Ontbijtkoek – Dutch spice bread (or cake) – a wonderful winter tea time treat! Crunchy crust, dense crumb with a rich, sweetly spiced flavour. Ontbijtkoek is traditionally served at breakfast with a thick layer of butter, or it can be served as a snack.

Mijn excuses voor het knoeien met de traditie!

Makes 1 x 30cm (12″) loaf
Preparation about 15 minutes
Baking about 60 minutes

Ingredients

500g (4 cups) whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
1/4 tsp ground mace
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/8 tsp ground white pepper
1/8 tsp ground cloves
500ml (2 cups) whole milk
500g (2 cups) raw cane sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 175°C (350°F) and grease and flour a 30cm (12″) loaf tin.

Whisk flour, baking powder and spices together in a bowl.

Put the milk in a medium heavy based saucepan and heat until it just comes to a boil. Remove from the heat, add the sugar and whisk until the sugar has dissolved.

Pour the milk mixture into the dry ingredients whisk until the batter is smooth.

Pour into loaf tin and bake in centre of oven for about 60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Take the cake out of the oven, allow it to cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then remove to a wire rack. As the cake is quite dense, it won’t shrink much, so you may need to use a fine plastic spatula to loosen it in the tin.

Allow cake to cool to room temperature before serving.