Babka — the Eastern European enriched yeast cake

i. Origin & history

The name is a diminutive of baba, meaning grandmother or old woman in Polish and other Slavic languages. The usual explanation is that the tall, fluted Easter cake, flaring at the base, resembled a grandmother's pleated skirt; it is a charming story, if not one that can be proven. Rich, yeasted baby and babki were made in Polish and Ukrainian homes for Easter Sunday, blessed in the Easter basket on Holy Saturday and served with coffee after the long Lenten fast. Their richness — many egg yolks, butter, sugar, sometimes saffron, raisins or candied peel — marked the end of fasting.

Ashkenazi Jewish bakers in the same region had their own version. Leftover challah dough, rich with eggs, was rolled out, spread with jam, cinnamon, nuts or raisins, and rolled up and baked as a sweet loaf for the Sabbath and festivals. Jewish emigrants carried it to the United States in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, where in New York bakeries it gained more butter, a chocolate filling and its now-famous twisted shape. In the United States chocolate babka became a staple of Jewish bakeries; a 1990s episode of the sitcom Seinfeld, in which the characters argue about chocolate versus cinnamon babka, made it widely known beyond them.

In Israel, babka (often called krantz cake in its twisted, syrup-soaked form) became a café and bakery favourite, and in the 2010s Israeli-style chocolate babka spread through bakeries in London, New York and beyond. It is now a global celebration loaf.

So 'babka' can mean two cakes: the Polish Easter baba, a tall, plain or raisin-studded cake related to the French baba au rhum, and the swirled Jewish babka. Both are enriched yeast doughs; they differ in shape and filling.

ii. Why the dough is chilled overnight, and why it is twisted

Babka dough is a brioche-style enriched dough: lots of butter and eggs, less liquid. Butter and eggs tenderise the crumb and give flavour, but they also make the dough very soft and sticky at room temperature. Resting it overnight in the fridge firms the butter, so the dough can be rolled thin without tearing or sticking, and the slow, cold rise develops more flavour. It also fits the work neatly across two days.

The filling must be spreadable but thick: a paste of melted chocolate, butter, cocoa and sugar that firms as it cools. Too runny and it leaks out of the ends and sinks to the bottom of the tin; too stiff and it tears the dough.

The twist is both decoration and structure. The dough is rolled into a rectangle, spread with filling and rolled up into a log; the log is then cut lengthways, exposing the layers, and the two halves are twisted round each other with cut sides up. In the oven the layers puff and separate, giving the distinctive marbled cross-section and a crust where the filling caramelises against the tin.

Finally, as soon as it leaves the oven, the loaf is brushed with sugar syrup. The syrup soaks into the crust, keeps the crumb moist for days and gives babka its glossy, slightly sticky top. The internal temperature should reach about 90°C; enriched doughs look brown before they are cooked through, and an underbaked babka is gummy in the centre.

iii. Ingredients

Makes 16 servings · scroll the side panel to adjust

• 500 g strong white bread flour
• 80 g caster sugar (dough)
• 7 g instant dried yeast
• 1 tsp fine salt
• 3 eggs
• 120 ml whole milk, lukewarm
• 1 orange or lemon, zest only
• 150 g unsalted butter, soft (dough)
• 150 g dark chocolate (60–70%)
• 120 g unsalted butter (filling)
• 50 g icing sugar
• 30 g cocoa powder
• 100 g sugar (syrup)
• 100 ml water (syrup)

Strong bread flour gives the dough enough gluten to hold its butter and stretch thin without tearing. The butter must be soft, not melted, so it can be kneaded in gradually. Use good dark chocolate; the cocoa intensifies the filling and helps it set. For cinnamon babka, replace the filling with 100 g soft butter beaten with 120 g brown sugar and 1 tbsp cinnamon. A stand mixer makes the kneading far easier. This makes two loaves.

iv. Method

1. In a stand mixer with a dough hook, mix the flour, sugar, yeast and salt. Add the eggs, milk and zest and knead on low speed for 4–5 minutes until a firm dough forms.
2. Add the soft butter a spoonful at a time, kneading until each piece is absorbed, then knead on medium speed for 8–10 minutes until the dough is smooth, shiny, elastic and pulls cleanly from the bowl.
3. Shape into a ball, place in an oiled bowl, cover and refrigerate overnight (at least 8 hours).
4. For the filling, melt the chocolate and butter together, then stir in the icing sugar and cocoa to a thick, spreadable paste. Leave at room temperature.
5. Line two 900 g loaf tins with baking paper. Divide the cold dough in half. Roll one half on a lightly floured surface into a 25 × 35 cm rectangle, long side towards you. Spread with half the filling, leaving a 2 cm border at the far edge.
6. Roll up tightly from the long side into a log and chill for 10 minutes. Trim the ends, cut the log in half lengthways and lay the halves side by side, cut sides up. Pinch the tops together and twist the two strands over each other, keeping the cut sides facing up. Fit into a tin. Repeat with the second half.
7. Cover and leave to rise in a warm place for 1½–2 hours until puffy and risen by about half. Heat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan, 350°F).
8. Bake for 35–40 minutes until deep golden and a thermometer in the centre reads about 90°C; cover with foil if it browns too quickly. Meanwhile boil the sugar and water for 3 minutes to a syrup.
9. As soon as the babkas come out, brush the hot syrup over them until it is all used. Cool in the tins for 20 minutes, then lift out and cool on a rack.

v. Tips & common mistakes

• Add the butter slowly. Adding it all at once makes a greasy, slippery dough that will not come together.
• Chill the dough overnight. Cold dough is easy to roll thin and holds its shape when twisted; warm dough tears and smears.
• Keep the filling spreadable. If it firms too much, warm it slightly; if it is runny, let it cool.
• Chill the log before cutting. Ten minutes in the fridge makes clean cuts and keeps the layers distinct.
• Bake it through. Enriched dough browns before it is cooked; check for 90°C in the centre or a hollow sound.
• Don't skip the syrup. It keeps the babka moist for days and gives the classic glossy top.

vi. Variations

Cinnamon babka uses a cinnamon-sugar-butter filling, the classic alternative to chocolate. Polish Easter babka (baba wielkanocna) uses a richer, yolk-heavy dough, often with raisins, rum or saffron, baked in a tall fluted tin without a filling and finished with icing; babka piaskowa is a non-yeasted 'sand' babka, a buttery pound cake made at Easter. Modern bakeries fill babka with Nutella, halva, pistachio or poppy seed.

For other enriched yeast cakes, see baba au rhum, the poppy-seed braid Mohnstriezel and the Swedish cardamom bun; for Polish Easter companions, try sernik and kremówka.

vii. Serving & storage

Serve babka in thick slices at room temperature, with coffee or tea, for breakfast, brunch or as part of an Easter or Sabbath table. Day-old slices are excellent toasted or made into French toast or bread pudding.

Wrap well and keep at room temperature for up to 3 days. Babka freezes very well for up to 3 months, whole or sliced; thaw at room temperature and warm briefly in the oven to refresh. The shaped, unbaked loaves can also be frozen, then thawed overnight in the fridge and left to rise before baking.

ix. More from Eastern European

• Sernik — Polish baked cheesecake
• Kremówka — Polish custard slice
• Faworki — Polish angel wings
• Mákos Guba — poppy-seed bread pudding
• Mohnstriezel — poppy-seed braid
• Baba au Rhum — rum-soaked yeast cake