Eierkoek (Soft Egg Cakes)
Eierkoek
The pale, pillowy Dutch egg cake: a low-fat sponge round, soft as a cloud, eaten plain or buttered with morning coffee. Light and mild.
IBread & the Broodmaaltijd- Prep
- 20 min
- Cook
- 15 min
- Serves
- 6
- Level
- Intermediate
An eierkoek is one of the gentler things in the Dutch bakery: a pale, soft, faintly sweet egg cake, light as a cushion, eaten plain or buttered with a cup of coffee. It has almost no fat and a great deal of whipped egg, which gives it a springy, cloud-like crumb quite unlike any richer cake. Split and spread with butter, it sits comfortably on the breakfast table beside the bread.
It is an old, thrifty sort of bake: a cake that leans on eggs and air rather than butter and cream, which made it accessible in the nineteenth-century household where fat was dear and eggs were not. That economy is written into its character: plain and soft, the kind of mild everyday cake meant for coffee rather than celebration, sold to this day in stacks at every Dutch supermarket.
Air is the whole method
Because there is so little fat and only a whisper of baking powder, an eierkoek rises almost entirely on the air you beat into the eggs. Whip the eggs and sugar long and hard, until they are pale, tripled, and thick enough to ribbon, then fold in the flour so gently you barely deflate them. Rush either step and you get a flat, close little disc instead of a pillow.
The pleasure of an eierkoek is its softness: a pale, springy crumb that gives under the thumb and asks for nothing but butter.
Pale on purpose
Resist the urge to brown it. An eierkoek is baked just until set and barely coloured. The pale, smooth top is part of its identity, and a golden crust means the oven ran too hot or too long. Eat them fresh, within a day or two while they are still soft, plain with coffee or split and buttered like a soft roll. It is a quiet comfort, and completely Dutch.
“The whole texture rests on the whipped eggs. Beat them until the batter falls in ribbons before you add a single spoon of flour.”
Ingredients
Serves 6
The batter
- 4eggs, large, at room temperature
- 150 gsugar
- 1 pinchsalt
- 150 gplain flour
- 1 tspbaking powder
- 1 tsplemon zest or vanilla, optional
Method
- 1
Whisk to a ribbon
Beat the eggs, sugar, and salt together for a full 8–10 minutes until pale, tripled in volume, and thick enough to leave a slowly-sinking ribbon. Almost all of an eierkoek's rise comes from this whipped air, not the small amount of baking powder. Do not shortcut it.
- 2
Fold in the flour
Sift the flour and baking powder over the foam and fold it in with a light hand, turning the bowl and cutting through the middle. Stop the moment the flour disappears. Overmixing knocks out the air and gives a dense, flat cake.
- 3
Pipe or spoon into rounds
Pipe or spoon the batter into flat rounds about 10 cm across on a lined tray, leaving space to spread. For the classic shine, some bakers wet the surface with a damp brush before baking to keep the top pale and smooth.
- 4
Bake pale and soft
Bake at 200°C for 12–15 minutes until just set and barely coloured. An eierkoek is meant to stay pale, not golden. It should spring back when pressed and lift cleanly from the paper.
- 5
Cool and keep soft
Cool on a rack, then store airtight. Eierkoeken are best within a day or two, soft and springy. Eat them plain, or split and spread with butter as the Dutch most often do.
Building the bread meal
The Dutch lunch is a spread, not a dish — bread and a parade of toppings.
- Jonge & belegen kaas, young and aged Gouda, sliced thin
- Hagelslag, chocolate sprinkles for the sweet slice
- Boiled egg & ham, the savoury half of the board
- Karnemelk, a glass of cold buttermilk
Questions from the kitchen
Why is an eierkoek so pale?+
It is deliberately baked light, not browned, and its high egg and low fat content keep it pale. The soft, cloud-like crumb, not a golden crust, is the whole appeal.
Is it a bread or a cake?+
Something in between. It is a light sponge, eaten more like bread than as a dessert cake, and often split and buttered at breakfast or with coffee.
Why did mine turn out flat and dense?+
Almost always underbeaten eggs or overfolded batter. The rise comes from air whipped into the eggs, so beat to a thick ribbon and fold in the flour gently.
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