“Life is full of questions, cupcakes are the answers.” – Anonymous

Bolu Kukus is Indonesia’s traditional dessert which is basically similar to cupcake, except the process of making it is by steaming instead of baking.

During the Holidays while growing up in Bali, I saw Bolu Kukus everywhere. It was part of the Hindu’s ceremonial offering to their Gods, which was placed on the offering stand as part of various foods offering. In my eyes, they looked like blooming edible flowers with beautiful rainbow colors, which showed the art side of the chef who created these desserts. They were pink and white, green and white, brown and purple, swirl of orange color on yellow, and all kind of colors.

When going shopping to the traditional market, I always bought one or two of these delicious treats. The first bite was so soft it tasted like the softest pillowy pillow on the dessert world.

I had been trying to make Bolu Kukus after living in the U.S. for a while, but then I realized the most important thing that would make this happen was the very special aluminum cup-shaped mold, with holes on the sides. I tried to make my own aluminum cup-shaped molds (well, it worked), but I wasn’t happy with the results. Finally, my in-laws brought me some from Indonesia, so here I am showing it to you all.

Here is my own recipe after watching 4 different youtube videos. Beware there are many of these youtube videos out there, so don’t let it confuse you. I knew which one that I like, and I also limit my search with recipe that’s organic.

All right, lets gather all the ingredients. The keys to this recipe are mixing sugar and eggs on high speed for 20 minutes, then steaming it for 25 minutes without ever opening the lid until the 25 minutes is up.

Next, I mixed my eggs and 50 gram sugar on high speed for 20 minutes until it reached a white ribbon consistency.

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While waiting, I heat the mixture of chocolate chips, 150 gram sugar and coconut milk, until it becomes a homogeneous chocolate liquid and let it cool.

Cut parchment papers in square, then lined it inside the cup-shaped mold. For this recipe prepare 6 cups or more (because I plan to make more for the next day).

Once the 20 minutes is up, turn the mixer speed to the lowest, and start alternating between adding flour, chocolate liquid and carbonated water, until everything are in.

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Now your chocolate batter should be ready when it looked like this.

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Pour the batter inside a plastic piping bag, and tied it with rubber band at the end. The next day I split the batter 3 ways, add food colors to each of the 3 batters, and omit the chocolate chips to create colorful batters.

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Now it’s also the right time to prepare the steamer and turn the heat on so the water will be boiling hot when I put the Bolu Kukus batter in. And don’t forget to cover the steamer lid with kitchen’s towel to keep all the steam inside and to steam the Bolu Kukus well.

Time to pour the batter inside the lined cup-shaped mold. I also showed you here the colorful batter from the one that I made the next day.

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Always remember to hold each cup with a tong so you won’t burn your fingers, then put them inside hot steamer one by one.

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Close the steamer and never open the lid, even though the temptation is so high to peek inside. Leave it alone and wait until the 25 minutes is up. Here you go, the beautiful parade of Bolu KuKus. Enjoy!

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Bolu Kukus Recipe

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For chocolate flavor:
¼ cup non gmo chocolate chips
150 gram organic pure cane sugar
100 ml organic coconut milk

For the Bolu Kukus batter:
50 gram organic pure cane sugar
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp baking powder
1 whole organic egg at room temperature
1 organic egg yolk at room temperature
½ tsp vanilla
250 gram organic all purpose flour
½ tsp salt
100 ml carbonated water