Healthy? My son asked. Well, perhaps a little better if you compare it to Lapis legit or layer cake that use 30 yolks in their ingredients and lots of butter. These Bolu Kukus is steamed, no butter, no oil. It is using Sprite to plumped it up :). Some said the cake is laughing or happy when it’s successfully beautifully made. It looks like a flower actually, blooming. While the one that claimed that they get the “Bolu Kukus Cursed”, the cake is not blooming. It does not really failed, the cake mostly are soft but the top just not cracking / bloom like it supposed to be.

I remember my mom, whenever she make this cake, most of them will not bloom. And using the same recipe one of us, me or my siblings, would get a better result. Even with the same recipe. So I had been reluctant to make any attempt to make it here. For several reasons, the cursed and I will probably be the only one enjoying the cake as my husband and son are not too crazy about traditional Indonesian steamed dessert. 

However since I am craving for it these days, I gather all my strength, I even took my brave pill prior to made my first attempt. Searched for the recipe online and found one from here Bolu Kukus, seems easy and so I tried it. 

As I started beating the eggs and sugar, I realized I don’t have Sprite in my fridge. I do have diet root beer. I thought oh well it’s soda anyway let’s just use it. Waited patiently while it was in the steamer because I remember one of the tip mentioned as I search for the recipe was not to open the steamer until at least 20 minutes. 

Ok 20 minutes done I open the lid with excitement only to found these:

Whoaaaaa I am cursed! Bolu Kukus cursed! It tasted good, soft but it just did not bloom. Well that was last week. Today I searched again for a different recipe and did the same ritual, took my brave pill and all. And I read the step by step posted by Lisa Basuki on her blog. I even use the recipe she posted there. I decided to use the one without the emulsifier. After all the cups are filled up and sit nicely in the steamer, I still have a cup of chocolate batter left. Hummm I can’t open the steamer now..so I grabbed a Pyrex bowl, greased it and pour the batter in. I popped it in the microwave for 5 minutes and got my tasting test .

Ding ding ding .. finally it’s done..please smile please smile…I took off the lid and I saw these:

Yeehaaa…I am so happy. Maybe I have to put them in a safety box lol. Or framed it. So glad I came across the post by Lisa. I can’t wait to bite those sponge cake. I know it’s not as pretty as Lisa’s Bolu Kukus yet. Hers are awesomely bloom. But hey..it works and practice makes perfect so I will definitely try to make more Bolu Kukus. It is not frightening anymore. Not so much :). My son is actually gobbling down the one I made in the microwave as I am typing this. He just had his 3rd piece he said. I can’t wait to tell my mom about my cake. 

Oh if you want to see the good image of bolu kukus you can check the link below. She is using a different recipe. I love the color that she used on hers Bolu kukus. Maybe next time I will try it.