You can buy Chinese, Indian, Malay, Nonya (Nyonya), Thai and western cakes in the streets, shops, bakery or cake houses all over Malaysia and Singapore. Typical Malaysia / Singapore cakes, commonly referred to as kueh (or kuih) made by the Malays and Chinese are usually small cakes or coconut milk based desserts that come in a variety of flavors, usually having fruit such as durian, banana, or sometimes pandan.
Kuih are usually sweet and intricate creations, including cakes, cookies and puddings. It is more often steamed than baked. It can also be deep-fried, and sometimes even grilled. They are very different in texture, flavor and appearance from Western cakes or puff pastries.
Kuihs are not confined to a certain meal but are eaten throughout the day. It comes in different shapes, colours, texture and designs. Some examples are filled, coated, wrapped, sliced and layered kuihs. Presented together, they make up a colourful, pleasing platter. As such, kuehs are among the most popular items to be enjoyed during tea time, as a sweet dessert, and as part of the menu at festive occasions.
Traditionally, making kuih was the domain of elderly grandmothers, aunts and other women-folk. They would instinctively take handfuls of ingredients and mix them without any measurements or any need of weighing scales. All is judged by its look and feel. Each family holds its own traditional recipe as well as each region and state.
You may find a number of traditional kueh stalls selling a wide variety of hand-made kueh in Asian countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. Kueh displayed can be the usual glutinous rice cakes, soon kueh (turnip fillings) and ku chye kueh (chives fillings), ang ku kueh (red peanut/bean cakes), ou kueh (black bean), Ban Chang Kueh (Chinese Pancake), Malay kuih and etc.