Ontbijtkoek

Four slices of traditional Dutch Ontbijtkoek on a plate, with a close-up inset.

An Ontbijtkoek (literally translated breakfast cake) is a Dutch spiced cake. Rye is its most important ingredient, coloring the cake a light brown. It is often spiced with cloves, cinnamon, ginger, succade and nutmeg. Several parts of The Netherlands have their own local recipe, of which the most famous is "Oudewijvenkoek" (old hags' cake) which is mostly eaten in the northern regions, and is flavored with aniseed. Ontbijtkoek is originally served at breakfast with a thick layer of butter on top, as a replacement for bread. However due to its sweet taste it is also served as a snack.

Origin

Originally called 'peperkoek' is made from breadcrumbs and other rest bakery product stored on an attick. Periodically collected and pressed to create 'peperkoek', augmented with Black pepper to conceal age of the resulting thick break, hence it's name. Pepper being one of it's most valuable Dutch East India Company trading products, pepper is used in many of dutch food products.

See also

• Coffee cake