Eierkoek (Soft Egg Cakes)

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: mild, plain, and soft, the kind of 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 — quiet, comforting, and completely Dutch.