Classic Babka – with an easy twist
November 2019
So Babka is a classic Jewish cake. The smell of baking spreads around the house and makes your mouth water with anticipation. Every Friday afternoon our kitchen fills up with this amazing aroma of baked goods. And this cake represent Shabbat to us more than any other, the time we have to let it rise, the slow ease of the kneading and the folding it’s this feeling of Shabbat about to enter.
This is a slightly easier version of Babka. Not the classic thin dough with the endless folds but a little chunkier version and yummy as can be.
You’ll need
For the dough:
4 1/2 cups plain flour (630 gr)
1 1/2 tbsp dry yeast (15.5 gr)
200 gr unsalted butter
1/2 cup lukewarm milk (120 ml)
1/2 cup water (120 ml)
2 eggs
1/3 cup caster sugar (70 gr)
10 gr vanilla sugar
For the Chocolate filling:
200 gr unsalted butter
100 gr bittersweet chocolate
5 tbsp Dutch cocoa powder (50 gr)
3/4 cup caster sugar (150 gr)
10 gr vanilla sugar
1/2 tbsp cinnamon
For glazing:
1 egg beaten with 1 tbsp water
For dusting:
powder sugar
(A Bundt baking pan or any round pan sized 26″)
Here’s How
- In the mixer bowl with a guitar hook place 3 1/2 cups of flower and the dry yeast
- Melt 180 gr of butter and mix it together with the ,ilk and water to get a lukewarm mixture
- Add to the flower mixture the eggs, sugar and vanilla sugar
- Now add the butter mixture and start processing
- Process for 5 minutes in medium speed until dough is very soft and sticky.
- Add the remaining cup of flower gradually until the dough separates from the bowl but is still very soft.
- Cover the dough and let rise until double in size
In the meantime prepare the chocolate filling:
- melt together butter and chocolate
- Sift in the cocoa, sugar, vanilla sugar and cinnamon and mix together until mixture is unified.
- Fridge for about 20 minutes, mix every few minutes until mixture is spreadable and not liquid
Assemble and bake:
- Preheat the oven to 170 C/350 F
- Take the risen dough out of the bowl and onto a flowered surface. Divide the dough in two. Roll out each half to a 1/2 cm thick rectangle.
- Spread each rectangle with half the chocolate filling and roll into a cylinder.
- Swirl together the two cylinders into a screw shaped cylinder and close into a ring
- Butter the baking pan with the 20 gr butter we saved and place the dough ring in the buttered pan. Cover with a damp kitchen towel and let rise for another 20 minutes. The dough will not double and that’s ok.
- Brush the dough with the egg and water mixture and bake for 55 minutes
- Take note! After 30 minutes cover the pan with tin foil – so the cake will not burn. It should be dark brown by now.
- Once out of the oven, let cool down. Take out of the baking pan and dust with powder sugar
It is one of the kitchen queens this cake. Truly.
It takes some time and patience, but it is SO worth it!!!!!
