Kek kukus is what we call steamed fruit cake in Singapore and Malaysia. It is very, very similar in flavour to the fruit cake found in the West and that is especially popular at weddings and Christmas. In fact, it was one of the favours at my wedding.
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
What is Kek Kukus?
It’s in the Malay language, so a little Malay Language lesson, methinks?
- Kek = cake (duh), pronounced the same way
- Kukus = steamed, to steam, pronounced coo-cose (s sound, not z)
- Kek kukus = Steamed cake
Origin of Kek Kukus
It’s definitely a British heritage, from the days when both countries were part of the Commonwealth.
I’ve always identified it as a Eurasian cake, as it’s always something that was around at Christmas time. Not unlike our (British) Christmas cake and Christmas pudding.
However, as with many Singaporean and Malaysian recipes, the “ownership” of kek kukus is also a subject of contention by the various local ethnicities.
The Eurasians, the Malays and the Nyonyas all lay claim to it in one form or another.
If you fancy reading up on the racial make up of these 2 countries, head on over to the Singaporean and Malaysian Recipes page.
Kek Kukus Recipe
Itās a pretty easy recipe to make, all we do is:
- soak the dried fruit overnight
- make caramel from the sugar
- mix everything in
- Steam for 4 hours
Soaking the Dried Fruit
When using dried fruit, you must, you must, you must soak them for a few hours, preferably overnight.
Dried fruit (raisins, sultanas, etc) are thirsty little things. So if you havenāt quenched that thirst, they are going to drink up all the moisture in your cake batter, leaving you with a not-so-moist cake.
So weāre going to start our recipe the night before. This is especially important if you are planning to use alcohol for this.
I know traditional recipes do allow for soaking, after the fruit is added to the caramel and butter mix. Itās left for an hour. But what itās doing is soaking up the liquid that the flour needs!
Moist Fruit = Moist Cake
So to stop that, we ensure that our fruit are soft and plump from an initial soaking. This is how I make our Christmas puddings and cakes, so it just made sense to apply the same method to this childhood recipe.
If youāve never soaked your fruit to make kek kukus before, try it and see, youāll be amazed at the difference it makes.
For the non alcoholic version, weāll be soaking our fruit in light tea, much the same way we make the Alcohol Free Christmas Pudding below (the recipe is on LinsFood).
Tea in our Steamed Cake
Because our tea will be boiling hot, the dried fruit need only an hour or so. However, the alcohol you use is going to be at room temperature, so the raisins, etc are going to need more time to soak it up.
I use tea instead of fruit juice because it adds a lovely aroma without altering the flavour of the cake. Using fruit juice just makes our kek kukus too fruity.
What tea to use?
I find Darjeeling or Earl Grey to be the perfect choice. Light and floral, they add, without overpowering.
If you havenāt got either, use half the amount of whatever black tea I suggest in the recipe below, to make a super light brew. Even a Oolong would be rather nice in this cake, but make it half strength.
Alcohol in Kek Kukus
Brandy is the perfect choice. But many prefer rum. Sweet sherry like Harveyās Bristol Cream is also a good one. (Affiliate links).
In our traditional Christmas pudding, I use a mix of brandy and sweet sherry.
Naturally, if you donāt do alcohol, leave it out. I give you both options in the recipe card below.
How long will Kek Kukus keep?
Kek Kukus has a fairly good shelf life. The one without the alcohol will keep a good 2 weeks, if wrapped in clingfilm or foil and kept in an airtight container.
You could also freeze this steamed fruit cake for up to 3 months. Defrost on the counter for a couple of hours, then steam it for an hour to āfluff upā and warm up. When I only have a couple of slices, I zap it in the microwave oven for 30 ā 60 seconds.
To me, warm kek kukus is the business, with some custard or ice cream on the side. Or clotted cream!
Kek kukus with alcohol will keep for 2-3 months, if stored in an airtight container. I make Christmas pudding in November and still use them at Easter for trifles and puddings. So in theory, you could keep it for much, much longer. Especially if youāre going to feed it with alcohol every month or so.
There are stories of fruit cakes being kept for years. Iām sure youāve heard of them. Iām just not that brave!
What Steamer to use for this Fruit Cake?
I have both the old fashioned one for the stove, as well as an electric steamer. This is because in the past, I used to make lots of Christmas puddings to order. Below youāll find the links to Amazon to the kind I have, both are affiliate links.
- This is the stove steamer I recently bought (my 3rd one).
- This is the kind of electric steamer Iāve had for a while.
- And this is the handheld whisk I recently got to replace my 20 year old one.
So there we go. For all of you whoāve asked for this recipe over the years, ta-da!
Shall we get our aprons on?
If you like the recipe, donāt forget to leave me a comment and that all important, 5-star rating! Thank you!
And if you make the recipe, share it on any platform and tag meĀ @azlinbloor.
