A taste of childhood- Dutch spice cake

There is a moment when sense memory takes over- when that smell/taste/touch grabs you by the gut and without warning yanks you right back to a place of comfort, happiness and utter joy. Today I found a dead-set portal to my own childhood bliss... Dutch spice cake- Ontbijtkoek. 

I can't believe that I haven't baked this sooner- as my eyes mist over with reverie. I might be just a little Australian, but I have my heritage!! 

I searched high and low on the internet, until a comparison of a number of recipes showed me that this seems to be the one repeated most often with little variation- thank god it was right!

Ingredients:

2 cups self raising flour

1/2 cup brown sugar (darkest is best)

1/3 cup molasses

1 cup milk

1 tsp each cloves, cinnamon and ginger

1/2 tsp nutmeg 

1 pinch of salt

Note: Fresh ground spices are always best and makes a huge difference to a cake that relies on spices- particularly with nutmeg.

Method: 

Mix all the ingredients into a smooth batter. Butter an oblong cake tin and pour in mixture. Bake at 170 degC (or a slow oven) for 1 hour. Remove and cool on a wire rack. 

Keep in the bread tin for 24 hours before serving- it will stay moist and it helps with the chewy texture... but today I could not help myself, and served hot with butter dripping off it, well it's just divine. 

It swept me right back to my Oma's house when I was 5 years old and waiting for the grown ups to pour their coffee so that we could attack the cake... sigh! 

Test done- this I will be taking as my heritage treat to the All Nations Picnic!! 

(see April 11 post for more All Nations info)