How to Make Soft and Plump Pukis
This post may contain affiliate links.Pukis is a traditional Indonesian snack, made of fermented batter with coconut milk. The sphere cake is super soft and has spongy, fluffy texture that will make you fall in love at first bite. Made from a simple batter and mixed with chocolate or pandan, Pukis is a snack that’s hard to resist.
Indonesia has so many traditional snacks or dessert that are still very popular until now. One of them is pukis. It is a soft and plump cake made of fermented egg batter with coconut milk.
Long fermentation hour results in a very soft and fluffy cake with a nice honeycomb texture inside. This is what makes pukis a very popular street food.
There are other cakes that uses fermentation method similar to this one like Bika Ambon or Mini Pandan Bika Ambon. Malaysian Honeycomb Cake also has similar texture but the batter is not fermented. Putu Ayu Pandan Pastel Tutup
Why You Will Love This Recipe
Recipe Ingredients
Ingredient Notes
Coconut Milk – use canned coconut milk, it is more practical. But if you have fresh coconut milk, you are welcome to use it.
Instant Yeast – Make sure your instant yeast is in good condition. If it is still good, the yeast mixture will be bubbly after 15 minutes.
Butter – You can use butter or margarine. The traditional recipe mostly use margarine. But I find that using butter is even better.
Flour – Use regular flour or all purpose flour.
Cornstarch – A little cornstarch will help make the cake fluffy.
Variations
You can be very creative with this pukis recipe. Take some of the vanilla butter and add other flavor like taro, pandan, chocolate. Or you can also add roasted peanuts, cheese slices or ham slices.
Just experiment and create many flavors out of the original batter. Start from chocolate, pandan, taro, or maybe red velvet. Just be creative and have your own pukis trademark!
Be sure to check out the full recipe and ingredient list below
How to Make Pukis
STEP 1. Prepare the yeast and coconut milk mixtures. In a small bowl, combine all the ingredients for the yeast mixture. Stir well until the yeast, flour, and sugar are fully dissolved (Images 1 & 2). Cover with cling wrap and let it ferment for about 15 minutes, or until bubbly (Image 3).
Meanwhile, prepare the coconut milk mixture. Add the coconut milk, sugar, salt, condensed milk, and vanilla extract to a saucepan (Image 4). Place over low heat, stirring gently until the sugar fully dissolves and the mixture just begins to simmer. Remove from heat and let it cool slightly before using.
STEP 2. Make the base batter. In a large mixing bowl, combine the eggs and sugar (Image 5). Beat on medium speed until the mixture turns pale, thick, and slightly fluffy (Image 6).
Sift the flour and cornstarch into the bowl (Image 7). Gradually pour in the warm (not hot) coconut milk mixture (Image 8), whisking until the batter is smooth and well combined.
STEP 3. Add yeast and ferment the batter. By now, the yeast mixture should be foamy and bubbly. Pour it into the batter (Image 9) and whisk until smooth. Add the melted butter and whisk again until fully incorporated (Image 10).
Cover the bowl with cling wrap or a clean kitchen cloth (Image 11) and let the batter ferment for 1–2 hours, or until it has doubled in volume and looks airy (Image 13).
STEP 4. Flavor and divide the batter. Once the batter has fermented, gently whisk it to release excess air bubbles (Image 14).
Divide the batter into portions according to your preference (or follow my video guide). I usually:
- Set aside 450 g of batter and mix in homemade pandan extract for pandan pukis
- Take 100 g of batter and mix it with chocolate paste or cocoa powder (Image 15)
The chocolate batter is used mainly as an accent or swirl on top of the vanilla or pandan batter.
STEP 5. Cook the pukis. Heat a pukis mold over medium heat and brush generously with butter or margarine (Image 16). If you don’t have a pukis mold, a pancake pan works too. The mold is ready when a few drops of water sizzle on contact.
Stir the batter gently, then pour it into the mold cavities until about ¾ full (Image 17). Cover with a lid and cook for about 5 minutes, or until the cakes are puffed, set, and springy to the touch (Images 18 & 19).
Remove the pukis and transfer them to a cooling rack. While still warm, brush the tops with butter or margarine for extra aroma and shine (Image 20). Repeat until all the batter is used.
Enjoy your freshly made, soft, and fluffy pukis! ✨
Serving
Serve this wonderful snack with a glass of traditional drink such as Wedang Jahe (Red Ginger Drink) or Lemongrass Pandan, Ginger Lemon, or Butterfly Pea Flower Tea. They are perfect when paired with Pukis.
Pro Tips
- Always stir the batter before pouring – Fermented batter naturally separates as it rests. Give it a gentle stir before pouring to redistribute the yeast, flour, and liquid so each pukis rises evenly.
- Make sure the pukis mold is fully heated before adding the batter – The mold needs to be really hot. If it isn’t, the batter will stick to the mold, the cakes will be difficult to release, and the pukis won’t rise properly. 👉 A quick test: sprinkle a few drops of water onto the mold—if they sizzle immediately, it’s ready.
