Indonesian Steamed Cupcakes - Bolu Kukus

These cupcakes are a favorite in our house, and everytime we made them they never lasted more than one day in our house :P We finally found a recipe that we really like because not only the cupcakes are soft and fluffy, they also rise beautifully :)

In Indonesian they are called 'Bolu Kukus' and they are very simple and easy to make with only a few basic ingredients, however you need to have the cupcake moulds to steam them inside the steamer and it also handy to know a few tips and trick to get them to rise properly.

These are what the moulds look like. My mum brought them over from Indonesia so that we can try making these :) They are made of very light baking tins and it has holes on the sides to allow the steam cook the cupcakes. We lined them up individually with baking papers before putting them inside the steamer.

NOTE: I was told that you can make these using a normal cupcake/muffin tin, however we never tried it so if you dont have these steam cupcake moulds you can try a normal muffin tin and please let me know if they work they same way ;-)

The recipe only needs a few simple ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 250 gr Castor Sugar
• 250 gr Plain Flour
• 50 gr Corn Flour ( you can exclude this but make sure to increase the flour by 50 gr)
• 1 teaspoon emulsifier / SP / TBM
• 200ml Soda water or Sprite (lemonade) or you can substitute this with milk for a healthier option

Okay, so the first thing you need to do is prepare the steamer, make sure its nice and hot. But ensure you don't put too much water as it might splash up into the bottom of the cupcakes and it will prevent the cupcake from rising.

This is how to make them:

1. Mix eggs, castor sugar & emulsifier until the mixture is thick and have changed colour to white. 
2. Then pour in about 1/3 of the liquid ingredient (either soda water/lemonade/milk) and then put in 1/3 of the the flour, then continue to alternately put the two ingredient until everything is in the mixture. Continue to mix them for at least 5 minutes until they are well mixed and the mixture is nice and thick.
3. Divide the mixture into 4 bowls and put the food colourings you would like to use. You don't have to make 4 different colours, you can just make 2 colours if you like, they will look just as yummy :)

Fill the cupcake moulds with the mixture. We fill the mould with 1/2 of the white colour and then alternately put in the different colours, to the top of the mould until its full.

You can experiment with different variation of colours and it will came out with all different lovely colourful cupcakes when they are done :)

Make sure your steamer is nice and hot by this stage and put the ready mixture into the steamer.

TIP: Make sure the lid of your steamer is sealed tightly and if you can cover the lid with a tea towel to prevent water from dripping from the lid onto the top of the cupcake, and steam for approx 15mins. 

TIP: DO NOT open the lid until the whole 15 mins is up, you wont get a good result if you open the lid to peak inside the steamer. No matter how tempted you are to check and see if the cupcake has risen properly.

That is all you have to do and you get this yummy soft and fluffy steamed cupcakes :)

 This recipe makes about a dozen of steamed cupcakes and my family can testify they are sooo yummy!

I love how they 'break-off' on the top and this one in particular looks like a nice rose :)

There you go, i hope you will give it a try at home and try these yummy steamed cupcakes ;-)