Kue Apem — soft yeasted rice and coconut cakes from Java

i. Origin & history

Kue apem is one of Java's oldest traditional cakes. Fermented rice-flour batters cooked on clay griddles or steamed are widespread around the Indian Ocean, and the name apem is usually connected with appam, the fermented rice pancake of South India and Sri Lanka, and with apam, the Malay family of rice cakes. Trade between South India and the archipelago over many centuries makes a shared ancestry likely, though Javanese apem has developed in its own way.

In Java the cake is woven into Islamic and local tradition. A widely told explanation links apem to the Arabic 'afwan, 'forgiveness', and the cakes are shared in the month of Ruwah (Sha'ban), before Ramadan, in ceremonies called ruwahan or megengan, when families pray for their ancestors and ask forgiveness of one another. Apem is also served at selamatan, the communal ritual meals that mark births, deaths and other events.

The best-known apem tradition is the Yaa Qowiyyu festival in Jatinom, near Klaten in Central Java, held in the month of Safar. It commemorates the local Islamic teacher Ki Ageng Gribig, who is said to have brought apem back from Mecca and shared them with his followers. Each year thousands of apem are thrown from a tower to large crowds, who scramble to catch them as a blessing.

Apem exists in two main forms: apem Jawa or apem bakar, cooked in a covered clay or metal mould on the stove until browned on the base, and apem kukus, steamed in small cups and often coloured. Malaysia and Singapore have many related apam, while apam balik, a folded pancake with peanuts, is quite different.

ii. What fermentation does for apem

The soft, spongy texture and faint tang of apem come from fermentation. Traditionally the batter was leavened with palm wine (tuak) or tape, fermented cassava or rice, which contains both yeasts and acid-producing bacteria. Today most cooks use instant yeast, sometimes with a spoonful of tape for flavour.

Rice flour contains no gluten, so it cannot trap gas like wheat dough. Instead, apem batter relies on a thickened base: part of the rice flour is cooked with some of the coconut milk into a paste (biang), or a little wheat flour or tapioca is added. This gives the batter enough body to hold the bubbles produced by the yeast. As the batter rises, the surface fills with small bubbles and it becomes light and slightly frothy.

In the pan, the batter cooks from the bottom while the lid traps steam to set the top. The base browns and caramelises, while the bubbles in the batter produce a honeycomb of holes — the classic apem crumb. Steamed apem cooks evenly all over and is paler, softer and more cake-like.

The rise must not go too far. Overproved batter turns sour and the cakes collapse; underproved batter makes dense, chewy cakes. The batter is ready when it has risen by about half and is covered with bubbles, usually after 1–1½ hours in a warm kitchen.

iii. Ingredients

Makes 18 servings · scroll the side panel to adjust

• 250 g rice flour
• 400 ml coconut milk
• 2 pandan leaves, knotted
• 120 g sugar, or half sugar and half palm sugar
• ½ tsp salt
• 5 g instant yeast
• 50 ml lukewarm water
• 30 g plain flour or tapioca starch
• 2 tbsp tape singkong (fermented cassava), mashed (optional)
• 1 tbsp oil, for greasing

Use plain rice flour, not glutinous rice flour, which would make the cakes sticky and dense. Full-fat coconut milk gives richness and flavour; the pandan adds aroma. Using part palm sugar (gula Jawa) gives brown apem with a caramel flavour, a common Javanese style. Plain flour or tapioca helps the batter hold its bubbles. Tape singkong, sold in Indonesian grocers, adds a traditional sweet-sour fermented flavour but is optional.

iv. Method

1. Heat 200 ml of the coconut milk with the pandan leaves, sugar and salt until the sugar dissolves. Remove the pandan, whisk in 50 g of the rice flour and cook over low heat, stirring, for 2–3 minutes until it thickens into a smooth paste. Cool until lukewarm.
2. Stir the yeast into the lukewarm water and leave for 5 minutes until frothy.
3. In a large bowl, whisk the remaining rice flour and the plain flour or tapioca with the remaining 200 ml coconut milk. Add the cooked paste, the yeast mixture and the tape, if using, and whisk to a smooth, thick, pourable batter.
4. Cover and leave in a warm place for 60–90 minutes, until risen by about half and covered with bubbles.
5. For pan-cooked apem, heat a lightly oiled apem pan, æbleskiver pan or small non-stick pan over low heat. Stir the batter gently and fill each mould three-quarters full. Cover and cook for 5–7 minutes, until the top is set and full of holes and the base is golden brown.
6. For steamed apem, fill oiled small cups or silicone moulds three-quarters full and steam over medium heat for 15–20 minutes, with a cloth wrapped around the lid, until risen and a skewer comes out clean.
7. Ease the apem out with a small spatula and serve warm or at room temperature.

v. Tips & common mistakes

• Cook the thickening paste first. It gives the batter the body to hold the yeast bubbles in a gluten-free batter.
• Do not overprove. Batter left too long smells sour and the cakes collapse.
• Stir gently before cooking. Settled flour sinks, but beating knocks out the bubbles.
• Keep the heat low. High heat burns the base before the top sets.
• Cover the pan. The lid traps steam that cooks the top without flipping.
• Wrap the steamer lid. Drips of condensation leave dents in steamed apem.

vi. Variations

Apem gula merah uses palm sugar for brown cakes. Apem kukus is steamed in cups and often coloured pink, green or white; apem tape is made with fermented cassava. In Malaysia and Singapore, apam beras and apam gula Melaka are close relatives. Apem is often eaten with a sauce of coconut milk and palm sugar called kinca, or with grated coconut.

For related cakes, see the Indonesian serabi, a coconut-milk pancake from the same tradition, kue cubit, kue putu and kue lumpur. The Filipino puto and bibingka are fermented or leavened rice cakes from the same broad family, as is the Thai khanom krok.

vii. Serving & storage

Serve kue apem warm or at room temperature, plain or with a drizzle of coconut-milk and palm-sugar sauce, as an afternoon snack with tea, at a gathering or as part of a selamatan spread. They are traditionally shared generously with neighbours.

Apem keep for a day covered at room temperature. In the fridge they keep for up to 3 days but firm up; steam them for 5 minutes to soften. They can be frozen for up to a month and re-steamed from frozen.

ix. More from Indonesian & Malaysian

• Serabi — coconut-milk pancakes
• Kue Putu — steamed bamboo cakes
• Kue Lumpur — potato coconut cakes
• Kue Cubit — Indonesian pinch cakes
• Puto — Filipino steamed rice cakes
• Khanom Krok — Thai coconut pancakes