Stepping through the portal
Stepping through the portal
By PORTALTO Editor
23 September 2025
Some stories begin in Paris. Others begin at home. For pastry chef Karen Chai, the journey of Lapis Geometry begins in both places at once.
Born in Kuching, she grew up with the familiar comfort of kek lapis, the richly layered cake that graced family tables during festive seasons. Decades later, after refining her craft at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, she returned to Malaysia not to replicate what she knew but to reimagine it.
Together with her partner Mak Kah Kein, Karen co-founded Kitchen Confidante, a small pâtisserie that treats cakes not just as desserts but as edible works of art. Their creations carry the discipline of geometry, the poetry of memory, and the taste of tradition — layered with meticulous precision.
Their signature, the Lapis Geometry Abstract 16, looks almost too perfect to eat. Made from 16 individually cut and reassembled cake segments, it is architectural yet soulful. Each slice reveals not just layers of butter, yolk, and flavor, but also the patience and precision of its makers.
Here, geometry does more than measure. It transforms flour and eggs into symmetry, into beauty — into something that feels less like dessert and more like a statement.
To watch a kek lapis being made is to witness discipline in motion. Unlike cakes that rise in an oven with little intervention, this one is baked layer by painstaking layer, each one brushed, baked, and pressed before the next is poured. The rhythm is hypnotic: pour, bake, press, repeat. Hours pass, but the result is a cake that tells its story in slices.
Karen and Mak treat this process like choreography. There is no rushing, no cutting corners. Every line must be straight, every proportion balanced. But within that structure lies freedom — the freedom to weave in flavors that feel both nostalgic and new.
Where others might reach for shortcuts, Kitchen Confidante insists on authenticity. Their cakes are made with real butter, rich egg yolks, and subtle fillings that bring complexity without cloying sweetness. No artificial colors. No sugary glazes. Just layers of honesty.
Kitchen Confidante’s cakes are not just a tribute to memory; they are a rebellion against compromise. In a world where speed often wins, Karen and Mak choose the slower path. Each cake is packed with richness and held together not by shortcuts but by careful choices: hazelnut praline, apricot jam, fruit compotes that add depth without overwhelming.
Even their tools tell a story. The pair commissioned a custom gas oven from Indonesia, built specifically for the kind of high-heat precision kek lapis demands. It’s not glamorous, but it is necessary. Every caramelized line, every moist bite owes its perfection to that oven — and to the unwavering patience of its makers.
The result is a cake that feels both familiar and surprising. It tastes like heritage, but it looks like design. It stays rooted in the past, yet whispers of the future.
The Lapis Geometry Abstract 16 is more than a clever name. It is a philosophy of balance. Sixteen individual elements, cut and reassembled, forming a single harmonious whole. It is edible proof that order and imagination are not opposites, but partners.
In many ways, the cake mirrors Malaysia itself — a nation of diverse layers, cultures, and influences that come together as one. Every slice becomes a metaphor: precise, deliberate, but ultimately delicious.
Each cake is produced in limited numbers. There are no conveyor belts here, no endless batches. Instead, exclusivity is part of the promise: every order is carefully crafted, every box a treasure.
It’s this balance of scarcity and artistry that has made Kitchen Confidante’s cakes some of the most coveted modern desserts in Malaysia, bridging nostalgia with contemporary luxury.
Imagine walking into a Parisian pâtisserie and seeing slices of Lapis Geometry alongside mille-feuille and opera cake. Or envision it on a dessert table in Tokyo, admired not only for its taste but for its precision and design. Kitchen Confidante makes that leap possible.
For all its beauty, though, the cake never loses its heart. At its core, it remains what it has always been: a celebration cake, meant to be shared, meant to remind us of home.
But their ambitions go beyond the kitchen. They dream of hosting workshops, teaching younger generations the patience and discipline of kek lapis baking. In a time when traditions often fade, this feels like an act of preservation as much as innovation.
Because in the end, it’s not just about cake. It’s about continuity. About ensuring that the next layer is always ready to be baked.
Karen and Mak prove that when you respect the past but dare to reimagine it, you create something far greater than cake. You create a legacy.
And with every slice, every line, every bite, you taste that legacy in motion — where baking truly meets mathematics, and where geometry has never tasted so good.
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