Chocolate Babka

In the “The Dinner Party” episode, Seinfeld says it best: “You can’t beat a babka.” He means the chocolate babka, where dark chocolate zigzags wildly through a sweet yeasted loaf, swirling this way and that. Jerry’s bakery ran out of his object of desire, but you don’t have to depend on a bakery for your babka fix. It’s easier to make than you’d think—you just have to allow time to let the dough rise overnight. And all that gooey chocolate makes it totally worth it.

Babka or krantz cake?

We ran across the basis for this babka recipe in the Jerusalem cookbook. Authors Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi praise it as “the most popular cake in the west side of Jerusalem, and probably in the whole of the country.”

Babka, like challah, rugelach and most of the foods we recognize as Jewish, originated with Ashkenazi Jews. The Ashkenazim started out in ancient Palestine, but spent the next thousand-plus years fleeing all manner of persecution. When they settled in Central and Eastern Europe, they both borrowed from and influenced their local cultures and foods. For instance, they mashed up Hebrew and German into Yiddish, and upgraded Polish yeast cake into babka.

Ottolenghi and Tamimi admit that they “underrepresent Ashkenazic foods” in their cookbook celebrating the Jewish, Muslim and many other cuisines of Jerusalem. Fortunately, they include the babka recipe, but have hidden it under the little-known name “krantz cake.” So you can’t find one of the best things in this cookbook—the babka—by searching for it in the index.

Two big cakes

Famously, all babkas come out kind of messy, with chocolate smearing all over the place even with the first slice. So have lots of napkins on hand for your guests.

The recipe makes two large loaf cakes. One to eat right away (and it will quickly disappear), and one to keep in the freezer for just the right occasion. Like Seinfeld’s dinner party.

Chocolate Babka

Adapted from Jerusalem by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi

You can make these in one day, but they are easier and better if you mix up the dough the night before you want to bake.

Makes 2 large loaf cakes

For dough:

• 4 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting
• ½ cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons instant yeast (SAF Gold works best with sweet doughs like this)
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 3 eggs, room temperature
• ½ cup water
• ⅔ cup butter (salted or unsalted), room temperature, cut into ¾-inch cubes
• Canola or other vegetable oil, for greasing

For chocolate filling:

• ¾ cup confectioners’ sugar
• ⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 6 ounces dark chocolate, melted (about 1 cup of chocolate chips)*
• ½ cup butter (salted or unsalted), melted
• 1 cup pecans, coarsely chopped
• 2 tablespoons sugar

*We like 72 percent cacao dark chocolate, either chips or chopped-up bars, from Trader Joe’s.

Optional topping:

• ½ cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

For syrup:

• ⅔ cup water
• 1 ¼ cup sugar

Make the dough (the night before you want to bake)

1. With a stand mixer: Using the dough hook, mix flour, sugar, yeast and salt on low for 1 minute. Add eggs, water and vanilla and mix on low for a few seconds. Then increase the speed to medium and mix for 3 minutes, until the dough comes together. Add the butter, a few cubes at a time, until butter thoroughly blends into the dough. Continue mixing for about 10 minutes on medium, until the dough is completely smooth, elastic, and shiny. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed, and toss in a bit of flour to help unstick the dough from the sides.
   
   By hand: Combine 3 cups of flour, sugar and yeast and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, water and vanilla. Add it to the dry ingredients. You should have a wet dough you can mix with a spatula or dough whisk. Add the butter, a few cubes at a time, mixing until the butter thoroughly blends into the dough. Add in enough flour (from the remaining 1¼ cups) to form a dough that pulls away from the sides of the bowl—it should still be sticky. Turn out the dough onto a floured surface and knead for 10 minutes until it is completely smooth, elastic and shiny, using up the rest of the flour.
   
   
2. Place the dough in a large oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least half a day, preferably overnight.
   
   

Assemble cakes

1. Grease two 9” x 5” pans and line the bottom with wax or parchment paper. Divide the dough in half and keep one half covered in the fridge.
   
   
2. In a large bowl, mix the confectioner’s sugar, cocoa, melted chocolate and butter. Stir well. It will look a bit like a thick glaze. Since the dough is cool, the mixture will tend to solidify as you spread.
   
   
3. Roll out one of the dough halves on a lightly floured surface into a rectangle about 11” x 15”. Position the dough so that a long side is closest to you. Spread half the chocolate mixture over the rectangle, using an offset spatula if you have one. Sprinkle half the chopped pecans on top of the chocolate, then sprinkle over half the sugar. Roll up the rectangle tightly into a log, starting from the long side that is closest to you. Pinch to seal, and rest the log on its seam. Trim about ¾-inch off both ends of the log with a serrated knife.  (You can bake the trimmed ends for about 10 minutes for a little snack.)
   
   



4. Using the serrated knife, gently cut the roll in half lengthwise, starting at the top, keeping the layers of dough and filling visible along the length of both halves. With the cut sides facing up, place the right half over the left. Then alternately lift the left half over the right, right over left, until you have a simple two-stranded braid showing the filling on top. Carefully lift the cake into a loaf pan. For the optional topping, sprinkle on half the mini chocolate chips. Repeat to make the second cake.
   
   
5. Cover the pans loosely with plastic wrap and let dough rise in a warm place for 1 to 1 ½ hours. The cakes will rise by 10 to 20 percent.
   
   
6. At least 30 minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 375° F. When the cakes have risen, remove the plastic wrap, place them on the middle rack of the oven, and bake for about 30 minutes, until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. The interior temperature should read between 180° and 190° F.
   
   
7. While the cakes are baking, make the syrup. Combine water and sugar in a small saucepan, place over medium heat, and bring to a boil. As soon as the sugar dissolves, remove from the heat and let cool down.
   
   
8. As soon as the cakes come out of the oven, brush the syrup all over them. Use up all the syrup, even if it seems like too much. Leave the cakes until they are just warm, remove them from the pans, peel off wax or parchment paper, and let cool before serving. They freeze well.