'Bika Ambon', the hotcake of Medan

'Bika Ambon', the hotcake of Medan

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan

A woman hurriedly gets off a tourist bus to enter a store,
Ratna. Once inside, she orders three pans of yellowish cake.

"Please wrap them neatly because I want to take them to
Malaysia," she says. Within three minutes, the cakes are all
wrapped and ready.

That is an everyday sight in Jl. Mojopahit in Medan, a popular
street for those wanting to buy the city's well-known cake, bika
Ambon.

"If we don't take bika Ambon back home, it's like we've not
been to Medan," Andrian Parlindungan, a lecturer of YARSI
University in Jakarta said while spotted shopping for bika Ambon.

But why is the cake called bika Ambon? Ambon is a city in the
eastern part of the country, far away from Medan in North
Sumatra. How come it's not called bika Medan instead?

Kaeng, owner of the Bika Ambon Mojopahit brand, recalled that
the cake was there in the 1950s. Then, it was for private
consumption. "The cake was already there from my childhood," the
65-year-old man said.

He said the cake was first sold by the Aluan family, and then
the business was handed down to his child, Ati. At first, Ati
sold bika Ambon in Petisah market in Medan before moving to her
house in Jl. Mojopahit in 1985 after her stall in the market was
closed down.

Soon, another store, Ratna, opened up in the same street,
followed a few years later by Bika Ambon Mojopahit, Achai,
Majestik and many more. "So, bika Ambon started gaining
popularity in Jl. Mojopahit sometime in the 1990s," Kaeng said.

But there's different story. According to Femina magazine,
rumor has it that years ago, an Ambonese trader stopped over in
Medan on his way back to his homeland in Ambon from Malaysia.
With him, he carried the cake. Once he found out the cake was
loved by everyone in Medan, he decided to stay in the city and
forget his plan to return to Ambon. That's why the cake is called
bika Ambon. In a subsequent development, the cake was sold by
those of Chinese descent in Medan.

Ratna, 54, said that when she started selling the cakes in
1979 in her kiosk in Petisah market, she did not believe many
were interested in her bika Ambon, especially during religious
holidays like Idul Fitri and Christmas.

"At that time, a pan of bika Ambon was sold at Rp 5,000 to Rp
7,500 each," Ratna said.

Now, the not-so-wide road is always packed with fancy cars
while their owners are busy buying the cakes either for their own
consumption, or as gifts.

Just like Ati, Ratna was forced to leave the market, moving to
her house in Jl. Mojopahit in 1987, where she ran the store with
her son, Budi.

Now, the street is crowded with bika Ambon vendors. So far,
there are about 36 stores selling the cake in the street alone.

Ratna made bika Ambon based on her old recipe.

In the recipe, bika Ambon is made from coconut milk, sugar,
cassava flour, egg yolk, sap, pandanus and citrus leaves.

To make it, coconut milk, pandanus and citrus leaves are
boiled. The mixture is then allowed to cool off. After that,
cassava flour, sugar, and egg yolks are added before the mixture
is kneaded. The last step is to pour the fermented sap into the
dough. The dough is then left for 11 hours to rise before it can
be placed in an oven.

The recipe, according to Ratna, is an ordinary one, but the
quality of the raw materials determines the taste.

As a result, a pan of bika Ambon is sold at diffrent prices,
from Rp 18,000 to Rp 35,000.

Ratna sells her bika Ambon at Rp 30,000 to Rp 35,000 per pan.
Although her price is the highest in the area, she gets plenty of
orders. During the recent Chinese New Year, for instance, she
received an order for 100 pans of bika Ambon to be sent to Hong
Kong.

She said that the cakes were mostly given as gifts for
families and business relations, including visiting senior
officials. Famous names who have tasted the cakes' unique taste
include, according to Ratna, President Megawati Soekarnoputri and
her husband Taufik Kiemas, Indra Safera and Paramitha Rusadi.

Orders for the cake, which might also be made through the
Internet (indomall.com/bikaambonmedan), come from as far afield
as China, Hong Kong, Korea and Malaysia.

"If it is well wrapped, bika Ambon can last long and doesn't
easily get stale, so the taste will stay the same," Ratna said.

The businesswoman, however, was reluctant to reveal the amount
of money she spent each day to produce about 50 pans to 60 pans
of cake on regular days, or up to 150 pans during religious
holidays.

According to Efranus Chai of Bika Ambon Mega, he needed around
Rp 300,000 a day to prepare the cakes. By selling about 28 pans a
day, he could reap a profit of Rp 150,000.