Bika Ambon

Bika Ambon is documented as a specialty of Medan, the capital of North Sumatra, where a cluster of shops on Jalan Mojopahit made it famous as the city's signature oleh-oleh (gift food). Despite the name, it is not from Ambon in Maluku; several explanations circulate for the 'Ambon' element, none firmly established, so the name's origin is best treated as uncertain. The cake itself is widely understood to draw on the Nusantara repertoire of coconut-and-tapioca sweets, given a distinctive yeasted, honeycombed form; no single inventor or founding date is reliably recorded.

The first thing you notice is the chew — bouncy and elastic, the cake pulls apart into glossy strands along its honeycomb grain rather than crumbling. It is moist and dense for all its holes, richly sweet and eggy, with a clear coconut backbone and a fragrant lift of pandan and lemongrass. The thin amber crust gives a faint resistance before the springy interior; a small wedge is satisfying, eaten with coffee or tea.

The open vertical channels come from yeast and tapioca working together. The batter is fermented for a couple of hours so the yeast produces carbon dioxide, then baked starting in a hot oven, often with the oven door left ajar: as the bottom sets first, gas bubbles are forced to rise and tunnel straight up through the elastic, tapioca-rich batter, leaving the tall honeycomb holes. Tapioca starch and coconut fat give the chewy, stringy strands, while the high egg content sets the structure and deepens the colour; the long bake drives off enough moisture to firm the lattice without drying it out.