Making your own Dutch ontbijtkoek, a sweet gingerbread, is an easy recipe. Only 6 ingredients that you mix-within five minutes and then bake in the oven. This moist gingerbread, of Dutch origin, with whole wheat flour, is light and delicious. The best recipe out there for sweet quick bread!
Ontbijtkoek (Dutch Peperkoek)
II have been making this recipe for many years now: Dutch Ontbijtkoek bread. It's a breakfast cake that my entire family loves, and I’m sure yours too. A real Winter delicacy, which your taste buds will love.
There are many types of Dutch Peperkoek (you can also find them on my blog), with or without filling (they can contain candied fruit, nuts, and dried fruits) and with their blend of spices (every part got its own local recipe). Some are topped with pearl sugar. But all got a sweet taste and a dark brown coloration.
Many varieties of this sweet bread
It's a sweet bread you can find in all parts of the country with different names, and also it's a traditional-baked cake of Flemish parts of Belgium.
You can find peperkoek in parts of the Netherlands called kruidkoek, ontbijtkoek, in the city of Deventer it's called the Deventer koek, in the north of the Netherlands called kroninger cook. There are many varieties of ontbijtkoek, and you can compare it to America's traditional sweet bread called banana bread.
It is super easy to make and ready to bake in the oven in just a few minutes. And the wonderful smell that can be smelled throughout the house when you bake this cake with the gingerbread spices is also incredibly delicious.
Highly recommend the gingerbread (spice bread)! Smear a thick layer of butter on a slice and enjoy this spice cake!
Preparation oven baked Dutch gingerbread spice bread
You can find a recipe that you can easily print at the bottom of this blog.
This recipe will only take 5 minutes of your time (and 70 minutes additional baking time), so we can tell it's an easy recipe. Take one bowl and prepare your batter (with a whisk, no mixer needed). Pour it into a loaf tin and bake in the oven until deep brown (and done). Let it cool down and serve!
- Cake tin / loaf pan: The recipe calls for a loaf pan of 10 inches (ca. 25 cm). If you're using a bigger / smaller tin, you can easily add the sizes of the tin into the recipe card (bottom of the blog) and it will calculate the right amount of ingredients you require for your tin.
- Check if your cake is done: You can check if your cake is done by pricking a wooden skewer at the end of the baking time into the thickest part of the cake. When you get the skewer out, and it is dry, the cake is done.
Yes, they are the same. In the south of the Netherlands, the name peperkoek is used for this sweet bread, in the rest of the country ontbijtkoek is common.
Did you make this recipe? Tag #byandreajanssen via Instagram. I enjoy seeing what your creation looks like. Video recipes can be found on my YouTube channel. And don't forget to save the recipes on Pinterest so you can easily find them next time!
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 egg large
- 1 tablespoon Dutch sugar syrup
- 1 cup water
- 1 tablespoon speculaas spice mix
- 1¼ cups dark brown sugar
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1¾ teaspoons baking powder
Ingredients you need per step are listed below the step in Italic
Instructions
Bake your cake
- Preheat oven to
375 °F or 340 °F and line a loaf pan (10 inches) with parchment paper. - Put the egg, syrup, water, spices, and brown sugar in a bowl. Whisk until everything is dissolved.1 egg, 1 tablespoon Dutch sugar syrup, 1 cup water, 1 tablespoon speculaas spice mix, 1¼ cups dark brown sugar
- Add the flour and the baking powder into the bowl and mix all the ingredients until the flour is wet. It doesn’t matter if there are some lumps left.2 cups all-purpose flour, 1¾ teaspoons baking powder
- Pour into the baking tin and bake in the oven for 70 minutes.
- To check if the sweet bread is done, stick a wooden skewer or toothpick into the middle. If it comes out clean, the sweet bread is ready.
- Take the cake out of the oven, allow to cool in the tin for 5 minutes.
- After 5 minutes, take the cake out of the pan and let the cake cool down on a wire rack to room temperature before serving.
Notes
- Add currants, raisins, or walnuts for even more flavor (2 oz. (50 grams) of dried fruit / 1 oz. (25 grams) of finely chopped nuts).
- 2 oz. (50 grams) of finely chopped chocolate.
- Room temperature: Wrap in plastic foil or store in an airtight container for up to three days.
- Freezer: Wrap in aluminum foil (double wrap) and store up to 1 month in the freezer. Let thaw at room temperature.
Mrs Dorothy Taylor says
Your recipe doesn't state how much brown sugar but I have previously found this recipe and it states 250g brown soft sugar, is this correct. Have made it a few times but the last two I have made sank in the middle during cooking and I don't know why? Can you help? Thank you
Andréa says
Hi Dorothy, Thank you for your comment. I've lost the brown sugar in the ingredients, but I've adapted the recipe so it's now online. It's indeed 250 grams of brown sugar.
Dennis Littley says
My family loves gingerbread and declared your recipe their new favorite! Thanks for such an awesome recipe!!
Michelle says
I absolutely LOVE gingerbread and this recipe. Thank you!
Audrey says
This was perfect for the holidays! Smells great while baking too.
Amy Liu Dong says
That bread looks really delicious. Perfect for Christmas Eve.
Joop says
Hi
Can you provide the recipe for the ginger bread spices please?
Thanks
Andréa says
You can find the recipe for the speculaas spice (ginger bread spices) here in the recipe at the tips. You can easily come there by using the jump to recipe in the top. Recipe: https://www.byandreajanssen.com/traditional-dutch-pepernoten/
Stephanie says
There is nothing like the smell of gingerbread baking in my home so I had to try this recipe. The sweet gingerbread loaf is so simple to make and simply delicious! I will be adding these to my holiday gift baskets this year.
Gloria says
I love the flavours of Fall. This spiced gingerbread is just what I need with my coffee. So warm and comforting. The aroma as it bakes is fantastic.
Andréa says
What a great idea!
Kim says
This recipe was outstanding! The flavour was perfection!
Swathi says
Love this gingerbread cake. i need to make this for this holidays . I am fan of Gingerbread cake.