How do Singapore’s most vibrant desserts get so colourful?

The bright hues of Singapore’s heritage desserts reflect their colourful, diverse origins, with influences from the Peranakan, Malay, Chinese and Indian cultures.

In Singapore, specialty dessert maker Rainbow Lapis is committed to preserving the traditions that go into making these authentic delicacies. Handmade daily, you can taste the freshness in the brand’s range of delectable kuehs and pastries such as pineapple tarts and kueh lapis. Plus, they are made with less sugar and do not contain added preservatives so you can snack with less guilt.

Instead, Rainbow Lapis products are made using traditional ingredients such as the butterfly pea flower and pandan to impart the vibrant colours that make these desserts stand out on a plate. In some cases the ingredients also have distinct flavours and scents that give the snacks their unique tastes. Here are our favourite brightly coloured traditional snacks by Rainbow Lapis to sink your teeth into.

Dona manis, the local version of banana cake has one other key ingredient – gula melaka. Also known as palm sugar, it imparts a complex sweetness of flavour to the cake. Gula melaka, which is made from the sap of coconut flowers, is boiled to thicken its consistency to a syrupy texture, eventually turning into a pleasing golden brown hue. This is the ingredient that gives dona manis its orange-brown colour.

Besides dona manis, gula melaka is commonly used in the making of many other heritage kuehs and desserts too.

Did you know the pandan cake has been named Singapore’s national cake by news network CNN? With a fluffy yet moist texture created by whisking fresh pandan leaves, coconut milk and eggs to perfection, this popular cake is an ideal choice for a light teatime snack. Its pleasing green tone is derived by mixing in blended pandan leaves into the batter. The pandan also imparts a woodsy flavour and sweet fragrance to the cake.

Pandan is also used to colour and add a delicate flavour to kueh dadar - a green-hued crepe that is wrapped around a sweet caramelized grated coconut and gula melaka filling.

With a generous dollop of rich, citrusy pineapple jam atop a crumbly, buttery pastry, pineapple tarts are one of the most irresistible snacks around. The jam is made by cooking and reducing shredded pineapple, sugar and spices to a sticky golden-orange paste that is sweet and tart at the same time. Also, ong lai, the Hokkien term for pineapple, signifies incoming wealth and prosperity, making this one of the most commonly consumed treats during the Lunar New Year.

An alternative to the open-faced tart is the pineapple shaped pies - filled with a rich, flavourful pineapple jam enclosed in a buttery crust.

Infused with the refreshing flavour of pandan leaves, this bite-sized, soft and chewy kueh gets its signature flaky white appearance from its coating of steamed grated coconut. The round ondeh ondeh, which is made with a blend of fresh steamed sweet potato and a mix of flours, also holds a sweet surprise within – each piece is filled with a burst of molten gula melaka that oozes out when it is bitten into.

The beautiful butterfly pea flower, known for its healing and antioxidant benefits, is a natural ingredient that is traditionally used in Peranakan cuisine and herbal teas. A deep blue colour is obtained when the flower petals are steeped in warm water and this can be used as a natural food colouring.

For a showcase of the exceptional hue of this flower, check out this stunning butterfly pea lapis. In this creative version of the traditional “thousand layer” cake lapis, where each layer is baked carefully by controlling both heat and timing, the batter of every other layer is coloured with the floral extract. This results in an eye-catching blue and white layered cake that will certainly be the centrepiece of any dessert spread.

The brand’s namesake rainbow lapis is the traditional nine layered multi-coloured steamed lapis kueh, also known as lapis sagu. In the Peranakan culture, the layers of the rainbow lapis kuehs are traditionally made in different colour schemes to signify the family it originated from. This is why the colours of this rainbow lapis varies.

This childhood delight is a nostalgic favourite for Singaporeans, who love it for its soft and bouncy texture. Many might remember eating it one layer at a time while they were young without knowing a special significance behind this unique way of eating it. Each layer is meant to signify a phase of life, hence the cultural practice of eating this lapis cake layer by layer serves as a reminder that life should be appreciated one phase at a time.

Bursting with irresistible colours, delightful flavours and unique cultural backstories, these heritage desserts are a great way to savour a taste of local culture with every bite, so stock up on your favourites today.