A classic French spice bread, this pain d’epices is made with the traditional rye flour and a warming blend of ground spices sweetened with honey. It’s basically gingerbread cake!

Why We Love This
This recipe for French spice bread is super easy and very quick to make. No special ingredients or appliances necessary, and no need to wait for the dough to rise.
Pain d’epices recipe takes the cake (pardon the pun) for sheer aromatic deliciousness. Open that oven door and we promise the aroma of ginger, cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg will fill your house and set your tummy grumbling. Take a slice, slather with butter and serve with a glass of milk or a hot cup of tea. Bliss.
Related: Colomba Cake / Galatopita Milk Pie / Greek Walnut Cake (Karidopita)

What is Pain d’epices?
Have you ever wondered why gingerbread is usually baked as a cookie, rather than as a ‘bread’? Or have you always wondered what gingerbread would taste like if it was gingercake instead? Well today’s recipe falls somewhere in the middle.
While gingerbread cookies are often sweetened with molasses or golden syrup, Pain d’epices is traditionally made with rye flour sweetened with honey. It also reminds us a little bit of our weetbix cake and lemon ricotta cake.
Add a slathering of butter and a drizzle of honey on top of each slice and pair it with a hot cup of tea on a lazy afternoon. What a match made in heaven!

What You’ll Need
There’s a mix of classic cake baking ingredients along with the addition of a few basic spices and honey. Most should be readily available in your pantry.

How to Make Pain d’epices
Start by preheating your oven to 150˚C (300˚F), then line a loaf pan with baking paper or grease with butter.
Pop your rye flour into a large mixing bowl along with your ground spices, baking soda and baking powder.
Pour in the honey, give it a quick stir with a spoon, then blend using a spoon or stand mixer with paddle attachment on low speed.

Gradually stir in the following ingredients, one at a time: milk, sugar, egg, melted butter and salt.

Then once the mixture is well combined, pour it out into your loaf pan. Don’t forget to smooth out the top with the back of a spoon.

Bake for around 45 mins or until a skewer poked into the middle comes out clean, then bask in the aromatic deliciousness of a slice of your freshly cooked cake!
Wandercook’s Tips
- The dough mixture for pain d’epices will be quite runny compared with normal dough – falling somewhere between a true sticky dough and cake batter. This is totally fine!
- You can subtly alter the flavour of your pain d’epices depending on the style of honey you use. We recommend using high quality organic honey and rye flour for the best result.
- For the ideal moist texture watch your baking time and don’t overcook, or your spice bread may turn out dry and crumbly.
- Leftovers? Make it into crumbs and bake it into a chester slice!
FAQs
Pain d’epices is often traditionally served as an accompaniment to other French delicacies such as foie gras. For a simple dessert or afternoon tea, you can enjoy it warmed up or cold, all on its own, or with a slice of melty butter. Délicieux!
To keep your finished spice bread fresh and stop it drying out, wrap in a clean towel or baking paper once cooked. It should keep for up to a week.
Variations
- To add a gorgeous glaze to your spice bread, cover with orange syrup or marmalade before baking.
- You can use regular flour in a pinch, it will just alter the the texture and flavour slightly, but should still cook fine.
- If you’re out of honey, you can substitute with maple syrup or golden syrup.