Lin xx
Images by LinsFoodies
More Christmas recipes
Kek Kukus (Singaporean and Malaysian Steamed Fruit Cake)
Equipment
- kitchen scales
- large bowls as needed (for soaking and flour)
- jug for tea, if making
- strainer for tea
- ladle and spoons as needed
- handheld whisk for eggs
- 20cm/8" cake pan
- steamer
Ingredients
Soaking the Dried Fruit (Alcohol Free)
- 500 g mixed fruit (raisins, sultanas, citrus peel)
- 1 Tbsp Darjeeling (or Earl Grey) tea leavesĀ (or 3 bags) (1/2 Tbsp if using regular black tea)
- 250 ml boiling water (and more to top up)
Soaking the Dried Fruit (with alcohol)
- 500 g mixed fruit
- 250 ml brandy (or rum)
Dry Ingredients
- 320 g all purpose flour (plain flour)
- 1 tsp mixed spice (Pumpkin Spice in the US)
- 2 tsp sodium bicarbonate
Everything Else
- 300 g caster sugar (granulated is fine too)
- 4 Tbsp water
- 2 tsp fresh lemon juice
- 250 g salted butter
- 1 tsp vanilla extract (I use this vanilla paste)
- 3 large eggs
Instructions
Start the Night Before
- Place the mixed fruit in a bowl.500 g mixed fruit
Alcohol Free
- Make the tea with the tea leaves and boiling water. Leave to brew for 4 minutes. Strain the tea and leave to cool to room temperature.Pour the cooled tea all over the fruit, cover and leave overnight. Stir once before you go to bed, and again when you get up the next day.You could do this an hour before you start the recipe (instead of the night before), just pour the hot tea on the fruit, immediately after brewing.Make sure that all the fruit is covered by the tea by at least 1 cm/ half an inch. If not, add a little more water.1 Tbsp Darjeeling (or Earl Grey) tea leavesĀ (or 3 bags), 250 ml boiling water
Alcohol
- Pour the brandy all over the fruit. Stir, cover, and leave to soak overnight. Stir a couple of times, once before you go to bed, and again when you get up.500 g mixed fruit, 250 ml brandy
Mix the Dry Ingredients (THE NEXT DAY)
- Sift the flour into a bowl and stir in the mixed spice and sodium bicarbonate. Cover, and set aside.This could be done later, while the sugar/fruit mix is cooling.320 g all purpose flour, 1 tsp mixed spice , 2 tsp sodium bicarbonate
Let's get Cooking
- Place the sugar and water in a heavy-bottomed pan and stir, you will get a thick sludge-like mix.300 g caster sugar, 4 Tbsp water
- Place the saucepan on medium-low heat and leave it to dissolve. Don't stir it yet.
- After a couple of minutes, squeeze the lemon juice all over and give it a stir. The lemon juice will help to prevent crystallisation, which is what the cream of tartar in old recipes is for. Besides reacting with the sodium bicarb to aid rise.2 tsp fresh lemon juice
- Reduce the heat (to low) and leave the sugar to brown. You are going for a deep, golden brown colour. There is no need to stir.This step is to allow us to get that caramel flavour and dark colour synonymous with kek kukus. But you don't want the sugar burnt. To some extent, the darker the caramel, the darker your cake. But don't leave it to get too brown, as it'll get bitter, which means your cake will be bitter.Err on the side of caution. It's a fine line between yummy dark brown and burnt.
- Add the butter and stir to melt and mix. Cutting the butter in a few pieces will make this step quicker. I am always too lazy for that!250 g salted butter
- Now add the mixed fruit (along with any leftover liquid, tea or alcohol), and stir well. Turn the heat up to medium and bring back to a simmer. Leave it to bubble gently for 2 minutes. Then, take it off the heat and leave to cool to room temperature.1 hour should do in cool climates. If you're in the tropics, place it somewhere cool, but not your fridge.
Let's get Steaming
- At the end of the hour, fill the base of your steamer to its maximum point and place on the stove on high heat, as you get the cake ready to steam. Check it after 7-10 minutes. Once it's boiling, reduce the heat to low or medium-low to ensure the water is steaming away steadily.
- Grease, line and grease a 20cm (8in) cake pan. The first grease allows the liner to stick to the pan. The second grease is to allow your cake to come off easily, whether your liner is stick proof or not! Call it insurance.
- Beat the eggs with a beater on medium speed for 20 seconds.3 large eggs
- Pour the eggs into the cooled sugar/fruit mix and stir with a wooden spoon to mix thoroughly. So you don't want a mix that's too warm, as your eggs will scramble. This is why we want the mix to be at room temperature, or at the very least, lukewarm.
- Stir in the vanilla, followed by the flour mix (which would have the mixed spice and sodium bicarb in). Mix everything up well, using a wooden spoon.1 tsp vanilla extract
- Pour the cake mix into your prepared tin, leaving a good inch at the top. Cover it with a layer of foil. Steam for 4 hours. Check with a cake tester to see that it's done. It should be.Top up the steamer, as necessary, with boiling water. Don't let it go dry.Traditional or electric steamers can be used. Both will require the same time.
