Oooh I love a babka so much! I’ve made many over the years (including this delicious spring onion one), but I’ll always come back to the classic zebra-striped chocolate version.
Babkas originated in the Jewish neighbourhoods in Eastern Europe in the early 19th Century. It became a way to use extra Challah dough and was often rolled up with jam or cinnamon filling. As its popularity spread in the 20th Century, a chocolate filling became a common alternative, and is one of the most famous babka styles today. This interesting piece at Food52 explains how the babka has changed and developed over the years, and how Instagram has impacted what we now think of as babka.
I had some leftover brioche dough that had been happily stored in the freezer after making jam doughnuts a while back. By the way, I love how brioche is comfortable in the freezer for such a long time! I think it can last up to a month in there and still be good. I’m all for being more flexible in the kitchen, especially when some recipes make such huge amounts. Anyway, after defrosting the dough in the fridge overnight, I was ready to get this babka on the go.
For the filling, I turned to Nicola Lamb, who did a true deep dive into babka in one of her Kitchen Project newsletters. She has a three-pronged filling approach: first, the normal spreadable chocolate filling, then a chocolate cookie-like crumb, and finally chopped dark chocolate. Oof. That sounds like a lot of work, but let me tell you, it was completely worth it.
I can’t begin to describe how good this was. Completely indulgent, but thanks to the dark chocolate, never too much. Before baking, I did wonder if I should have chopped the chocolate smaller, but I shouldn’t have worried. Those beautiful big chunks were heavenly with the soft brioche dough. I used some black cocoa powder to make the layers pop, and pop they did.
This was without a doubt one of the best bakes I’ve ever made. Certainly the best babka. It was so good! It happily disappeared, slice by slice, in no time. The temptation was too great to resist sneaking another slice as we walked by the kitchen – a true marker of success!
