Choose an unsliced breakfast cake if you want to decide the thickness and shape of the slices, bars or cubes for your Christmas snacks. Pre-sliced breakfast cake saves you the effort of cutting it, but gives you less control over the thickness of each original slice. Whichever type you choose, compare the flavour and the label of the particular variety too.
If you want to choose the size of your bars, cubes or slices, an unsliced cake gives you the freedom to cut it as you like. PLUS has an unsliced plain variety; Albert Heijn also lists an unsliced ginger variety from Peijnenburg.
With pre-sliced breakfast cake, you can work with individual slices right away. If you need wide bars for your Christmas snack, you can cut a slice further, as Jumbo shows in a recipe. However, you can’t choose the thickness of the original slice.
If you’re choosing based on ingredients or allergens, it’s important to check the exact variety. PLUS’s sliced plain cake contains rye and gluten; according to PLUS’s product information, a Peijnenburg variety labelled gluten-free contains milk and lupin.
First, decide whether you want to cut the cake to size yourself. Then compare the flavour and the label information for the variety you plan to use.
| What to consider | What to check when buying | Who it matters to |
|---|---|---|
| Cutting thick slices yourself | Look for ‘unsliced’ on the packaging and compare the pack size if you want to make several pieces. | If I want to make wide bars or cubes for Christmas snacks, I want to cut them to suit my recipe. For an estimated 50% of consumers, having this control over the shape matters most. |
| Flavour of the cake | Compare plain varieties with ginger or pearl sugar ones; check whether flavoured varieties are unsliced too. | If ginger or pearl sugar needs to be part of my Christmas snack, I look for that flavour in the cake itself. This flavour choice comes first for around 30% of consumers. |
| Ingredients and allergens | Read the up-to-date ingredients and allergen information. For varieties with no added sugars, check the sweeteners and any usage warnings too. | If I need to avoid certain ingredients, I want to know exactly what’s in the variety before I bake with it. For around 20% of consumers, checking the label is the first priority. |
‘Sliced’ tells you that the cake has already been cut into slices, not that they’re the thickness your recipe calls for.
Choose an unsliced cake if the thickness of the original slice matters. You can still cut a pre-sliced one further if the existing slices work for your plan.
A gluten-free cake can contain other allergens. A variety with no added sugars may contain sweeteners; for its tested sliced variety, Jumbo warns that excessive consumption may have a laxative effect.
Read all the information on the packaging you’re buying, even if the claim on the front seems to match what you’re looking for.
When it comes to ingredients, allergens and storage instructions, use the packaging of the variety you’ve chosen as your practical guide when preparing the cake.
Check the information again before making Christmas snacks for other people.
Peijnenburg offers both pre-sliced plain cake and an unsliced ginger variety, so the shape and flavour vary by product.
PLUS offers a choice of unsliced or sliced plain breakfast cake.
The Jumbo variety reviewed is pre-sliced breakfast cake labelled ‘Zero% added sugar’.
ALDI lists a sliced wholemeal breakfast cake and a sliced zero-sugar variety under this brand.
ALDI lists a plain Goud Gebakken breakfast cake in an unsliced format.
This sliced breakfast cake is a good fit for Christmas snacks you want to make using ready-cut slices. If you want to choose the thickness of the original slices yourself, pick an unsliced variety.
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An option if you want to use pre-sliced pieces straight away for your Christmas snacks. Check that the slices suit the shape you want, and read the current packaging for ingredients and allergen information.
Choose an unsliced breakfast cake if you want to decide the thickness of the original slices yourself. If you mainly need wide bars and the existing slices suit your recipe, you can also cut a pre-sliced piece further.
Don’t assume it is: PLUS’s sliced plain cake that we reviewed contains rye and gluten. PLUS also lists an unsliced Peijnenburg variety labelled gluten-free, but it contains milk and lupin. Check the current label for the exact variety you choose.
No. You can’t use that rule to work out the ingredients of an individual breakfast cake. The Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority describes the use of iodine compounds through the addition of bakers’ salt in bread and other bakery products, with an upper limit of 65 mg of iodine per kg of salt. If iodine content is important to your purchase, ask the manufacturer about the variety you’ve chosen.
Follow the storage instructions on the packaging of the cake you’ve chosen. PLUS says to store its unsliced plain variety in a cool, dry, dark place; check the information on your own pack for storage after opening too.
No. Compare the ingredients and nutritional information for each product. According to Jumbo, the sliced variety we reviewed contains sweeteners and carries a warning that excessive consumption may have a laxative effect. The words ‘no added sugars’ alone don’t tell you whether a variety is right for your recipe.
