French cuisine · Breakfast & Eggs

Pain d'Épices

Dark spiced cake from Dijon with plenty of honey, anise and cinnamon, eaten in thin slices with butter.

Ingredients · for 8 servings

• 300 g honey
• 250 g flour
• 100 g rye flour
• 200 ml whole milk
• 1 egg
• 1 packet baking powder
• 1 tbsp ground anise
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1 organic orange
• 1 pinch salt

Instructions

1. Warm the honey with the milk in a pot over low heat until fully liquid, then let the mixture cool to hand-warm.
2. Thoroughly mix both flours with baking powder, anise, cinnamon, ground cloves and salt, and stir in the grated zest of the organic orange.
3. Add the lukewarm honey milk and the egg and stir just until a smooth, thick batter forms — overmixing makes the cake tough.
4. Butter a 30 cm loaf pan and line it with parchment paper, pour in the batter and smooth the surface with a damp spatula.
5. Bake in the oven preheated to 160°C for 55–60 min. until the cake has cracked on top, turned dark brown, and a skewer comes out clean.
6. Let it rest in the pan for 15 min., then turn out, let cool completely, and cut into thin slices only the next day — that's when it's juiciest.