Traditional spekkoek
A favourite from the toko: spekkoek. With this recipe from the cookbook Baru Belanda, you can make that delicious spekkoek entirely yourself, layer by layer. It does take a bit of work, but afterwards you’ll be proud and can reward yourself with this delicious snack.
Method:
1. Grease the tin with margarine and dust it with flour. Shake out the excess.
2. In a bowl, beat the margarine with the sugar, vanilla sugar and anise for 10–15 minutes until you have a smooth, ointment-like mixture. Start beating at a low speed and gradually increase the speed. Separate the eggs into yolks and whites and beat the egg yolks into the margarine mixture one at a time. Continue beating for 10 minutes until everything is thoroughly combined. Sift the flour over the bowl and beat for another 10 minutes.
3. Divide the batter between two bowls, with slightly more in one than the other. Add the cardamom, nutmeg, cinnamon and ground cloves to the bowl with the smaller amount of batter and stir until thoroughly combined. In a grease-free bowl, beat the egg whites until firm and fluffy. Using a metal spoon, fold slightly less than half of the egg-white foam into the bowl with the brown batter, and fold the rest into the white batter. Take care to retain as much air as possible.
4. You need an oven with top and bottom heat or a top grill. For the first layer of cake, use bottom heat only. Preheat the oven to 175 °C. Spoon a thin layer of spiced batter into the tin and bake it in the oven for 5 minutes until done.
5. Turn off the bottom heat and switch on the top heat or grill. Now spoon a thin layer of unspiced batter into the tin and bake it until done in a few minutes. Sometimes the batter rises slightly; if that happens, grease the bottom of a glass and use it to press the puffed-up dough flat again.
6. Fill the tin alternately with layers of spiced and white batter; the final layer should be white batter. The spekkoek should be done within 1 1⁄2 hours, as otherwise it may become dry and tough. Remove the tin from the oven and leave the cake to cool. It becomes even more delicious if you let it rest for a while.
Tip:
You can freeze the spekkoek very well when wrapped in aluminium foil.
Title: Baru Belanda
Author: Pascal Jalhay
Price: €29,99
Publisher: Fontaine Uitgevers
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