Speculating about the Speculaasplank

Nathan Douenburg
07.03.2026

Sometimes you stumble upon a fact. A photo or a truth that shatters what was previously thought. Evidence from the past reveals that something isn't "real." This is what happened to me at Dille & Kamille, with a Speculaasplank in hand.
The Dille & Kamille Speculaasplank in question presents itself as an old-fashioned baking pan for making speculaas. It's advertised as "authentic" and "for baking enthusiasts," and is supposedly based on the Netherlands' long history of baking. Yet, to me—as the child of a baker's family—it didn't feel authentic, artisanal, or connected to craftsmanship in any way. When my grandmother gave me a 19th-century Speculaasplank, I immediately understood why the Dille & Kamille version is such a horror.1 To assess the board, let's take a look at baking history.

Figuur 1. Het Dille & Kamille ‘Poldermolen’ speculaasplankje. Afbeelding van Auteur 2026.

Baking with history

Traditionally, the Speculaasplank is a wooden plank containing various galvanized molds for shaping and baking cookies. It was known as a taaivorm, speculaas-vorm. or simply koekplank which translates to cookie-board. 2 By the nineteenth century, it was a standard tool in the baker’s arsenal. Numerous variations on the board's shape exist, including rectangular versions with a single large motif intended for creating royal or religious images in cookie dough. So, specular and its instruments may tell us a lot about our past and folk culture, as remarked by Barbara Rubberrecht. 3
For example, when we look at the cookie board I received from my grandmother, it quickly becomes apparent that the almost-meter-long board contains multiple shapes. The dimensions alone reflect its context of use. The long boards were designed for the depth of a baker's oven, usually one to one and a half meters deep. While the small rectangular boards were the right shape for small ovens in domestic settings.
Also note the shapes carved into the plank. These motifs were carved into the planks by so-called koeksnijders (cookie cutters). It is precision work carried out by a small group of craftsmen, who shared their expertise and imaginations. This exchange of knowledge is the basis for the universal style of Speculaasplanken, each of which has its own local signature.4 Yet, each image has the same volume. After all, a baker couldn't sell cookies if they were all different sizes.

Figuur 2. De krakeling, een van vele prenten in de plank. Afbeelding van Auteur 2026.

From flora and fauna to instruments and symbols, the shapes reflect the recognizable motifs of local cultures. Take for example, the pretzel, a common bread symbol.5 Or consider the "horn of plenty" (cornucopia), which also corresponds to the historical "baker's horn" – an actual horn that the medieval baker blew to announce that the bread was baked.6

Figuur 3. Imitatiespeculaasplanken ter decoratie uit de 20e eeuw. Afbeelding van Auteur 2026.

The Speculaasplank is also inextricably linked to eighteenth-century traditions, including the celebration of Sinterklaas. According to Robrecht Haex, Dutch food identity is strongest in winter.7 Despite Calvinist morals, people are willing to spend more on food during the cold and dark days. Even today, bakers' turnover is highest during the winter period due to the sale of various winter specialties and of course, speculaas.8 In this way, the baking culture has managed to become interwoven into consumption patterns in the Netherlands through its tools and specialties.

Figuur 4. Een speculaasmachine in de collectie van Het Oude Bakkerijmuseum in Medemblik. Afbeelding van Auteur 2026.

From bread and pastries of the people, to for the people

The baking industry changed significantly over the course of the twentieth century. The hard labor became increasingly tolerable, particularly due to mechanization and the introduction of new machinery.9 For example, the linear plank was converted into a circular press, and wood in the bakery was replaced by stainless steel due to hygiene concerns. According to the bakers' guild, this did not detract from the craft; they saw it as a necessary step.10
This new mechanical method rendered the wooden Speculaasplank useless. However, around the 1980s, a nostalgic trend emerged in which the board was given a decorative function in the bakery. The board was hung to demonstrate the artisanal nature of the baker's profession in times of mechanization. This trend is also known as the 'warm baker effect'. Local bakers wanted to distinguish themselves from the industrial (cold) baker, or supermarket suppliers.11 Doors were even made from joined Speculaasplanken.12 It proved to be a successful formula; there was even an explicit demand for dark brown imitation Speculaasplanken. 13 Eventually, this interior design trend also blew over, but the image of a Speculaasplank in a traditional bakery remained in our collective memory.
These imitation Speculaasplanken reflect their decorative, and thus rediscovered, function in their design. Simple sculptures, mass-produced by machine, with significantly less detail. Moreover, the faded glory of the gold-colored "made in Holland" sticker on the back betrays the object's nature as a souvenir. The boards capitalize on ‘the idea of ​​Holland’ rather than truly connecting with Dutch and artisanal baking history.

