This is most sought after cake that is only available during Eid in most Malaysia/Singapore households. It is so moist, melts in the mouth, fruit filled and absolutely yummy.
Kek Kukus/Steamed Fruit Cake is actually steamed for 4 hours. Due to the long process, excellent taste and high demand it has became very costly to buy this steamed cake. Despite this, making your own steamed cake is really challenging and rewarding, you can't stop eating them and get way more quantity produced compared to buying them.
The following tips are useful if you're making this for the first time:
Your need to prepare the caramel by heating the sugar until it melts and turns golden brown using slow heat otherwise it tastes bitter. Remove from heat and add the water, stir well. Quickly and carefully adding this to the batter.
Prior to steaming, the water in the steamer must be boiling and each addition of water on each hour must be also boiling point. It is advisable to boil a kettle of water for this purpose.
Some flour to be added to the mixed fruit to avoid them sinking at the bottom of the cake.
Place the batter half full into greased pan and properly closed and secured with masking tape or string to ensure the cake has room to rise and to avoid water dripping into the Kek Kukus/Steamed Fruit Cake.
Once the fruit mix is added, do not over mix.
It is advisable to replace 100 g of fruit mix with 50 g of green cherries and 50 g red cherries to make it more attractive and colourful. If you are cooking for small family, it is recommended you make only half of the following.