Our neighborhood garden club had a cooking demonstration for its January
meeting. The demo lady had spent quite a few years in Indonesia and
cooked some "Spice Islands" recipes.

She said this cake is often used to break the Ramadan fast. It was not
very sweet, but delicious (and I don't particularly like spice cake.)
She said thre secret is to use freshly grated cinnamon and nutmeg.

Indonesian Spice Cake
"Spekkuk"

2 cups sifted cake flour plus more for dusting the pan
1/2 tsp, baking powder
1 tsp. fresh grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
4 tsp. grated/ground cinnamon
pinch of kosher salt
1 1/2 c. unsalted butter at room temp. plus more for greasing pan
1 2/3 c.granulated sugar
4 large eggs at room temp.
3 large egg yolks, room temp. lightly beaten
2 tap. vanilla extract
1 Tbsp. powdered sugar (optional)

Position oven rack in the middle of the oven, preheat to 350 deg. F.
Grease and lightly flour a 9 inch tube pan with 3 1/2 inch sides. If
your pan in non-stick you can omit the grease and flour.

Resift the flour with the baking powder, nutmeg, clove, cinnamon and
salt into a bowl. Sift again and set aside.

In another bowl, with the electric mixer at high speed, beat the butter
until soft, about 1 minute. Gradually add the sugar and beat on high
speed until the mixture is pale and fluffy, 3-5 minutes. One at a time,
add the 4 whole eggs and beat on high speed until the mixture is light
and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in 3 equal parts, beating at
low speed until the batter is smooth and the flour is well combined.
Add the egg yolks and vanilla and continue to beat until the batter is
well mixed.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the surface. Place on
the middle oven rack and bake until a toothpick inserted into the
thickest part of the cake comes out clean, about 40 minutes. (Check
after 30 minutes.)

Remove the pan from the oven and let cook on a wire rack 10 minutes.
If necessary, carefully run a thin knife around the edge of the pan and
the inner edge of the cake to loosen it from the pan. Invert the pan
onto the rack and lift off the cake. Turn the cake right side up and
let it cool on the rack.

Transfer the cake to a serving plate. Using a fine mesh sieve, dust the
top with powdered sugar if desired.