Figuur 5 & 6. Heel Holland Bakt er niks van. Afbeelding van Auteur 2026.

Great bake off with toys

The fifth episode of the 13th season of the television program Heel Holland Bakt – the Dutch equivalent of the Great British Bake Off – features the fumbling with a contemporary Speculaasplank.14 While the baking competitors struggle with what has turned into an incredibly clumsy cookie shaper, the correct handling of the object is far from present. This is also the reason for the next and final board in our exploration: the Dille & Kamille Speculaasplank, suited for such Heel Holland Bakt scenes.
Not only do the participants miss the mark, but the product itself also fails to accurately represent its use or design. The first thing that stands out about this board is the color and type of wood. It's made of beech, a wood that doesn't scratch or show any intriguing carved detail. The color is also not the same as the original boards made of dark-colored fruitwood. The material and size alone are a far cry from the original object and are more reminiscent of ‘Montessori toys’ – where beechwood is also the standard.
The most poignant aspect of this board is the representation of ‘Dutch culture’. With the motif of the windmills, Dutch culture is reduced to a single image – in the same order as tulips, clogs, and cheese.15 Thus, with objects like this Speculaasplank, an essentialist representation of Dutch culture is celebrated.16 Thus, the imposter becomes the physical manifestation of ‘the idea of Holland’. Even so, the object aspires to be an authentic form of culture, while in the historical collection book Koekplanken (1974) there is no evidence whatsoever of a board with the image of a windmill.17 If we also consider the trendy aspect, this contemporary object appeals to a target group that wants to be concerned with authenticity and craftsmanship, without actually delving into what exactly those are. It therefore fits seamlessly with the consumption patterns of the aspirational class 18, known in the Netherlands as ‘the oat milk elite’.19 Sourdough baking and authentic regional products have long been accepted as second nature in the romantic ideal of this target group.20
The Dille & Kamille Speculaasplank, for example, is in keeping with its predecessors: originally an artistically carved utensil from the 19th century. Afterward, imitation boards were produced to accommodate an interior design trend. This ultimately led to a toy for a class that only wants to play with the past. It's heartbreaking how the visual richness of the object has been reduced to a tourist image. Stripping away the cultural and historical richness of this utensil is the death knell for the Speculaasplank. The only windmill the Dille & Kamille board evokes is the windmill of mass consumption.

Speculaas and speculation

The contemporary Speculaasplank from Dille & Kamille is merely a sweetener and by no means a "true" eighteenth-century board. We know this because the production method, the material, and the chosen designs have lost their connection to history. The board is therefore a facade of craftsmanship, authenticity, and skill. Anyone who forgets to peek behind the facade will be treated to a breath of fresh air.
Incidentally, the word "speculaas" derives partly from the word "speculate." 21 This is certainly fitting, since, to date, little attention has been paid to craft histories, including the folk culture of the baking world with all its objects and images. 22
Even in times where knowledge can be artificially generated for commercial purposes, awareness of how objects represent or belie our history remains complex. Plenty of information circulates in articles and advertisements that lacks veracity, such as one article that extensively explores the history of the baking world using sources and images that appear to be nonexistent.23
The Speculaasplank thus represents more than just windmills, in enfolds into a cultural-consumption paradox: in the search for artisanal images and identity, we reduce history and its objects to cheap mass production. Thus, the kitschy, clumsy quality of the Speculaasplank teaches us that we must learn to speculate critically, about form and homeland.

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Nathan Douenburg is a multidisciplinary designer with a focus on the cultural history of design, human-technology relationships, and material culture. He graduated from VU Amsterdam with a degree in the history of bread, bakeries, and bakeries in the Netherlands from 1900 to the present. He also holds a degree in design and the philosophy of technology from Delft University of Technology.
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This article was first published in printed issue of Platform Pudding #1, centered on the theme of proof and published in March 2026.