- Cool the cake completely on a wire rack, in its pan. Can be enjoyed immediately, but is better the next day. Even more so after 2 days as the flavours develop and the cake gets more moist.To store, take it out of the pan, and wrap with clingfilm, then a foil, and leave somewhere cool.If using alcohol, feel free to up the alcohol content by drizzling 2 Tbsp of brandy all over before stirring. And if keeping for a few weeks, you can keep topping it up with brandy once a week.
Hi Azlin. Am I able to add nuts to fruit mixture? If so, would rest of ingredients be affected?
Hi Suzie, yes you can, I would go for no more than 200g.
Hi , can I reduce the sugar to half?
Hi Karen, in my experience, you can successfully reduce the sugar in fruitcakes by half. Naturally, the cake is going to be a little on the plain side (not sweet), and may be just a little drier than it otherwise would be. Increase the lemon juice to 3 tsp (= 1 Tablespoon) and the water to 6 Tbsp.
Let me know how it goes.
1)The vanilla paste link is not working.
2)Will you be making a Christmas Stollen?
3)Can you use royal icing or chocolate ganache on the steam fruit cake?
4)Will you be showing the proper way to stabilise royal icing & suitable icing for fruit cake?
Hi Odelia,
1. the vanilla paste link is working now (thanks).
2. I have no plans to make Christmas stollen this year, perhaps the next. But it won’t be on this site, it’ll be on my flagship blog, LinsFood.
3. Royal icing can definitely be used to cover this fruit cake, which is the common practice in the West for Christmas and weddings. But you’ll need to cover it with the customary layer of apricot jam and marzipan to ensure smoothness and so you don’t get crumbs in your marzipan.
No reason why chocolate ganache can’t be used with a fruit cake if you like the combination. You’ll have to do a crumb coat to ensure a smooth outer layer or you could give it a semi naked look with a regular buttercream icing, then have the chocolate ganache dripping over.
4. I don’t have plans, nor the time on this side of Christmas to do any icing tutorials and articles. I’ll add it to the list for next year. But it’ll be on LinsFood, where I already have older articles on cake decorating. I shall provide an obvious link here.
Hi Azlin..I am a newbie to bakingš I made the fruit cake yesterday. It taste good like how my grandma used to bake. However my cake turns out to be dry. Can u tell me what went wrong?
Hi Ria, there could be a couple of reasons. let’s see if we can solve your problem. The main reason is obviously that we need more moisture right?
It could be that the fruit mix was very dry and soaked up more liquid than the recipe has.
Did you soak the fruit overnight or just before?
Basically, if the fruit hasn’t absorbed enough water, it’ll just soak up some more while the cake is steaming, resulting in a dry cake.
In the recipe, I mention that you can just soak the fruit an hour before, if you are just using tea (no alcohol). I’m assuming this is what you did?
Let me know, and I’ll get back to you on what we can do next time. I might change the recipe to ask everyone to soak the fruit overnight, regardless to avoid this problem.
ps: troubleshooting dry cake, whatever kind:
1. simmer 200g/1 cup of sugar with 250ml/1 cup of water for 5 minutes. This is how we make simple syrup (sugar can be more or less, depending on what we need it for).
2. You can now flavour this simple syrup with lemon juice, vanilla, rose water, anything you like.
3. Then, using a brush, brush as much as the syrup as you want, all over the top of the cake. It shouldn’t end up being too sweet.
Very nice thank you. Have made it for xmas this year.
Awesome, thanks for letting me know, Monica.
aiyoh this was so good I wanted to cry! it reminded me of my amma’s fruit cake that we had every Christmas. thank you!
Haha, that’s praise indeed! I’m pleased that it reminded you of your amma’s Christmas fruit cake.
Thank you for sharing the recipe. It just taste like how my mom do it.
I’m so pleased to hear that, Usha. It’s a pleasure.
Hi!
Can I bake this in the oven instead?
Hi Anne, you can bake this in the oven but it won’t be as moist as if you steam it. My suggestion would be to increase the amount of water (for the caramel) to 6 tablespoons and add another tablespoon of lemon juice (plus the 2 teaspoons in the recipe). That will help a little, without having to change all the measurements of the cake.
Bake at 160C for about 70 – 90 minutes. I’ve not baked this recipe before, so the time is a guess. Check at 70 minutes, bake further if not done.
I hope that helps.
Thank you very much. I appreciate your response. Will give this recipe a try!
Much love.
My pleasure, let me know how it goes. x
Just made it yesterday, waiting for Christmas now, lol! Your instructions were very easy to follow, thanks Azlin.
Here it is! I was looking for it on linsfood. I made it last year, and it was just the way I remember my mum making it at Christmas. Thanks Lin.
You are very welcome, glad you found the new site!