Chocolate Babà!!!
Chocolate Babà: an unusual and delicious recipe, the Neapolitan babà in its chocolate version. What else!!
A majestic, very scenic babà to prepare for special occasions like Christmas, Easter, Valentine’s Day, liked by everyone: adults and young alike
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- Difficulty: Medium
- Cost: Economical
- Rest time: 1 Hour 30 Minutes
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 10 servings
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Christmas, Valentine's Day
Ingredients for the Chocolate Babà
- 2 1/2 cups Manitoba Flour (400W)
- 1/3 cup Sugar
- 6 1/3 tbsp Butter (of quality)
- 4 Whole eggs
- 3 1/3 tbsp Whole milk
- 2/3 oz Fresh yeast
- 5 1/3 oz Dark chocolate (of quality, possibly 70%)
- 1 tbsp Vanilla extract
- as needed Whipped cream (or chocolate sauce, optional)
- 1 2/3 cups Water
- 2 cups Sugar
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 1 1/4 cup Rum or limoncello (I used 150 ml of rum)
- 1/2 tsp Fine salt
Tools
- Bowl
- Stand Mixer Kenwood with 1400W power and illuminated bowl
- Pot
- Mold Nordic Ware Kugelhopf
Preparation for the Chocolate Babà
First of all, prepare a starter with 50 g of Flour (of the total 300 g) and the yeast dissolved in 60 g of lukewarm water and let it rise for about 30 minutes (it should double in volume).
In the stand mixer bowl (initially with the flat beater), beat the butter alone, after a while, add the sugar in two batches, and finally, the dark chocolate melted in a double boiler.
Gradually add, while working with the flat beater, the flour, starter, milk, vanilla, and whole eggs (one at a time) allow it to bind and then add the hook (important!).
The dough should be worked for about 20 minutes (from speed 1 to 3) and in the last ten minutes switch to the dough hook, DO NOT work it longer than 20 minutes, otherwise the dough heats up too much, you will notice that it is ready when it becomes elastic and detaches from the sides of the bowl.
Pour the dough into a babà mold or kugelhopf mold (9 inches in diameter and 5 inches tall on Amazon, see Shopping Tips below) only greased and not floured, and let it rise covered in an airless place, until it reaches the edge of the mold (it will take about 1 hour and 30/2 hours).
Once risen, place the babà in a preheated oven at 320°F for about 45 minutes, in the lowest part of your oven, so that the babà develops in height, without coloring too much on the surface.
Once cooked, let the babà cool, without unmolding it.
Place a saucepan on the stove with water, sugar, lemon zest, and fine salt, bring to a boil and cook for about 8-10 minutes.
Add the chosen liquor AFTER the syrup cooking.
Soak the babà with my system that you can see HERE.Gradually pour the boiling syrup over the cold babà with a ladle, let it absorb everything (and you will see that if the babà is well worked, after a while it will absorb the syrup like a sponge and will also increase in volume).
Place the chocolate babà in the refrigerator covered and, at serving time, accompany it with whipped cream and/or hot chocolate sauce, you can garnish the babà with berries, dollops of whipped cream, curls, or chocolate drops.
Shopping Tips!!!
To make this chocolate babà, I used a wonderful Nordic Ware Kugelhopf mold, which besides being aesthetically elegant, cooks and unmolds perfectly (the cast aluminum distributes heat evenly, that’s what makes the difference!). You can find it on Amazon.
To knead perfectly and comfortably, I often also use my Kenwood Titanium Chef Patissier XL stand mixer with 7L illuminated bowl, integrated scale, and blender and a good 1400W of power, a faithful ally in the kitchen for: kneading, weighing, whisking, melting chocolate, pasteurizing eggs.
If you are looking for a more economic and smaller stand mixer model, you can safely choose to buy Kenwood Titanium Chef Baker, with double bowl of 5L and 3.5L, 1200W of power.
Notes and Advice
If you are looking for Valentine’s Day recipes, click on my: “Valentine’s Day Special”
If you are looking for Christmas recipe ideas, click on my CHRISTMAS/NEW YEAR Special, you will find many unusual and delicious recipes for Christmas lunch/dinner!