Notes

1. De speculaasplank is elders uitgebreid geanalyseerd met inachtneming van mondelinge geschiedenis, als onderdeel van mijn afstudeerscriptie. Zie ‘Een Broodnodig Onderzoek’ (Douenburg 2025)
2. Johannes J. Schilstra, Koekplanken, 3e [uitgebr.] dr.; Oorspr. uitg.: 1961 (Van Dishoeck, 1974).
3. Barbara Rubberecht, “Speculaties rond gebak uit houten prenten: een proces van intensivering naar extensivering | Scriptiebank,” 2006, https://scriptiebank.be/scriptie/2006/speculaties-rond-gebak-uit-houten-prenten-een-proces-van-intensivering-naar.
4. Schilstra, Koekplanken, 18.
5. Janny van der Heijden, Smaakpalet van de Lage Landen: de geschiedenis van de eetcultuur in beeld, ed. Manon Henzen (Nijgh & Van Ditmar, 2023).
6. Heijden, Smaakpalet van de Lage Landen, 121.
7. R. Haex, “AllerHande: A Cultural History of Dutch Food Culture, 1955-2000” (Bachelor Thesis, 2020), .
8. Bianca Bartels, Brood op de plank een familiekroniek van drie generaties warme bakkers (Nieuw Amsterdam, 2023).
9. Annick Detremmerie, “’t Is Voor de Bakker: Industrialisatie van Brood- En Banketbakkerij,” Museum voor industriele archeologie en textiel gent, 1986.
10. Douenburg, een broodnodig onderzoek, 44.
11. Bartels, Brood op de plank een familiekroniek van drie generaties warme bakkers, 218.
12. Bartels, Brood op de plank een familiekroniek van drie generaties warme bakkers, 219.
13. Bartels, Brood op de plank een familiekroniek van drie generaties warme bakkers, 218.
14. Voor aflevering 5 van het 13e seizoen, zie: https://npo.nl/start/afspelen/surprise_3
15. Zie bijvoorbeeld hoe alleen al de molendatabase van Nederland laat zien dat het archtype in feite uit een enorme variatie bestaat. Daarnaast valt op te merken dat de poldermolen de functie duid van het architectonische werktuig, terwijl de wip- en stellingmolen daadwerkelijk verschillende types zijn met een eigen architectuur. https://www.molendatabase.nl/
16. De focus op een ‘noodzakelijk aspect’ of ‘een essentie’ in bijvoorbeeld nationale identiteit. Zoals beschreven in: Javier Gimeno-Martínez, Design and National Identity (Bloomsbury Academic, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2016).
17. Schilstra, Koekplanken.
18. Elizabeth Currid-Halkett, The Sum of Small Things: A Theory of the Aspirational Class, First paperback printing (Princeton University Press, 2017).
19. Jonas Kooyman, De havermelkelite: hoe de nieuwe yup de stad onherkenbaar verandert, Eerste druk (Das Mag Uitgevers, 2024).
20. Hans Kennepohl and Maarten Doorman, We zijn nog nooit zo romantisch geweest: met een nawoord van Maarten Doorman (Lemniscaat, 2014);
21. Rubberecht, “Speculaties rond gebak uit houten prenten.” 52.
22. Rubberecht, “Speculaties rond gebak uit houten prenten.” 2.
23. Een blog van antiek verkoper D’Antan met onder andere een collectie speculaasplanken https://dantan.nl/blogs/nieuws/de-geschiedenis-van-speculaasplanken?srsltid=AfmBOoqwHHfL4RF3lMXIo3k2zBJuTJ2f0WXovgM83jcTupViC-AHEzpG

Works cited

Bartels, Bianca. Brood op de plank een familiekroniek van drie generaties warme bakkers. Nieuw Amsterdam, 2023.
Currid-Halkett, Elizabeth. The Sum of Small Things: A Theory of the Aspirational Class. First paperback printing. Princeton University Press, 2017.
Detremmerie, Annick. “’t Is Voor de Bakker: Industrialisatie van Brood- En Banketbakkerij.” Museum voor industriele archeologie en textiel gent, 1986.
Douenburg, Nathan. “Een Broodnodig Onderzoek: A Study of the Material Culture and Socio-Technological History of the Dutch Bakery (from 1900 to 2025).” MA. Thesis, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 2025.
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Haex, R. “AllerHande: A Cultural History of Dutch Food Culture, 1955-2000.” Bachelor Thesis, 2020. https://studenttheses.uu.nl/handle/20.500.12932/36583.
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Kennepohl, Hans, and Maarten Doorman. We zijn nog nooit zo romantisch geweest: met een nawoord van Maarten Doorman. Lemniscaat, 2014.
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Rubberecht, Barbara. “Speculaties rond gebak uit houten prenten: een proces van intensivering naar extensivering | Scriptiebank.” 2006. https://scriptiebank.be/scriptie/2006/speculaties-rond-gebak-uit-houten-prenten-een-proces-van-intensivering-naar.
Schilstra, Johannes J. Koekplanken. 3e [uitgebr.] dr.; Oorspr. uitg.: 1961. Van Dishoeck, 1974.
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