Sadly, this sweet spot is no longer open, but you can still order some of their products online.
Last weekend I visited friends in Zwolle, in the east of the Netherlands. We wandered through the city centre and, before heading back to their house, they showed me a candy shop that sells vegan sweets. I’m not a huge candy fan—usually I prefer savory treats—but I make exceptions, and a whole vegan section in a candy shop definitely qualified.
Although much of the shop stocked traditional non-vegan sweets, I found several interesting vegan items: candy, chocolate brownies, fudge—and one item that really caught my attention, vegan spekkoek. If you know spekkoek and follow a vegan lifestyle, you’ll understand why I got excited. I knew I had to tell my Dutch followers and anyone visiting the Netherlands about this find. More broadly, I wanted to show that a plant-based diet doesn’t mean only carrots and lettuce—you can enjoy indulgent treats too.
I asked the owner if I could take photos, which led to a friendly conversation after my friend mentioned I had a blog. The owner is vegetarian and her goal was to make candies that everyone could enjoy, taking allergies and intolerances into account. For example, my friends can’t have sugar, so she worked with them to find suitable alternatives—she was genuinely thoughtful. She even made vegan meringues using aquafaba; I tried one and it was delicious.
Now, back to the star of the show: spekkoek. This Indonesian layer cake is traditionally flavored with cardamom, ginger, mace, anise and clove and is made with butter, eggs and flour. It used to be my favourite cake, but I hadn’t had it in years because vegan versions are hard to find and the homemade version is labor intensive (I might try a recipe someday). It’s not the healthiest choice, but sometimes you deserve a treat—just look at those glorious layers.
This was one of those rare cases where sweet beats savory for me. Fun fact: I ate the spekkoek two days after buying it and it was still moist and delicious after being stored in the fridge. It’s heartening to see more dishes being veganized; discovering tasty alternatives always makes me smile.
The shop was located in Zwolle’s city centre, so if you ever visit Zwolle and want a slice of this cake—or some vegan candy—go check it out. I was excited to find a place that offers such a variety of vegan confections.
I hope you enjoy posts like this—these are a bit different from my usual content, but they show how many traditional treats now have vegan options. When I find something delicious, I can’t keep it to myself.
One Love,
A.J.