Homemade pain d'épices: soft, honey-scented, and even better three days later
Pain d'épices is the smell of December throughout the house. Honey, flour, spices and a slow bake in the oven: the recipe is within everyone's reach. Its little secret? It tastes even better after two or three days, wrapped in a tea towel. Perfect for making ahead of the festivities.
- 1 loaf cake, 10 slices, 15 min preparation
- Oven on natural convection at 160 °C, 55 min
- Honey and spices do all the flavour
- Better after 2 days, keeps for a week
Appliance and settingOven, natural convection 160 °C
Ingredients
A festive recipe that can be made ahead
Gingerbread is a cousin of our speculoos : the same warm spices, the same scent of Saint Nicholas and Christmas. But here, it's the honey that does all the work: it gives the flavour, the colour and that softness that lasts several days. Only two rules: a gentle bake, and the patience to let it rest.
The steps
- Prepare the tin and the oven. Butter a 25 cm loaf tin and line it with baking paper. Preheat the oven to 160 °C, natural convection.
- Melt the honey. In a saucepan, pour in the milk, honey and brown sugar. Heat on the hob at level 4 (out of 9), stirring, for 3 to 4 minutes, until everything has melted. Don't let it boil. Leave to cool for 10 minutes.
- Mix the dry ingredients. In a large mixing bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, spices, aniseed, orange zest and salt.
- Combine. Make a well in the centre, gradually pour in the warm honey mixture while whisking, then add the eggs one at a time. The batter is smooth and fairly runny: that's normal.
- Put it in the oven. Pour the batter into the tin and bake on shelf 2 (middle of the oven) for 50 to 60 minutes.
- Check it is cooked. Insert a knife into the centre: it should come out dry. If the top browns too quickly, cover it with foil halfway through baking.
- Wrap while warm. Leave to rest for 10 minutes, turn out, then wrap the gingerbread while still warm in cling film or a clean tea towel. Wait at least 24 hours, ideally 2 days, before slicing.
Appliance settings
| Step | Appliance and mode | Setting | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Melt milk, honey and sugar | Induction hob | Level 4, without boiling | 3 to 4 min |
| Baking the loaf | Oven, natural convection (bottom and top heat) | 160 °C, shelf 2 | 50 to 60 min |
| Baking the cake (variation) | Oven, fan-assisted | 150 °C, shelf 2 | 50 to 55 min |
| Small gingerbreads in muffin tins | Oven, fan-assisted | 160 °C, one or two shelves | 20 to 25 min |
Conventional heat (natural convection) bakes a large cake more gently and evenly: the top doesn't dry out before the centre is cooked. Use fan-assisted for small portions or two tins at once.
Variations
- With candied fruit : add 80 g of diced candied orange peel just before baking.
- Chocolate : 100 g of dark chocolate chips stirred into the batter, or a melted chocolate icing once cooled.
- With rye : replace half the flour with rye flour for a more rustic, old-fashioned taste.
- As small shapes : baked in muffin or star-shaped tins, with a line of white icing (icing sugar and lemon juice) to decorate the table or the tree.
Storage and advance preparation
Wrapped well in cling film or a tea towel, gingerbread keeps for a week at room temperature, and it improves over the first few days. So you can bake it the weekend before Christmas. In the freezer, it keeps 3 months, sliced or whole. Don't put it in the fridge: it dries out.
Serve in slices with salted butter at breakfast, or on toast with a semi-cooked foie gras for Christmas Eve.
The choice of honey makes all the difference. A wildflower honey gives a mild gingerbread that children love. A chestnut or buckwheat honey, fuller in flavour, gives a deep, almost woody taste that goes very well with foie gras. And toast the slices for two minutes under the grill: the edges caramelise, and it's delicious.
Which appliance?
For a honey cake, you need an oven that heats gently and evenly, with a genuine conventional (natural convection) mode.
An oven with conventional heating and bottom heat
For cakes and pastries, choose an oven with conventional heating and bottom heat. Examples: Smeg SFP61TB3FR (Linea, pyrolysis, 10 modes, up to 280 °C), Beko BCBIM17604KSBMPS (pyrolysis, 3D pulsed heat, Wi-Fi), Whirlpool OMR55RR0B (natural convection, pizza mode, pyrolysis and hydrolysis).
From €629.99 to €759.99
Precise induction
For melting honey without burning it: Smeg SIB2641D, four burners, Bridge zone and nine power levels.
599,99 €
An induction and pyrolytic range cooker
Smeg C6IPBLT2, gloss black: four-zone induction hob with Bridge and 70-litre pyrolytic oven.
1 499,99 €
Public prices noted on 15 October 2026: the product page is definitive, and Nimesclub members often get a reduced price.
Ovens, hobs and cookers in store
SMEG SFP61TB3FR built-in oven€759.00
Built-in oven BEKO BCBIM17604KSBMPS€629.00
Built-in oven WHIRLPOOL OMR55RR0B€749.00
Cooker SMEG C6IPBLT2€1,499.00
Hob SMEG SIB2641D€599.00Natural convection or fan-assisted? Our guide to oven functions tells you when to use each. For other festive treats, try the cougnou and the chocolate truffles.
Frequently asked questions
Why is my gingerbread dry?
It has overbaked, or been too hot. Bake at 160 °C maximum on conventional (natural convection) and take it out as soon as a knife blade comes out dry. Then wrap it while still warm in cling film or a tea towel: it keeps its moistness.
Why has my gingerbread browned too quickly on top?
Honey caramelises easily. If the top is already well browned halfway through baking, place a sheet of tin foil over it, loosely, until the end.
Can it be made without eggs?
Yes, the traditional recipe doesn't contain any: replace the two eggs with 5 cl of extra milk. It will be a little denser, but just as good.
The right oven makes all the difference
Steam ovens, pyrolytic ovens, induction hobs: come and see them at our Temploux store, or ask our expert salesperson for advice.
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