As rice is the staple food, lapis legit is undoubtedly the staple cake for every Indonesian. This layer cake is always present during every celebratory occasion, from Idul Fitri to Chinese New Year and family get-togethers.

CNN's website recently announced a list of 17 of the world’s best national cakes and on it lapis legit joins the likes of pandan cake from Malaysia and Singapore, baklava from Turkey and dorayaki from Japan.

Read also: 5 perfect traditional snacks for a get-together

Lapis legit, also known as spekkoek, was first introduced during the Dutch colonial era. The recipe uses a massive amount of butter and from 30 to 40 eggs. Traditional spices such as cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg are proportionally used in the making of this cake.

This sweet treat usually has 18 layers but some can stack up to 20 to 22 layers and don’t be surprised if the cake is quite pricey, as baking a lapis legit can take hours since it is created layer by layer. The most famous flavor is prune lapis legit prunes, which uses dried plums as a filling. (asw)