Do you like Brioche? And chocolate? Then my chocolate Babka is just the right thing for you! But have you actually ever heard of Babka?
What is a chocolate babka?
Chocolate Babka is a soft yeast cake, i.e., yeast dough filled with chocolate. So it’s a kind of cake that’s traditionally made with cinnamon and chocolate.
Traditionally though, babka is served for Easter breakfast in Poland, Serbia, Bulgaria (Kozunak), and it got its popularity through Polish/Jewish immigrants in America.
I find it absolutely fascinating how there are different variations of the same dish around the world. Just like a chocolate babka. It is very similar to the French brioche and the German Hefezopf. And thanks to this beautiful braiding, it is also an eye-catcher on every coffee table.
But how exactly do you get this look?
roll up
Roll out the dough into a rectangle and spread with Nutella. Roll up the long side.
braiding
Cut roll into 4 parts. Take 2 of them and cut the long side down to the middle.
resting
Braid the 2 rolls together into a simple braid and place in the baking pan
Simply repeat with the other 2 rolls.
As you can see, not that difficult, right? As always, a yeast dough needs the main time to proof, otherwise it is actually made quite quickly and is ideal for the Sunday coffee table.
With the recipe for my Babka below you can easily make 2 chocolate Babkas, ideal to give one as a gift and enjoy one yourself! 🙂
All the best
sabrina x
Chocolate Babka
Just a heads up: I use grams and Celsius degrees in all my recipes, as I’m based in Germany.
Ingredients
- 75 g warm butter
- 250 ml milk
- 20 g yeast – if there is no fresh yeast, just use 7 g dry yeast
- 50 grams of sugar
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1 pinch of cinnamon
- 1 egg
- 500 g flour
- 5 drops of vanilla essence
- 300 g Nutella
- 1 egg
- 1 shot of milk
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, heat the milk to lukewarm, it should not boil
- You should still be able to put your finger in the milk (which we never do 😉 )
- Meanwhile, place the yeast and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Pour the milk over the mixture and mix.
- Add salt, butter, 1 egg and the lemon zest and mix with a dough hook.
- Add the flour and mix with the dough hook for about 3 minutes.
- If the dough no longer sticks to the bowl and is shiny as you knead it, it’s perfect.
- Cover the bowl with a tea towel and let it rest for 1.5-2 hours. The dough should double in size over time.
- Line 2 box-shaped baking tins with baking paper
- Lightly flour a surface and roll out the dough into a large, thin rectangle
- Spread the dough with Nutella
- Take the long side and roll up tightly
- Cut the roll into 4 equal parts.
- Cut each roll lengthwise from the top up to halfway
- Braid 2 rolls (strands) together into a braid, with the open side facing up
- Fold the ends down slightly
- Place the brioche in the prepared baking pan and let rise again
- Preheat the oven to 180 °C.
- Whisk the egg with a dash of milk and gently brush the brioche with it
- Put both brioches in the hot oven and change the temperature to 160 °C (fan oven).
- Bake for about 35-40 minutes.
- Please check the brioche after about 25 minutes and cover with baking paper if it gets too dark
- Remove from the form and let cool slightly and enjoy
The nutritional values are automatically calculated – I use them as a rough guide myself when I want to keep track.
Disclaimer
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