Try these amazing recipes next:
- Italian Strawberry Muffins
- Greek Easter Biscuits (Koulourakia)
- Easy Apple Crumble with Muesli
- Burmese Semolina Cake
- Easy Ginger Fluff Sponge Cake
★ Did you make this recipe? Please leave a comment and star rating below!
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups rye flour
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2/3 cup honey
- 1/4 cup milk
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 1 pinch salt
Instructions
- Start by preheating your oven to 150˚C (300˚F), then line a loaf pan with baking paper or grease with butter.
- Pop your rye flour into a large mixing bowl along with the ground ginger, cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg, baking soda and baking powder. Pour in the honey, give it a quick stir with a spoon, then blend using a handheld beater or stand mixer with paddle attachment on low speed.1 1/2 cups rye flour, 1 tsp ground ginger, 1/2 tsp ground cloves, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp baking powder, 2/3 cup honey
- Gradually stir in the following ingredients, one at a time: milk, sugar, egg, softened butter and salt.1/4 cup milk, 3 tbsp sugar, 1 egg, 1/2 cup butter, 1 pinch salt
- Once the mixture is well combined, pour it out into a loaf pan. Don't forget to smooth out the top with the back of a spoon.
- Bake for 45 mins or until a skewer poked into the middle comes out clean, then bask in the aromatic deliciousness of a slice of your freshly cooked pain d'epices!
Video
Recipe Notes
- The dough mixture for pain d’epices will be quite runny compared with normal dough – falling somewhere between a true sticky dough and cake batter. This is totally fine!
- You can subtly alter the flavour of your pain d’epice depending on the style of honey you use. We recommend using high quality organic honey and rye flour. for the best flavour.
- For the ideal moist texture watch your baking time and don’t overcook, or your spice bread may turn out dry and crumbly.
- What to serve with pain d’epices? Pain d’epices is often traditionally served as an accompaniment to other French delicacies such as foie gras. But for a simple dessert or afternoon tea, you can enjoy it warmed up or cold, all on its own, or with a slice of melty butter. Délicieux!
- How to store pain d’epices? To keep your finished spice bread fresh and stop it drying out, wrap in a clean towel or greaseproof paper once baked.
- To add a gorgeous glaze to your spice bread, cover with orange syrup or marmalade before baking.
- You can use regular flour in a pinch, it will just alter the the texture and flavour slightly, but should still cook fine.
- If you’re out of honey, you can substitute with maple syrup or golden syrup.
Nutrition

18 Comments
Emily
20/12/2022 at 10:24 amUsed penzeys pie spice as a 1 to 1 substitute and it was delicious. Easy and simple recipe.
Wandercooks
30/12/2022 at 9:06 amThanks for the tip with the spice sub Emily!
babs bee
05/09/2022 at 10:35 pmThis is delicious. Baking a loaf for a friend as I write this. The only problem I’ve been having is that I need to bake it for about an hour and 10 minutes. I know my oven is not off that much as I have no issues with anything else I bake. Today I even raised the temperature to 325 F and it still is not done by 45 minutes. It’s worth the wait though!
Wandercooks
07/09/2022 at 1:00 pmHeya! There could be a couple of reasons for the difference in cooking time: a) Whether you’re using fan forced (if not, this will increase cooking time), b) having it on a lower shelf (higher will cook faster) and c) if you’re using glass or tin for your baking dish. (Glass heats slower initially, but bakes faster than tin!). You’ve done the right thing though, and baking for longer to suit your oven / process. So glad you enjoyed it, and hope those pointers help to see where you can shave off cooking time for your next round. 😉
Wei-Yann Chen
15/08/2021 at 3:15 pmJust made this today! Kitchen smelled wonderful! I know it might be strange to bake this warm spicy cake in a tropical country but I really wanted to eat and smell this cake haha. Thank you for sharing this lovely recipe 😍
Wandercooks
15/08/2021 at 4:38 pmNo matter where you are in the world, cake is always just as delicious hehe. Glad to hear you enjoyed it so much! 🙂
Beth
12/12/2019 at 4:08 pmI am going to love how my home is going to smell after baking this spice cake! So excited – thank you!!
Wandercooks
12/12/2019 at 4:51 pmRight! It’s like a room diffuser and dessert in one. 😉
Sophie Goel
12/12/2019 at 2:38 pmI don’t know if I’m more excited to SMELL or EAT this dessert 😂 Thank you for sharing this special international recipe.
Wandercooks
12/12/2019 at 4:51 pmALL OF THE THINGS!
Patty at Spoonabilities
12/12/2019 at 2:01 pmLove love love all the spice flavors in this bread. I can imagine the amazing aromas happening when this bread is baking!
Wandercooks
12/12/2019 at 4:51 pmOh yeah, it’s like having a gingerbread candle on in the house haha
Erika
12/12/2019 at 12:53 pmThis bread is amazing. I love the spices!
Wandercooks
12/12/2019 at 4:50 pmAwesome Erika!
Deanne
12/12/2019 at 12:43 pmI loved the blend of spices in this French Spice Cake! So sweet and light – we loved it!
Wandercooks
12/12/2019 at 4:50 pmThat’s so good Deanne, thanks for letting us know! 🙂
Tiffany Sciacca
29/11/2019 at 11:00 amCannot wait to try this!
Wandercooks
06/12/2019 at 8:33 amAwesome Tiffany, we’d love to hear what you think! 🙂