soaked mung beans steamed. I think boiling is better because it's faster but you mustn't discard the cooking liquid which has heaps of flavour. Instead, let the beans boil dry. That allows the flavour released into the water to be absorbed back into the beans. The same argument applies to the sweet potato used for the dough.

How good the mung bean filling is depends on, besides the quality of the beans, how much sugar and fat there is. If there's too little, that means it has more water to get the right consistency. Water doesn't taste of anything and it dilutes the flavour of the beans. Sugar and fat, OTOH, enhance the flavour.

How long does it take to steam 紅龟粿? No time at all because the filling is cooked and the dough is very thin and partly cooked. The ones I make, which are pretty small, take about six minutes over low heat.

How do you know when the ang ku kueh is done? When it expands a little. If you continue steaming beyond that point, the dough becomes too soft, resulting in a flat, collapsed kueh without any distinct motif. To lower the risk of overcooking, 紅龟粿 should be steamed over barely simmering water.

The shell of a real tortoise is hard but the make-believe tortoise's shell needs to be propped up. The "supporting role" is played by the filling which must be able to hold its shape when it's hot. If it's too soft, the "tortoise cake" would flatten into a pancake once it's heated.

The ideal filling to dough ratio is 1:1. The capacity of my mould is 40 g, so I wrap 20 g of filling in 20 g of dough. C4P actually uses 27 g of dough for 20 g of filling. That would make the "skin" a bit too thick, methinks.

How do you find the mould's capacity? Put it on your kitchen scale, tare, then fill it with water. The weight of the water multiplied by 1.33 is the mould's capacity.

To reheat chilled ang ku kueh, bring some water in a rice cooker to a boil. Put the kueh in the pot, on the steaming tray. Cover and switch the cooker to warm mode. Ten minutes would be just right.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself using my new wooden mould. I felt very authoritative (!) whacking it against the chopping board – TWACK! and out came a perfectly formed ang ku kueh, like magic. I'll definitely make AKK again but it won't be anytime soon 'cause it's a hell of a lot of work . . . . Oh hang on, what am I saying? It's a hell of a lot of FUN, not work! I'm making AKK again this weekend . . . I think . . . .

ANG KU KUEH (KUIH ANGKOO; 紅龟粿) Source: Adapted from Cooking for the President (Recipe for 21 pieces) Filling 160 g skinless split mung beans 115 g sugar 80 ml peanut oil Dough 60 g young, light green pandan leaves wash and chop roughly 60 g undiluted fresh coconut milk 2¼ tsp rice flour 1 tbsp peanut oil 2 tsp castor sugar 1 medium-sized yellow sweet potato (aka yam in the US, I  think) wash and peel; slice 110 g ½ cm thick 150 g glutinous rice flour mix evenly with 125 ml water; refrigerate overnight, covered banana leaf scald in hot water; drain and blot totally dry; cut into 21 pieces each slightly bigger than your AKK rice flour, for dusting peanut oil, for glazing If you prefer red AKK, you should: (1) use an orange instead of yellow sweet potato; (2) omit the pandan leaves for the dough; (3) add red food colouring instead, enough to get a shade of red that's significantly darker than what the AKK looks like when it's cooked (the colour fades a fair bit when heated); and (4) cook the mung beans with a few pandan leaves. To make filling, soak mung beans in 480 ml water till expanded, about 1 hour (in tropical weather). Drain, rinse and drain again. Cook in 180 ml water, uncovered, till soft and dry, about 20 minutes. Mash beans roughly with spatula. Add sugar. Mash till dissolved and evenly mixed. Add oil. Mix till combined. Blend mixture till silky smooth. Fry in a wok over maximum heat possible, stirring constantly, till thick enough to hold its shape. Leave till cool. Divide and roll into balls weighing 20 g each (adjust to suit size of your mould if necessary; mine is 6 x 5 x 2 cm). To make dough, blend pandan leaves with coconut milk till finely minced. Squeeze to yield 60 g green milk. Place milk in a small pot. Add rice flour, oil and sugar. Mix till smooth. Cook over low heat, stirring, to make a smooth paste. Leave till cool. Cook 110 g sliced sweet potato in 120 ml water till soft and dry, about 15 minutes, to yield 100 g. Mash roughly. Add green coconut paste. Continue mashing till paste is smooth. Add wet glutinous rice flour made earlier. Knead thoroughly till evenly mixed. Divide and roll into balls weighing 20 g each (adjust if necessary to equal weight of filling). To assemble, lightly dust AKK mould with rice flour. Flatten ball  of dough, to about 6 cm wide. Place 1 piece of filling in the middle. Cupping top of kueh with corner of right thumb and forefinger (for right-handers), nudge and press dough to seal filling. Roll gently between palms till round, dusting lightly with rice flour if too damp. Place in mould. Press to flatten and level top. Turn over mould and whack hard against worktop so that kueh falls out, onto shiny side of banana leaf. To steam, bring steamer to a rolling boil. Place kueh in steamer, on a perforated tray. Cover and reduce heat to very low so that water barely simmers. Steam till kueh is slightly expanded, about 6 minutes. Remove kueh to a plate. Brush lightly with oil. Leave till cool. Trim excess leaf around kueh. To serve, wait till there's a birthday celebration . . . . Just kidding. AKK is good any day of the year but if you have a red one on your birthday, you'll live as long as a tortoise. And when your baby is one month old, you absolutely must give your friends and relatives some "red tortoise cakes" as a celebration. The red colour brings good luck and the tortoise shape symbolizes longevity.