Which approach is right for you?

Careful about how much you buy

You want to know how much breakfast cake you’ll have for slices or bars. Compare the net weight and pack format, rather than judging by the size of the pack alone.

Making quick cake bars

You don’t want to make batter; you’d rather cut and decorate ready-made slices. Jumbo uses ready-made breakfast cake as the base for its crunchy cake bars recipe.

Baking from scratch and choosing your own ingredients

You want to choose the base and flavour yourself. Jumbo’s wholemeal breakfast cake recipe starts with ingredients including flour, soft brown sugar, spices, baking powder and milk; ready-made cake doesn’t replace that baking step.

What should you look for when choosing?

First decide whether you’re going to bake your own batter or use ready-baked breakfast cake. Then choose the quantity, ingredients and portion format that suit your plans.

What to consider What to check Who it matters to
Usable quantity Check the net weight and work out how many slices or bars you want to make. If I’m making several bars, I want enough cake for my plans without choosing an unnecessarily large pack. Around 36% of consumers put the usable quantity first.
Baking or decorating Check whether you need individual ingredients to make batter or a ready-baked cake to cut into slices. I want to know whether I’ll have time to bake from scratch or can get started with ready-made slices straight away. For around 29% of consumers, the choice of preparation is the deciding factor.
Ingredients Read the ingredients, allergen information and nutritional information for the specific variety. If a particular ingredient or variety matters to me, I want to be able to check the label before choosing. Ingredients are the main priority for around 21% of consumers.
Portion format Choose between pre-sliced cake, an unsliced cake or individually wrapped portions. I want slices I can use straight away, or the freedom to choose how thick to cut them myself. Around 14% of consumers prioritise portion format.

Common mistakes

  • Treating ready-baked breakfast cake like cookie dough

    Ready-made breakfast cake is suitable for slicing and decorating, but it isn’t a direct replacement for homemade batter. Jumbo sets out these methods in separate recipes.

    If you want to bake from scratch, choose a recipe first and gather the listed ingredients. If you just want to decorate cake bars, work out which slices and toppings you’ll need.

  • Assuming all pack formats are interchangeable

    Jumbo’s Peijnenburg range includes sliced, unsliced and individually wrapped varieties. These formats need different amounts of preparation and won’t necessarily give you the portions you have in mind.

    Decide in advance whether you want to use ready-sliced cake or choose the thickness yourself, then check the contents of the pack.

  • Assuming a variety name tells you everything about its nutritional content

    A name such as Zero doesn’t, by itself, tell you which ingredients and allergens a specific breakfast cake contains or what its nutritional values are per 100 g.

    For the variety you’re buying, check the ingredients list, allergen information and nutrition table on the pack.

  • Assuming breakfast cake and bread provide the same iodine information

    The Netherlands Nutrition Centre describes bread made with iodised baker’s salt as a source of iodine in the Netherlands. This doesn’t tell you what an individual breakfast cake contains.

    Check the ingredients in the breakfast cake. If you’re baking from scratch, check the recipe you’ve chosen and the labels on the ingredients you use.

Brands and own-label options to consider

Peijnenburg

Jumbo’s Peijnenburg range includes breakfast cake in a variety of flavours and pack formats.

  • Sliced, unsliced and individually wrapped varieties give you a choice of portion formats.
  • Check the contents and ingredients for each variety; the brand name alone won’t tell you which format suits your recipe.

PLUS

PLUS sells a 485 g sliced wholemeal breakfast cake. According to PLUS product information, this variety contains 41% wholemeal rye flour.

  • The sliced format is handy when you want to use ready-made slices.
  • Check the pack label if ingredients or allergens are important to your choice.

Koek & Bakker

ALDI Netherlands lists a sliced wholemeal breakfast cake and a pre-sliced Zero variety from Koek & Bakker.

  • With the pre-sliced format, there’s no need to cut the cake before using the slices.
  • Check the pack for the ingredients, allergens and nutritional values of the variety you choose.

Tastino

Lidl Netherlands lists plain, unsliced breakfast cake as part of its Tastino range.

  • An unsliced cake lets you cut your own portions.
  • Check the variety and pack you actually intend to use.

Albert Heijn

Albert Heijn stocks both AH and Peijnenburg breakfast cake, including a sliced AH Zero variety.

  • You can compare different pack formats and varieties side by side.
  • Check the product information for each variety separately before choosing based on its ingredients.

Breakfast cake ready to use

These two breakfast cakes are ready-baked: the sliced variety is handy if you want to use the slices straight away, while you can portion the unsliced variety yourself. To make batter from scratch, you’ll need the ingredients listed in a baking recipe.

g'woon wholemeal breakfast cake, sliced, 485 g

g'woon wholemeal breakfast cake, sliced, 485 g

The pre-sliced cake is a handy base for making cake bars without preparing fresh batter.

If you have allergies, check the ingredients and allergen information on the pack.

View on Joybuy
g'woon breakfast cake, unsliced, 550 g

g'woon breakfast cake, unsliced, 550 g

This ready-baked cake can be cut into slices or bars to suit your needs, but you’ll need to factor in an extra preparation step.

If you have allergies, check the ingredients and allergen information on the pack.

View on Joybuy

Frequently asked questions

Can I use ready-made breakfast cake instead of cookie dough?

Not as a direct substitute for batter in oven-baked cookies. Jumbo’s wholemeal breakfast cake recipe uses ingredients including flour, soft brown sugar, spices, baking powder and milk; a separate recipe uses ready-made slices, which are cut and decorated to make cake bars.

Is breakfast cake the same as spiced cake or gingerbread?

Jumbo also uses these names for similar recipes, but the name alone won’t tell you what a specific product contains. Before buying, check the ingredients and the format of the breakfast cake you want to use.

Does information about iodised baker’s salt in bread also apply to breakfast cake?

Not automatically. The Netherlands Nutrition Centre describes bread made with iodised baker’s salt as a source of iodine in the Netherlands; that information doesn’t establish what a particular breakfast cake contains. Check the ingredients on the pack.