Chocolate-Raisin-Nut Babka

September 2012

Baba, Babka, Baba au Rhum

It’s very possible that baba, a simple yeast-risen coffeecake from Poland, is the culinary Eve to descendants as diverse as the elegant French Baba au Rhum and the homey Babka, beloved in Jewish cuisine.

While some of the tale may be a bit romanticized, the story behind French Baba supposedly begins with an 18th century Polish king, Stanislas I. This royal was ousted from power and exiled to his country estate in France, and one day, as the story goes, he was eating some gugelhopf, a German yeast cake. He thought the cake was too dry and so the former king, who liked to tinker in the kitchen, soaked it in wine and renamed the cake baba, because it was reminiscent of the cakes he loved so well back in the old country. His daughter, who eventually married French King Louis XV, gave the recipe to the court chef who apparently revised it to include raisins and candied fruit and a soak with rum rather than wine. Then, French bakers created a fancier version, minus the fruit and using rum-and-sugar syrup; they baked the cake in tube pans and voila! Baba au Rhum was born.

Jewish Babka has a quite different evolution. It is also an egg-rich, yeasty coffee cake, but plainer; more like the original Polish baba – literally “grandma” -- named for the hard-working older women who baked them with regularity. You can buy babka fresh or packaged at a bakery or deli and even at most supermarkets. It’s cake that isn’t cake really, not when you compare it to frosted chocolate layers. It’s also not as moist and dense as quickbread or even other traditional baking powder coffee cakes. But it’s not bread either, although the dough is challah-like. Babka is somewhere in between cake and bread. It’s dessert and snack. A wonder. And although it is sort of dry and airy, that’s the way it’s meant to be. This is the quality that sent Stanislas to the wine bottle and even today a slice of babka dunked into sweet dessert wine or hot coffee is a thrill.

Early babas were probably larger than today’s babka, which means “little grandmother.” And while babas were well known for centuries throughout Eastern Europe, particularly among Christian cooks at Easter, babka became a favorite among Jewish-Americans, who claim it as a constant, a must-have for all times of the day and for all occasions.

The only big divide among Jewish families has to do with what flavor babka is best. Because although you can bake babka dough plain or with any number of fillings including raisins, currants or dried or glaceed fruit, or with walnuts, chestnuts, marzipan, fresh apples and the like, or add a few dollops of apricot or raspberry jam or season it with grated fresh orange peel or exotic spices such as cardamom or coriander or with essentials oils and elixirs such as flower water or almond oil, the real question it all boils down to is: cinnamon or chocolate?

Chocolate seems to be the big winner, judging by sales, even though old timers may feel chocolate babka is a little too “new fangled.” Some babkas include both chocolate and cinnamon.

There’s also the issue about the crust. Should a babka be covered with streusel? Swirled chocolate? Confectioner’s sugar? All?

Have it your way. Make babka at home for Rosh Hashanah, which begins at sundown on Sunday, September 16th. Or for a break-the-fast when Yom Kippur ends at sunset on Wednesday September 26th.

Or do your holiday up fancier with Baba Au Rhum.

Making Baba Au Rhum or Babka takes time and patience. The dough can feel soft and sticky and it’s easy to add too much flour or overwork the dough. But there’s help right here on these pages, a recipe for both, complete with detailed instructions.