Babka is a cake with a dough similar to brioche, very popular in Eastern Europe.
It is a traditional cake made on Easter Sunday in Poland and also for other important holidays during the year in countries like Bulgaria, Macedonia, and Ukraine.
There are different versions; in some recipes, dried fruits and candied fruits are present, and often the shape is like a plum-cake.
This cake closely resembles our angel food cake!!!
I preferred to make it in a ring shape also because I didn’t have two large enough plum-cake molds, so I liked it better this way and used only chocolate and hazelnuts in the filling.
The best thing would be to make the dough with a mixer, but if you don’t have one, you can use a food processor with a dough hook or with a little more time, knead it by hand.
You will need just a little patience for the rising, which will take a few hours, but the result is truly exceptional… try it!
Approx. 610 Kcal per person
- Difficulty: Medium
- Cost: Medium
- Rest time: 4 Hours
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 10 people
- Cooking methods: Electric oven
- Cuisine: Polish
- Seasonality: Christmas, Easter
Ingredients to make Babka
- 2 cups All-purpose flour + 1/4 cup for the work surface
- 2 1/4 cups Manitoba flour
- 7 tbsp Butter
- 1/2 cup Sugar
- 2 Large eggs
- 1 packet Active dry yeast
- Grated zest of 1 lemon
- 1/2 cup Water
- 6 oz Dark chocolate
- 10 tbsp Butter
- 3 tbsp Powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup Unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup Hazelnuts
- 1/2 cup Sugar
- 1 tbsp Water
Preparation of Babka
First, dissolve the yeast in a little warm water taken from the amount needed for the dough, then in the mixer (I did this) put the ingredients for the dough, the flours, softened butter, sugar, eggs, grated lemon zest, water, and add the dissolved yeast separately.
Turn on the machine at low speed for a few minutes until you get a homogeneous, smooth, and non-sticky dough.
Once you have obtained a well-worked dough, transfer the dough to a container, cover it with kitchen film, and let it rise for about 2-3 hours or until doubled.
When the dough is almost ready to be worked, start preparing the filling.
In a saucepan, put the dark chocolate pieces, butter, powdered sugar, cocoa, and hazelnut crumbs and let it melt over medium-low heat, stirring constantly until you get a cream.
Let it cool in the fridge for about ten minutes or until it thickens a bit, but it must remain dense.
Take the dough, roll out a rectangular sheet, thin but not transparent
…spread the prepared chocolate up to two fingers from the edge.
Roll from the longer side until you create a sausage
cut it in half lengthwise, placing the cut side up, and at this point braid the two halves until you create a braid.
Butter and flour a high-sided 12-inch diameter ring mold, place the braid in it, and let it rise again for 1 hour or a little more.
Once risen, bake in a preheated oven at 356°F for about 30-35 minutes.
Once cooked, heat the sugar with water in a saucepan for about 5 minutes and brush the braid, let it cool, and place it on a serving plate.
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