French Gingerbread Cake Recipe (Soft Pain d’Épices) 2026

Spiced bread, originally known as pain d'épices in French, is a recipe that combines a mixture of ginger, cloves, cinnamon, anise, and pepper with rye flour and honey. This is how this traditional bread was originally made, although over time, it has been adapted by adding egg, butter, or a combination of both to the dough.

To make this recipe, we opted to add egg to the dough, as it results in a silky yet compact crumb, just as it should be in this type of bread. Furthermore, for the dough, we used a combination of rye and wheat flour to make the bread more airy without losing its essential character.

In this bread recipe, the quality of the honey is important, as it's used in a large quantity and its flavor will be noticeable in the final result. If your honey has crystallized, you can liquefy it by gently heating the jar in a double boiler, provided it's glass. This way, you can easily mix it with the egg and milk.

As for the spices to use, we have opted for the usual ones in this recipe, although feel free to add any that you have on hand or that you like the most.

The spice bread improves with age, so we recommend baking it the day before you plan to serve it. Then store it in a sealed container wrapped in cling film to keep it fresh for a few more days.

We like to serve gingerbread at different times of the day: at breakfast or as a snack , although it is also ideal to serve as an appetizer accompanying a cheese board or a selection of pâtés.

French Gingerbread Cake Recipe

Recipe Information

• Preparation time : 5 minutes
• Cooking time : 50 minutes
• Total time : 55 minutes (plus cooling time)
• Servings : 12
• Category : Pastry
• Type of cuisine : French
• Calories per serving (kcal) : 177

Ingredients for spiced bread

• 120g of wheat flour
• 120g of rye flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1.5 teaspoons of ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon of anise powder
• Half a teaspoon of ground ginger
• 1 pinch of ground cloves
• 1 pinch of ground black pepper
• The zest of 1 orange
• 100 ml of whole milk
• 2 medium eggs
• 340 g of honey

Necessary utensils

• 12 x 23 cm elongated mold

French Gingerbread Cake Recipe

How to make spice bread

Preheat the oven to 175°C. In a bowl, mix 120g of wheat flour, 120g of rye flour, 1 teaspoon of baking soda, 1.5 teaspoons of ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon of ground anise, 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger, a pinch of ground cloves, a pinch of ground black pepper, and the zest of 1 orange.

French Gingerbread Cake Recipe

In another bowl, beat 100 ml of whole milk with 2 medium eggs.

French Gingerbread Cake Recipe

We gradually add 340g of honey and mix well.

French Gingerbread Cake Recipe

Add this mixture to the bowl of flours and mix just until all the ingredients are combined. Pour the mixture into a baking pan lined with parchment paper.

French Gingerbread Cake Recipe

Bake the spiced bread for 50 minutes at 175°C (350°F) or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove the bread from the oven and let it rest for 10 minutes.

French Gingerbread Cake Recipe

We unmold the spice bread and let it cool completely on the wire rack before serving.

French Gingerbread Cake Recipe | An idea of Walfos

Easy-to-prepare summary

1. We mix the wheat and rye flour with the baking soda, spices, and orange zest.
2. On the other hand, we beat the milk with the eggs
3. We add the honey
4. We combine this mixture of milk, eggs, and honey with the one prepared at the beginning and mix it together.
5. We bake the spice bread for 50 minutes at 175ºC
6. Once baked, let the spice bread cool and serve it cut into portions.

More Delicious Recipes

Gluten free Empanada Dough Recipe 🍕 Fluffy Apple Cake Recipe 🍔 Langos Hungarian Fried Bread Recipe 🌭 Gluten Free French Brioche Recipe 🍟 Madeira British Sponge Cake Recipe 🌮 Chocolate Argentinian Cookies Alfajores Recipe 🌯 Barmbrack Irish Sweet Bread Recipe 🥙 Gluten free Cookies Recipe 🥗 Homemade cream Maruxas Galician Biscuit Recipe 🍝 Japanese Dumplings Gyoza Dough Recipe

American Gluten Free Cookies Recipe 🍜 Gluten Free King Cake Recipe 🍲 Gluten Free Chocolate Cake Recipe 🍛 Extremadura Style Chard Recipe 🍣 Keto Sliced Sandwich Bread Recipe 🍱 Gluten Free Waffles Recipe 🍤 Low Carb Keto Pizza Recipe 🍗 Gluten Free Bread Rolls Recipe 🍖 Flourless Gluten Free Bread Buns Recipe 🥓 Protein Ice Cream Recipe 🥞 Chia Pudding Dessert with Seeds Recipe

Fluffy Cloud Bread Pan Nube Recipe 🧇 Quinoa Bread Recipe 🍞 Schiacciata Tuscan Focaccia Flat Bread Recipe 🥐 Shokupan Japanese Milk Bread Recipe 🥨 Potato Sandwich Bread Recipe 🧀 Homemade Breadsticks Recipe 🍳 Stollen German Dried Fruits Cake Recipe 🥚 French Gingerbread Spiced Cake Recipe 🍰 Gluten Free Pancakes Recipe

🥔 Potato-omelet-in-Thermomix 🍓 Smores-Sandwich-Dessert 🍰 Womens-Day-Mimosa-cake ☕ Coffee-Sorbet 🍆 Eggplant-pizza 🍋 Ciambella-Italian-Lemon-Cake 🥖 Zapiekanka-Polish-Snack 🌰 Dukkah-Egyptian-Nuts-Mix 🧆 Best-Hummus 🥑 Best-Avocado