BY LILIANA SHERYN
KUCHING: Ramadan, the month of fasting and spiritual reflection, is also a time of joy and celebration.
One of the many ways people celebrate during this month is by sharing sweet treats with family and friends. This year, a popular dessert that has been making waves during Ramadan is the kek lapis (layered cake).
Siti Halifah Mahmud, 46, from Kampung Terasi Asajaya, has become a master of layered cake over the past 15 years. Her dedication and passion for creating delicious and visually stunning layered cake have made her well known in the industry.
Her interest in the colours and patterns of kek lapis drove her to learn the recipe from friends and experiment with making it in her spare time.
Siti Halifah began seriously creating her own recipe in 2017. Her recipe does not use butter and has evolved to become more cost-effective, tastier, and easily adaptable to different situations.
Siti Halifah has also gained attention for her innovative approach to cake making, particularly her thousand-layer cake.
“The viral cake recently is the thousand-layer cake (Kek Lapis Tampong Seribu), which is grey in colour.
“The idea for making a thousand-layer cake came about when I saw that there were leftover cake scraps. It is better to use the extra batter and turn it into the filling for the thousand-layer cake.
“To make a thousand-layer cake, we need to prepare the batter. For the filling or layer, we can use the leftover batter. If there’s any leftover batter, it can be baked and cut into small cubes for the filling later. The filling can be sprinkled on every alternating layer until it’s all used up,” she explained.
Siti Halifah also emphasised the importance of creativity and experimentation in the cake-making process.
“Nowadays, bakers are more creative in creating layer cakes that suit the current trend.”
For those interested in trying their hand at making a thousand-layer cake, Siti Halifah estimated that it would take about three hours.
Despite the challenges posed by the recent increase in ingredient prices, Siti Halifah remains dedicated to ensuring that the quality of her kek lapis remains consistent.
She manages the production process herself, from the initial stage of making kek lapis to the final stage.
As she looks towards the future, Siti Halifah has big plans for her cake-making business. She has already rented a special house for her cake production operations and plans to focus more on social media marketing and appointing agents from all over the place.
Siti Halifah stressed the importance of seeking knowledge and learning from the right people for those interested in getting into layered cake making.
“A strong spirit, hard work, sacrifice and money are all necessary to succeed in this business,” she noted.
To order her cakes, Siti Halifah can be reached at 018-9464267, or No. 11, Lorong 5, Taman Melaban, Kota Samarahan.
