This is one kueh that I can’t resist if I see. Bika Ambon or some call it Bingka Ambon is a kind of cake from Indonesia. The ingredients used are simple and the methods seem straight forward. Straight forward? Then why mine turned out not honeycombed :|. Perhaps, lack of skills! Other than the missing honeycomb appearance, the overall taste is not bad.
I’m submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #12: Traditional Kueh (October 2011) hosted by SSB of Small Small Baker.
Source : Jo’s Deli & Bakery
Bika Ambon
Ingredients
Starter dough : 50 ml warm water, 25 g plain flour, 1 tsp instant yeast
Method
Combine and leave for half an hour.
Ingredients
5 egg yolks
80 g castor sugar
50 g gula melaka
100 g tapioca flour
170 ml thick coconut milk (from 1 coconut)
2 drops of yellow colouring
Method
1. Boil coconut milk till it bubbles, cool and set aside.
2. Stir egg yolks, sugar & gula melaka till sugar dissolves.
3. Add in tapioca flour, mix well.
4. Add in the starter dough and stir well.
5. Strain mixture, cover and leave for 2 hours till surface is full of bubbles.
6. Grease an 8-inch square tin and pour in the above mixture.
7. Bake in preheated oven 170C for 20 mins.
8. Switch the oven to grill and grill the ambon for 10 mins.
9. Cool and remove from tin.
Hundred Eighty Degrees 
Oh how I missed this so much. The best Bika Ambon is from my hometown Medan-North Sumatra. This need a lot of effort to do this, I tried to bake once, but it failed too, with no much honeycomb created. Same like you, I only fermented for 2 hours, I heard it need at least 5-6 hours to the fermentation.
Oh, so you are an indonesian chinese? May be there are ‘commercial’ tricks that we are not aware of, that’s why we didn’t get much honeycomb. :)-
Oh, so you are an indonesian chinese? May be there are ‘commercial’ trade secrets not being revealed, that’s why we didn’t get much honeycomb :)-
I did not know that this uses 5 egg yolks. Thanks for sharing. It really looks good! 🙂
Quite high in cholesterol. Just realized that one slice of this kueh contains slightly more than half of an egg yolk…:)-
This is new to me ^_^
Oops! Mine didn’t resemble the actual bika ambon for its honeycomb texture :|-
never come across this kueh, looks something like our apam balik…must be so aromatic with the coconut !! i tutup my kuih making session already..just one more kuih to post this week!
Yes, there is strong aroma of coconut + gula melaka. I didn’t make a lot of kuihs for this month’s event, and probably just one more to go.
Yes, there is a strong aroma of coconut + gula melaka. I didn’t make a lot of kuihs for this month’s event, most probably one more to go.
Never eat this kuih before, sound good.
My in-laws like it very much.