If you are familiar with the Dutch ontbijtkoek, you know it’s good! It translates to breakfast cake and is often eaten for breakfast or as a nice snack. The most traditional way to serve ontbijtkoek is to take a slice of the spiced breakfast cake and spread it with a thick layer of butter. I’ll share my recipe for authentic ontbijtkoek with you!
The literal translation of ‘ontbijtkoek’ is breakfast cookie. But in English, that seems a bit weird and is not fitting. Breakfast cake or breakfast bread suits this recipe better. I prefer spiced breakfast cake due to the structure of the cake.
Ontbijtkoek is a very quick bread you make in a loaf pan. You can even make them smaller in mini loaves or even cupcake cases. This sweet bread has a wonderful moist, but dense texture. Especially homemade dutch spice cake! The flavors are amazing due to all the added spices and appelstroop. If you don’t have access to this Dutch product, you could also use molasses.
The breakfast cakes you can buy in a grocery store are usually a bit drier. Although they often have a sticky crust, just like a homemade loaf. If you are in The Netherlands and want tot buy one to take home: you’ll find it in the breakfast section. Usually next to crackers and ‘beschuit’ (another Dutch breakfast product).
A slice of this breakfast cake is the perfect sweet treat for me. I think my recipe is so good that it doesn’t need anything to go with it. But it is certainly possible if you want to. I will share my tips on how I serve my slice of store-bought breakfast cake (I admit, I still buy one from time to time).
Most Dutch people just take a slice and spread it with butter. It’s the most traditional way to eat it. Although ‘koekhappen’ is possibly even more traditional, I’ll tell you all about it after my serving suggestions!
I like to spread a slice with peanutbutter and if I’m in the mood for a real treat: I add some chocolate sprinkles. It’s amazing and you should really try it sometime. Another option I hear often is a nice layer of chocolate spread.
Time for some more Dutch traditions: koekhappen! It’s a popular thing to do on Kingsday, but you’ll see it at other festivities as wel. To explain what koekhappen is: you tighten a string from A to B just above your head and hang slices of spiced cake on it.
Participants must eat the ontbijtkoek with their hands behind their backs. It is a fun activity and usually not a competition. Although you could make it a competition to see who finishes their gingerbread first.
Ontbijtkoek is known by different names in The Netherlands, from honey cake to pepper cake (no, there’s no pepper in the recipe). The original name is ‘honingkoek’ which translates to honey cake. A long time ago, the recipe was made with honey. The honey was an expensive ingredient and was replaced with sugar. Which made it a spiced breakfast cake.
There are a lot of variations of breakfast cake. You could add nuts, ginger or a different spice mix. The recipe below is how I like my homemade breakfast cake best, for me it’s the real thing. But feel free to vary a bit.
I use all purpose flour, but you could also use whole wheat flour. With this alternative you don’t have to adjust the recipe. There are more options (rye flour for exemple), but I haven’t tested this yet. If you want to use rye flour, the recipe should be adapted.
Appelstroop is a key ingredient in ontbijtkoek. It is a (thick spreadable) dark syrup or jelly made from apples and sugar. It is most commonly used as a spread on bread, but can also be used as an ingredient in recipes for both hot and cold dishes.
If you are looking for a place to buy Dutch ingredients, I have a list of (web)shops that sell Dutch ingredients.
You can make it yourself with my recipe for speculaas spice mix. But you could also use gingerbread spice mix. It’s fine to leave out the ginger powder or use less than stated in the recipe. Most important is to have a variety of spices in you breakfast cake for the best result.
No, it isn’t. I love a slice of ontbijtkoek as a snack, but it’s definitely not a healthy snack.
As a Dutchie myself, you won’t be surprised I have many more Dutch recipes on my blog. Here are a few of my (and your!) favorites:
If you are missing any Dutch recipes, please let me know! I have many more Dutch recipes on my Dutch blog to translate. Here you can find all of my Dutch baking recipes in English.
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