Indonesian Spiced Layered Cake

Like the Lapis Surabaya, this is a Dutch recipe that has been popular in Indonesia for a long time – so popular that we now regard it as our own, and serve it as a treat for Lebaran as well as at Christmas. The Dutch call it spekkoek, a name that is also still used in Indonesia. Cooks of my mother s generation used to bake their spekkoek in a very simple oven, just a tin box on legs with a tray of glowing charcoal at the bottom and perhaps another at the t