Dense Boterkoek to Creamy Tompouce: Beloved Dessert Cakes from the Netherlands

Dutch cakes do not refer to the makeshift cakes of your local store that claim to use Dutch ingredients or chocolate, perhaps they do, but they aren't what the folks in the Netherlands bake. The Dutch love their butter, chocolate and whipped cream and have a range of dessert cakes ranging from fluffy, and moist to dense, most of which aren't nauseatingly sweet and perfect along with a cup of coffee. They bake these on festive occasions like Christmas or celebrations such as birthdays. Here are the cakes that the Netherlands love to bite into and we recommended you try their homemade cake recipes.

1. Boterkoek

This Dutch cake is rich in salted butter that is sweet and moist and doesn't expand as much as sponge cakes. It has hints of vanilla and almond owing to the extracts used in them. The cake’s dough is quite sticky and has an egg wash for the top to brown well. It is a tad salty and sweet as a cake ought to be. Before baking the cake, it is decorated with a criss-cross pattern that shows up post-baking. The cake is served by cutting into narrow slices or squares, as per individual preferences. It's a popular tea-time cake, although the Dutch favour coffee over tea to sip alongside their slice or two of this dense butter cake.

2. Slagroomtaart

A popular cream cake that is only found in the Netherlands, this cake is not too sweet and uses whipped cream to cover the cake sponges. It is baked during birthdays and special occasions alongside other desserts like the Spekkoek (Dutch-influenced Indonesian layer cake), Stroopwafels, appeltaart, Kruidkoek and others. Since it isn’t as nauseatingly sweet as the Western cakes, it is often paired with a cup of coffee. It is said that Mrs Drees, who was the wife of Willem Drees, Prime Minister of the Netherlands for a decade, served it to a visiting American diplomat; that’s the story floating around, which isn't exactly confirmed.

3. Tompouce

This is perhaps the most beloved Dutch cake that is as delicious and as appealing as it looks to the eye. When cut, it looks like a dessert sandwich with two thin slices of puff pastry on the top and bottom with a thick layer of cream in between and a thin layer of glossy pink icing on top of the puff pastry; it is sold by the slice, not as a whole cake. The unusual name comes from a famed European stage actor with dwarfism, Charles Sherwood Stratton whose stage name was Tom Pouce. The pink glaze is switched with an orange one during and around King's Day in Amsterdam, representing one of the three true Dutch colours. Depending on the bakery you pick up your Tompouce from, it might come with an additional layer of cream resting on top of the pink glaze.

4. Ontbijtkoek

This Dutch gingerbread is said to be hard to spoil, even when not refrigerated for several days, and is commonly eaten during breakfast or between meals as a snack. It’s a soft, spicy and moist cake and was often taken along by soldiers to war due to its non-spoiling nature. It used to be made with honey, but as sugar became cheaper, it began to be used instead of honey. It is typically made with rye flour, some water, sugar syrup, salt, baking powder and a spice blend (cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, honey, pepper, and cloves) sometimes going heavy on aniseed or pepper. Depending on the dominant spice, the name of the cake also changes – Southern Netherlands specializes in “peperkoek” because the ginger cake uses a lot of pepper.

5. Spekkoek

This cake might sound Dutch, it is Dutch, but it did not originate in the Netherlands but in Indonesia. Influenced by Dutch cuisine, the cake has 20-30 layers that are baked separately and quite similar to the European spit cake, but unlike the spit cake that is made on a rotating contraption, the Spekkoek or kuih lapis is baked in a pan, layer by layer. It's made with flour, egg yolks, sugar, butter, and spices – nutmeg, mace, cloves, and cinnamon. Additional ingredients like dry fruits, nuts, cheese or chocolate are also added.

6. Arretje nof

This Dutch refrigerator cake is no-baked and rich in chocolate and there are similar versions in Australia (hedgehog slice), US (rocky road or refrigerator cake) and Indonesia (Batik cake). The cake is made with cookies suspended in a chocolate mixture made with dark chocolate, butter, sugar, eggs, and cocoa powder. Once the chocolate sauce is prepped, it is combined with the cookies and refrigerated for the cake to set. It is cut into slices and eaten.