Jump to Recipe Jump to Video Print Recipe

Bolu Tape Keju or Indonesian Fermented Cassava Butter Cake is a traditional butter cake made of fermented cassava with the rich taste of cheese. This unique combination creates a moist and flavorful dessert, loved by so many.

a photo of bolu tape keju or fermented cassava cake.

Save This Recipe!

We’ll email this recipe to you, so you can come back to it later!

Bolu Tape Keju – Fermented Cassava Cake

Bolu Tape Keju is a tasty Indonesian cake that mixes the sweet and slightly tangy flavor of fermented cassava (known as “tape”) with cheese. Imagine a soft, moist cake that’s both sweet and a little bit cheesy—it’s the kind of dessert that’s perfect for sharing with friends or enjoying with a cup of coffee. It’s a unique twist on traditional cake that’s popular with anyone who loves trying something a bit different.

The cake is fragrant with tape and cheese. This cake remains one of the popular Indonesian snack or dessert that still exists until now.

Why You Will Love This Recipe

Moist, soft, and spongy – This cake has the right combination of eggs, tape, cheese will create a moist, soft, and spongy texture.
The tape blends well with the batter – The technique I use will not make the tape sink on the bottom. Instead it blends well with the cake batter.
Kids will love this cake – Kids will love this cake. You can bake the batter in small cups to make it look more attractive to kids.
Taste delicious – The cake has just enough sweetness because the tape itself is already sweet and the cheese compliments it.

Recipe Ingredients

Ingredient Notes

Tape (fermented cassava) – Fermented cassava / tape has dense texture, even though it is very soft. It is sweet and has fiber in it. In the center there is a hard core that you need to take away.

Due to its density, the fermented cassava is quite heavy if you mix it into the batter as is. You need to process it for a little bit, softening it with condensed milk, so it can easily blend with your batter. Tape is healthy because it has lactic acid that is beneficial for the gut.

a photo of fermented cassava or tape with the core.

Cake flour – You may use cake flour or all purpose flour for this cake. Gluten-free flour can also work well.

Butter – Butter will make the cake even moister. Melt the butter and mix it with the fermented cassava before putting it into the batter.

Substitutions & Variations

You may substitute the butter with oil for healthy reason. However, I find that butter makes the cake even more fragrant.

Another variation from fermented cassava is Prol Tape, which is more dense than Bolu Tape. Prol means crumbles, the cake is soft and crumbly because it uses more fermented cassava than other type.

Bolu Tape has more like a sponge cake to butter cake texture. It is spongy and also contains a lot of butter. The fermented cassava mixes in the batter like butter. It rises the batter up so the cake is spongy.

Raisins, almond, or cranberry works perfect with this recipe. You can sprinkle it on top or put some in the batter.

How to Make

Soften the fermented cassava with condensed milk by mixing it with low speed. Remember to take out the hard string in the center.(image 1, 2, 3)
Slowly mix the melted butter into the softened fermented cassava until well-blended. Set aside. (image 4, 5, 6)

photo collage of processing the fermented cassava before the cake.

Mix eggs, sugar, salt, and vanilla extract with low speed gradually up to high speed for 10 minutes or until the batter turns thick and pale. (image 7, 8, 9, 10)
Transfer the fermented cassava + melted butter mix into the batter (image 11). Use low speed to blend in the batter. Mix just until they are both incorporated (image 12).

photo collage of mixing the eggs, sugar into pale and thick batter.

Sieve in flour and milk powder (image 13, 14). Use low speed mixer to blend in or use a spatula to mix and fold (image 15).
Put in grated cheese (image 16). Mix and fold.

photo collage of mixing the dry ingredients into the batter.

Pour the batter into a greased pan (image 17).
Sprinkle some grated cheese on top of the batter (image 18).

photo collage of baking the cake in the oven.

Bake in a preheated oven 160°C for 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted turns out clean (image 19, 20, 21, 22).
Take out the baking pan and knock a few times to let the cake out easily (image 23).
Let it cool completely before slicing it (image 24). Enjoy your cake!

Expert Tips

Fermented cassava has to be softened before mixing into the batter. Remember to take the hard string at the core of the cassava.
Mixing the fermented cassava into the batter is easy but needs to taken seriously. You really have to mix the egg sugar batter until thick and pale. Plus, the fermented cassava has to be soft. Otherwise the fermented cassava will end up at the bottom of the cake.
Cheese is actually optional. The cake itself is already very delicious and fragrant from the fermented cassava. You can add more toppings such as raisins, walnut, almond.

FAQs

You can get it in Asian grocery store. Make sure you get tape which is quite dark yellow in color.

The fermented cassava is already very sweet from fermentation process. You can mix it with ice, condensed milk, and tapioca balls like Candil Ubi Ungu or you can wrap it with pastry sheet and bake it or cover it with Banana Fritters batter and fry it. There are many desserts and snacks you can make with fermented cassava.