Cakes are filled with surprise. Even if you know what flavor of cake you're purchasing, unless you've actually made the cake yourself, you often have no idea what to expect upon cutting open a cake.
No cake is met with as much surprise and awe as a Malaysian layer cake, or kek lapis Sarawak.
The borderline hypnotic cakes are called kek lapis Sarawak, or Sarawak layer cakes.
Lapis translates to “layers” and kek to "cake" in Malaysia’s national language Bahasa Malaysia. Sarawak is a northwestern state off the coast of Borneo.
According to Atlas Obscura, one cake can take anywhere from four to eight hours, depending on how intricate and complex the design is.
To create the mesmerizing designs, the batter is baked in large pans, and each new colorful layer of batter is carefully added every 10 minutes. The cakes are carefully cut and then reassembled using condensed milk or jam as "glue."
While the art of kek lapis Sarawak has become easy to Jennifer Chen, owner of shop My Kitchen Confidante, she knows how grueling the training can be.
Kek lapis Saramak bakers must really have an understanding for their pattern and where they want to place every layer.
Jennifer has even gone so far as to map out her cakes on paper to cut confusion and eliminate the possibility for mistakes.
We're not sure how anyone could bear eating such a thing of art, but we're certain each bite is savored.
