Roze koeken

Roze koeken (pink cakes)

You have to like them. For some it is a guilty pleasure, for others it is not.

Fondant

There are different ways to make ‘pink cakes’. The standard base is made of cake and a layer of fondant. Some types have jam in the middle. In the past they were also made with whipped cream.

Not always pink

A pink cake that is not always pink? That is very normal! During major sporting events you often see them in orange, at Easter there are yellow ones on the shelves, and in the past... there were even blue (pink) cakes! Are they still called 'Pink Cakes'?

Louse

For a long time, the pink glaze layer of the pink cake was made from the ochenille louse, a type of louse from Central and South America that lives on cacti. Nowadays, these sweet cakes often get their pink color from other natural products such as beetroot juice, or from a dye.

Food from a young artist

This artwork was made by Hans de Bruijn. It has been a while since he studied, but this artwork refers back to that time. In a series of paintings, Hans records what a young artist ate. It had to be filling, cheap, and easy. Would he have eaten the pink cakes for breakfast?

The artist

Hans de Bruijn is a painter and lives and works in Leiden. In 2023, he had a solo exhibition in Museum De Lakenhal, called: The persistence of hope. He studied at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague, and later at the prestigious Rijksakademie in Amsterdam.