Enjoying the Taste of Tapel Cakes, a Traditional Culinary from Cirebon

TIMESINDONESIA, CIREBON – Your visit to Cirebon will not be complete without purchasing the traditional culinary from Cirebon, Tapel Cakes.

This snack has become a rarity with quite a lot of demands. You cannot find Tapel Cakes stalls easily nowadays.

There is one of the pioneers of Tapel Cakes sellers in Cirebon, Mrs. Lena’s. Mrs. Lena is the owner and the maker of Mrs. Lena’s Tapel Cakes stall in Cirebon.

The business was established by Mrs. Lena’s grandmother, Rokila, in her house. Later, this business was managed by Ratini, Mrs. Lena’s mother. Ratini successfully opened a new kiosk in Jalan Pagongan, Cirebon.

The method of making Tapel cake is similar to the Kerak Telor from Jakarta, using rice flour, grated coconut, sticky rice, banana, and palm sugar as the main ingredients. All ingredients are put into a frying pan one by one and molded over medium heat.

The unique taste and aroma of Tapel cakes come from the firewood used in the making of this cake. Thus, it is best to make this cake with firewood instead of frying oil and gas.

Although this business has entered the third generation, Mrs. Lena still uses traditional methods and cooking utensils such as pandan leaves and coconut shells to maintain its original taste.

“This business is now in its third generation, established by my grandmother and still running today,” Lena said, Sunday (15/11/2020).

She also said that some other regions adopted the idea of Tapel Cake from Cirebon, such as Lindri from Indramayu and Tapel Cakes in Tegal.

Lena uses 2 kilograms of rice flour dough, 10 bars of palm sugar, and 5 bunches of banana. She only uses two kinds of banana, namely saba banana and plantain.

These types of banana are chosen for their texture and sweeter taste, perfect for Tapel Cakes and mixed with palm sugar.

Her Tapel Cakes are the favorite of visitors from Jakarta and Bandung. One of the visitors from Jakarta, Sofyan, said that he is curious about the traditional taste of Tapel Cake. “I saw the Tapel Cake from media with the traditional means of making. It has good reviews and made me curious about the taste,” he said.(*)

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