Picture this: it’s wartime in Europe in the 1940s and the ration has changed all your meals. Imagine being able to make a sweet, delicious, cake-like bread despite having few of the normal baking ingredients. It must have been a very welcome change to the standard meals of garden veggies, potatoes, and what was known as “national loaf”- a dry and dense whole wheat bread served in the UK.

In France and England particularly this Ovaltine loaf did just that and it requires no added oil or eggs and very little sugar. It’s a nostalgic bread that could be made using rationed food, just so long as you had some Ovaltine on hand.

The Ovaltine here does some heavy lifting to replace the eggs and most of the sugar in the recipe. Ovaltine was developed in 1904 in Switzerland by Dr. Albert Wander as a
nutritional supplement to counter malnutrition, especially for women and children. This shelf stable formula originally was primarily made from eggs and malt, hence the name. During the 1930s and 1940s it was a very popular drink and children in particular were urged to “drink your Ovaltine.”

This is a sweet quick bread and uses raisins for much of the sweetness. And, I have to say it really works in this recipe! I used the regular variety of Ovaltine, but you can use chocolate or the chocolate malt flavors if you prefer.

The traditional way to have this bread is sliced and then toasted- then buttered (if you have it). It’s good on its own, but toasted with butter it’s even better.

This reminds me of another frugal staple: Boston brown bread. Many folks in New England grew up having this steamed bread for dinner along with beans and franks. While I think Boston brown bread is sweeter, this Ovaltine loaf is certainly sweet enough to be a real treat.

The dough for this loaf is simple and easy to mix up, but my only caveat is the bake time. I left mine in for a total of 47 minutes, but it cracked on top. My advice is to not take it out too early as a raw interior won’t be salvageable even if you toast it. It’s better to have a split than an under-baked loaf.

I’ve seen this vintage recipe called Ovaltine cake and also pain d’Ovomaltine in French, but it’s super tasty by any name- even all these years later.