- Check that your yeast is active before using it – After resting for 10–15 minutes, the yeast mixture should look foamy and bubbly. If it stays flat, your yeast may be expired or the liquid may have been too hot or too cold.
- Use warm, not hot, liquids when working with yeast – Hot liquid can kill the yeast, while cold liquid slows fermentation. Aim for lukewarm.
- Don’t overfill the mold cavities – Fill each cavity only about ¾ full. This gives the batter enough room to rise and creates that signature fluffy, domed shape.
- Cook on medium heat for even browning – Heat that’s too high will brown the outside too quickly while leaving the inside undercooked. Medium heat allows the pukis to cook through while staying soft and tender.
- Brush with butter while still warm – Brushing the pukis right with melted butter after cooking adds shine, aroma, and extra richness.
FAQs about Pukis
No Pukis mold? No problem! You can use a muffin pan or mini loaf pans as an alternative. Just lightly grease them and adjust the cooking time so the Pukis still come out soft and fluffy. They might look a bit different, but trust me—your taste buds won’t care!
If your yeast mixture isn’t showing any bubble action after 10 minutes, chances are the yeast is inactive. Make sure you’re using warm (not hot!) water to activate it. If it’s still flat, swap out the yeast for a fresh batch and start again. The Pukis batter needs that yeast to rise!
A few things could be the culprit here! Check if your batter rested long enough for the yeast to do its thing—usually 30-45 minutes. Also, avoid overmixing, as it can make the batter dense. Lastly, make sure your cooking temperature is not too low; the batter needs enough heat to puff up.
Storage
This cake can only stay fresh for 2 days because it contains coconut milk. If you have some leftover, keep it in a closed container in the fridge. The next day, reheat with a pan or in a microwave.
Pukis
Ingredients
Yeast mixture
- 10 gr flour
- 4 gr instant yeast
- 50 ml water warm
- 20 gr sugar
Coconut Milk Mixture
- 165 ml coconut milk thick
- 100 gr sugar
- ½ tsp salt
- 165 ml milk
- 80 ml condensed milk
- 1 tbsp vanilla essence
Egg Mixture
- 2 eggs
- 3 egg yolk
- 100 gr sugar
- 300 gr flour
Butter
- 125 gr unsalted butter melted
- Butter or margarine to brush
Topping / Other Flavor
- 2 tsp chocolate paste
- 1-2 tbsp pandan extract
- A few slices of cheddar cheese
Instructions
Yeast Mixture
- Mix all the ingredients for yeast mixture in a bowl. Stir well until the yeast, flour, and sugar dissolve.
- Cover with cling wrap and let it ferment for 15 minutes.
Coconut Milk Mixture
- Pour coconut milk, milk, condensed milk into a sauce pan. Add sugar, salt, and vanilla essence.
- Put the sauce pan on the stove with low heat. Stir and let it simmer.
- Take it off the stove and let it cool for a while.
Egg Mixture
- Put the eggs and sugar in a mixing bowl. Beat with medium speed until the batter becomes pale and thick.
- Add a part of the sifted flour and cornstarch into the batter. Whisk. Then, add a part of the coconut milk mixture. Whisk again. Do this until the sifted flour and the coconut milk mixture are all poured into the egg yolk batter.
- Now add the yeast mixture. The yeast mixture should be bubbly by now. If not, you need to redo it, that means the yeast is no longer good. Mix with a whisk until well blended.
- Pour in the melted butter and whisk well.
- Cover with a cling wrap or a cloth. Let the batter ferment for 1-2 hours or until you can see the volume has doubled.
- After one or two hours of fermentation, whisk the batter until the bubbles subside.
Divide for other flavors:
- Divide the batter into three. The amount is up to you. You can follow my guidance in the video. I separate 450-500 gr batter and make it into pandan batter.
- Take 150 gr for chocolate batter. The chocolate will be just an accent mixed with the vanilla batter.
- For the vanilla batter, you can either add a slice of cheddar cheese or grate the cheddar cheese on top or just live it as it is.
Baking with the Pukis mold.
- If you don’t have a pukis mold, you can just use a pancake mold.
- Heat the pukis mold on the stove until the mold is really hot. You can test it out by sprinkling some water in it. The water will sizzle if it is hot enough.
- Pour the batter into each hole until ¾ full. Before pouring the batter, stir the batter first.
- Cover the lid and let it bake for 5 minutes with medium heat or until the cake is plump enough.
- Take out the cake and put them on a cooling rack. While still hot, brush with butter or margarine.
- Enjoy your Pukis!
Video
Notes
- Always stir the batter before pouring into the mold.
- The pukis mold has to be really hot before pouring the batter in. Otherwise, the cake will be sticky and hard to take out from the mold. And also the cake will not rise so well.
- Make sure your yeast is in good condition. To know the yeast is in good condition is by checking the yeast mixture after 10-15 minutes. The mixture will be bubbly.
This traditional snack from Indonesia is very delicious! Fermentation of coconut milk and other ingredients create a wonderful texture for this cute little cake.