Choose a recipe using wholemeal flour if wholegrains are your priority, or follow a recipe with plain flour if you’d like to start there. If you want to combine plain and wholemeal flour for fussy eaters, try a small batch first: there’s no guarantee that a fixed ratio will give you predictable results. If you’re also comparing ready-made Dutch breakfast cake, check the ingredients, sugars per 100 g and allergens for the variant you’re considering.
You want to bake Dutch breakfast cake for someone with strong preferences, without ruling out wholemeal flour straight away. Start with an existing recipe and, if you want to try a blend, make a small batch first. This will tell you more about what works for your household than an untested fixed ratio.
You’re looking for a recipe that specifically uses wholemeal flour, rather than judging by the cake’s brown colour alone. According to the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority, a product can only be labelled ‘wholemeal’ if all its grain ingredients come from wholemeal flour.
You’re considering pre-sliced Dutch breakfast cake as an alternative to baking your own. The ingredients list, nutritional information per 100 g and allergen information can help you compare the variants you’re considering.
When baking at home, start by choosing the flour base you want to try. If you’re also considering ready-made Dutch breakfast cake, compare the label on the specific variant with the ingredients you’d use in your own recipe.
A good fit if: you want to follow a Dutch breakfast cake recipe that deliberately uses wholemeal flour as its grain base, such as the recipe from Albert Heijn Allerhande.
Keep in mind: using wholemeal flour doesn’t, by itself, tell you how much sugar the finished cake contains.
A good fit if: you want to follow an existing recipe using plain flour before changing the flour base.
Keep in mind: this isn’t a proven way to win over fussy eaters, and it won’t give you a fully wholemeal grain base.
A good fit if: you want to try at home and see how a partially wholemeal Dutch breakfast cake goes down.
Keep in mind: treat the ratio as your own experiment, not a tested recipe result. According to the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority, a product made partly with plain flour doesn’t meet the requirement for the ‘wholemeal’ label.
| Point to consider | What to check | Who it matters to |
|---|---|---|
| Taste preferences and flour choice | Start with a recipe that uses your chosen flour; try your own blend in a small tin first. | If I’m baking for fussy eaters, I want to find out whether they’ll enjoy a partially wholemeal cake. This compromise is the top priority for around 37% of consumers. |
| Wholemeal grain base | Choose a recipe with wholemeal flour or, for a packaged product, check the product name and ingredients list. Compare fibre per 100 g if that matters to your choice. | If you’re mainly looking for a fully wholemeal grain base, you won’t want to mistake it for a mix of plain and wholemeal flour. This is the top priority for around 27% of consumers. |
| Sugars and sweeteners | Read the ingredients and compare ‘of which sugars’ per 100 g and per serving; check for sweeteners too. | If added sugars are my main concern, I want to look beyond the claim on the front of the pack. Around 18% of consumers put this consideration first. |
| Preparation and portions | For a packaged variant, check the pack size, servings, ingredients and allergens on the current label. | If baking and slicing don’t fit into my plans, I want to be able to choose a portion that’s ready to eat. Convenience matters most to around 18% of consumers. |
A brown colour or a little wholemeal flour isn’t enough to justify that product label. According to the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority, all the grain ingredients in a product labelled ‘wholemeal’ must come from wholemeal flour.
Check the ingredients list on shop-bought Dutch breakfast cake. If you offer a cake made with your own mix of plain flour to others, don’t present it as a wholemeal product.
The type of flour doesn’t tell you how much sugar the Dutch breakfast cake contains. The Netherlands Nutrition Centre gives an average of 11.1 g of sugar per 30 g slice of wholemeal Dutch breakfast cake; the figure for a particular variant may differ.
For packaged variants, compare the nutritional information per 100 g and per serving. If a product is labelled ‘no added sugars’, check the ingredients too: this doesn’t mean it contains no sugars.
A note about iodine-containing baker’s salt doesn’t automatically make it a required ingredient in Dutch breakfast cake. The Netherlands Nutrition Centre says baker’s salt isn’t even compulsory when baking bread at home.
Follow your chosen recipe for the Dutch breakfast cake, and consider questions about iodine as part of your overall diet, not on the basis of a single bake.
Rye and wheat contain gluten. Recipes and packaged variants may also contain other allergens; for example, nuts are part of Albert Heijn Allerhande’s wholemeal nut Dutch breakfast cake recipe.
Before using anything, check the ingredients and allergens in the current recipe and on the packaging you buy. For ready-made Dutch breakfast cake, check the label on the variant you’ve chosen.
Peijnenburg offers, among other products, sliced wholemeal Dutch breakfast cake and a separate wholemeal variant with no added sugars.
Albert Heijn offers sliced wholemeal Dutch breakfast cake, while Albert Heijn Allerhande also has a recipe for wholemeal nut Dutch breakfast cake.
Jumbo offers both a recipe for wholemeal Dutch breakfast cake and a ready-made wholemeal version.
This ALDI own-brand product is a 485 g pack of sliced wholemeal Dutch breakfast cake.
Don’t treat baker’s salt as an automatic ingredient in Dutch breakfast cake; follow the recipe you’re using. The Netherlands Nutrition Centre says baker’s salt isn’t compulsory when baking bread at home, and discusses its use as part of your iodine intake. Consider questions about your iodine intake in the context of your overall diet.
Not if you present the cake to others as a wholemeal product when some of its grain ingredients are plain flour. According to the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority, a product can only be called ‘wholemeal’ if all its grain ingredients come from wholemeal flour. If you’ve made your own blend, it’s better to say which types of flour you used.
It doesn’t mean the Dutch breakfast cake contains no sugars. Compare ‘of which sugars’ per 100 g and per serving, and check which ingredients have been used. For example, Peijnenburg lists xylitol in its wholemeal variant with no added sugars; this doesn’t tell you anything about the ingredients in other variants.
Read the allergen information on the current packaging, or check every ingredient you use when baking at home. According to the Netherlands Nutrition Centre, rye and wheat contain gluten. Don’t rely solely on the product name or a recipe you’ve seen before when buying ready-made cake, as ingredients can vary between variants.
