Whenever my huband and I go out for the day, we always like to take some food with us, and quite often we will make eierkoeken (the literal translation of the Dutch word is “egg cakes”). These fluffy, spongy cakes are a bit like large and golden brown soft cookies, they travel easily and the texture is best one day after baking, so they’re pretty much ideal for taking on trips.

The recipe below is in our own cookbook (i.e. a notebook in which we only write our tried and tested favourite recipes) and they have pretty much become one of our staples.

Here’s the recipe as it is in our book:

Ingredients:

200 grams of white caster sugar

2 eggs

25 milliliters of water

120 milliliters of milk

290 grams of self raising flour

8 grams of baking powder

vanilla extract to taste (or 8 grams vanilla sugar)

Butter

Method:

In a large bowl, mix caster sugar, vanilla sugar (or a splash of vanilla extract), eggs, water and half the milk with a handheld mixer until the mixture is a pale aerated yellow. Add self raising flour (sifted!) and baking powder, mix again. Add the rest of the milk and mix till you get a smooth batter. Cover with cling film and leave in the fridge for a good 4-5hours.

Preheat the oven to 220 degrees Centigrade (or 200 C for  fan ovens).

Stir batter well.

Cover baking sheet with baking parchment and grease the paper (just rub the butter on the parchment). Using an ice cream scoop, make puddles of batter (spread them well, these things grow!). Bake for 8-10 minutes (keep an eye on them, they’re done when they’re a golden brown). in between batches, grease parchment again.

Now I’ve found that the baking time varies. The very first tray usually takes longer than the later ones, which is why it’s always smart to keep checking them.

After baking, take them off the tray and put them on a wire rack to cool. When they’re fresh out of the oven, the edges are a little crispy, which is absolutely delicious, but for the true Dutch eierkoeken, you need to put them in a plastic bag once they’re nearly cool (I use a bread bag with a clip to fasten it). You see, the desired texture is soft, bordering on sticky at the edges.

While this recipe made it to our book, I would suggest a few possible changes:

1. I prefer to use about 1,5 teaspoons of vanilla extract to using the vanilla sugar. My husband however prefers to use the sugar and when he makes them, he uses 16 grams to maximize the vanilla flavour.
2. I started out using the above amount of baking powder, but to be honest, nowadays I put in about half a teaspoon. They come out just as airy and at least this doesn’t give that not so nice taste you get when you add too much baking powder.
3. Some recipes that I have read suggest adding some grated lemon zest or a pinch of cinnamon. I never do this, but of course it’s up to you!

If you end up making these, do let me know what you think. I’d love to see the resultst you get, so please email me some pictures if you do make your own version of these!