Savoury Yam Cakes Decorated With Chai Poh & Spring Onion Bags Popular For Birthdays

Fans of savoury birthday cakes, we’ve found yet another unique option for you. Home-based business So Lapisly Good sells steamed yam cakes, or orh kueh, which are not only Instagram-worthy, but taste orh-some too.

The yam cakes are made by Jenny Wee, who is originally from Kuching, Sarawak, using a traditional family recipe passed down through three generations. She learned how to make them during the Circuit Breaker ’cos her husband missed the orh kueh that her mum, who lives in Kuching, makes.

“I had some Zoom lessons with my mum,” laughs Jenny, who is in her mid-50s. “I used to watch her make orh kueh, but never tried making it myself ’cos she wouldn’t let me. She likes to dominate [in the kitchen].”

It took Jenny around four months to perfect the recipe before launching them on So Lapisly Good in August last year.

So Lapisly Good started out in 2019 as an online business selling kueh lapis (hence the name) made by her friends in Kuching. Jenny, who helps out in her husband’s business, would fly to her hometown every week and bring the homemade cakes back herself. She stopped when COVID-19 hit and travel came to a halt.

“I didn’t want to ship the cakes in. We don’t use preservatives in the kueh lapis, so I didn’t want them to be in transit for so many days. Furthermore, they are from Kuching, where it is very laid back and still very much a kampong, so they are not so good when it comes to logistics,” she explains.

Unlike the yam cakes that are commonly sold in Singapore, Jenny’s orh kueh does not contain lup cheong, mushrooms, pork or lard. The cake base is made with yam chunks and flour, and is covered with a generous layer of savoury topping made by frying chai poh (preserved radish), hae bee hiam and shallots. Spring onions are then used to decorate the cake into shapes like bags.

The cakes do not come with condiments like sweet black sauce and chilli as they are meant to be eaten on their own. “The toppings are very flavourful and complement the cake. You don’t need sauces as it is tasty on its own. You cannot find anything like this in Singapore,” she says.

Jenny’s birthday cakes weren’t always so fancy. Not happy with how “un-Instagrammable” they looked, she decided to play around with the different colours of the spring onions to make them more photogenic. She started with the initials of people’s names and experimented with more intricate designs when she got more confident.

“For mums, I would design flowers, and for older folks, I assembled the spring onions to look like a peach [as it symbolises] longevity. The handbag one was for a customer who works at Louis Vuitton,” shares Jenny. Customers can request for customisation of the design on the cake at no extra charge.

Apart from orh kueh, So Lapisly Good also sells steamed pumpkin cake made with kaboucha, or Japanese pumpkin, which Jenny says is sweeter and gives the cake a better texture. It features the same fried cai poh toppings.

“Regular pumpkin is too soft, so the cake turns out a bit watery, which I don’t like,” she says. According to Jenny, the yam cake is more popular with the older folks, while the younger customers prefer the pumpkin.

Apart from whole cakes (around 1.8kg; feeds around 10 pax), which are priced at $50, the kuehs are also available in smaller 450g slabs, which go at $15. The minis, which are sold in boxes of 12 or 25 cups, are available at $35 and $65 respectively.

“I only started selling the minis recently. I thought with COVID-19, it is more hygienic if everyone gets their own individual portion,” she reasons.

The cakes are all made to order, and Jenny sells around 10 whole cakes and 30 slabs a week. She occasionally receives corporate orders and even counts “ministers’ wives and prominent figures” as her customers, though she declined to reveal names.

“Sometimes when these prominent families order, they will get five or six cakes at a time and they will send their drivers to come pick them up from my place,” shares Jenny. “I really didn’t expect this kind of response. I am very thankful that they like it.”

Even her friends in Kuching have asked to buy her yam cake, so she referred them to her mother.

“My mum is in her 70s and she is selling the kueh now. She also tries to decorate the cakes and she asked me to teach her how to do it. She’s quite excited about it,” she laughs.

So Lapisly Good’s yam cake is a more refined version of the traditional snack. Unlike the stodgy and floury orh kueh sold in some hawker stalls, this is soft, moist, and loaded with chunks of premium Thai yam. The star is undoubtedly the copious chai poh topping, which is stir-fried with homemade hae bee hiam and shallots. Umami, aromatic and crunchy, it pairs perfectly with the yam cake and is so tasty that we didn’t even miss the usual additions of lup cheong, mushroom and condiments. We also enjoyed the rich and vibrant pumpkin cake, which boasts a springy chwee kueh-like texture. Jenny recommends eating the kueh fresh on the day it’s made. If you are keeping it overnight, pan fry it lightly till it’s crisp at the edges before eating.

Though the work involved in kueh-making is tedious and labour-intensive, Jenny derives much satisfaction from it and is considering opening a café to sell her creations.

“I have always wanted to own a café, but rental is so high. My husband is scouting for a location where I can run a café and he can have his office upstairs. We don’t want those busy strips, just a quaint spot in the Bukit Timah area, near where we live. If people like my cakes, they will come,” says Jenny.

To order, Whatsapp 9451 0111. https://www.instagram.com/solapislygood/

Photos: So Lapisly Good