Pain d’épices – French honey and spice bread

Today I would like to present to you a traditional and original French recipe for spice bread – pain d’épices. This cake is often associated with the Christmas season but these days it is present all year round. In the past this spicy bread was created with the use of sourdough but in modern times it was replaced with baking powder or baking soda which facilitates the preparation.
This recipe was given to me by a French relative who explained to me that in order to keep it really traditional, in addition to regular flour, I need to use some rye flour. Rye flour gives the cake a very pleasant rustic consistency and flavor. To make the pain d’épices even more fragrant I added homemade spice mixture. Like most traditional cakes with honey it becomes more and more tasty and soft as the days go by which makes it perfect as a Christmas cake prepared in advance.
Original French recipe of pain d’épices – spice bread with rye flour and honey.
Ingredients
- 350 g of honey
- 40 g of brown sugar
- 150 g of all-purpose flour
- 100 g of rye flour
- 1 tablespoon of mixed spices (see the method explanation)
- 18 g of baking powder
- 2 eggs at room temperature
- 100 ml of milk
- butter to brush the pan
- Read instructions below.
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Instructions pain d’épices – French honey and spice bread
For this recipe I used silicone mould Corallo made by Silikomart.
I used a tablespoon of homemade spice mixture. If you are not going to prepare the traditional mixture you can use a mix of 1.5 teaspoon cinnamon, a quarter teaspoon of pepper, a quarter teaspoon of nutmeg and 1 teaspoon of ground ginger.

In a small saucepan slowly heat the honey together with sugar.
Add sifted all-purpose flour, rye flour, baking powder and a tablespoon of mixed spices then stir.

In a second bowl whisk milk with the eggs. Add the liquid in the pan and whisk until all the ingredients combine.

Regardless of whether you use the silicone or metal baking tray, melt some butter and brush the pan (no need to dust it). Pour the mixture into the prepared pan.

Bake in a preheated static oven at 180 ° C for 40 – 50 minutes. Check the baking until the toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove from the oven, let it cool slightly, then remove from the pan and let it cool completely before serving.
lot of love. B.

Recipe notes
This recipe is made thanks to the collaboration with Silikomart. This company specializing in the production of silicone moulds and pastry, kitchen and ice cream utensils.