Babka are typical Orthodox Easter cakes that are very traditional in Belarus, Ukraine, Slovakia, Western Russia (the part closest to Poland) and Poland itself. Traditionally, it was prepared by the women of the family on Saturday to be served on Easter Sunday, as the culmination of Orthodox Holy Week, which in the East is more important than Christmas.
The origin is uncertain. Some indicate that they would come from the Jewish communities of the region and that it was also cooked for Passover, in this case Jewish. From there it passed to the Orthodox Christian confessions. For others, the origin would be Poland, which has a great confectionery and baking tradition.
There are many different babka but most of them follow very basic rules:
They are taller than they are wide and are narrower at the top than at the bottom (they are therefore truncated cones).
They are made exclusively with egg yolks and also have a significant amount of them, so that the cake batter takes on an orange color.
They incorporate candied fruit.
They are baked in special molds, generally also called babka, which usually have the aforementioned conical shape and also have a central hole to improve baking.
If all this sounds a bit like the German Gugelhupf or the Bundt, you are right, since the Babka are considered to be the antecedents of both.
We are going to see next the recipe of the Polish Babka. You will see that it is very easy to do.
INGREDIENTS
- 500 grams (1.1 lbs) of flour
- 200 grams (7 oz) of unsalted butter
- 150 grams (5.3 oz) of sugar
- 100 grams (3.5 oz) of candied fruit (orange peel, pitted cherries etc)
- 40 grams (2 tbps) of baker's yeast
- 8 egg yolks
- 200 ml (1 cup) of whole milk
First, we mix half a cup of flour, the yeast, the milk and a tablespoon of sugar and let it rest in a warm, dark place and out of drafts for at least 1 hour.
Beat the egg yolks with the rest of the sugar with the rods until a kind of cream with double the volume is formed.
We add to the yolks the mixture that we have risen at the beginning, also adding the rest of the well sifted flour. Mix well until the dough is well aerated. If you have a mixer, it is time to use it.
We incorporate the candied fruit little by little and the butter to the point of ointment and we integrate as we do it until there is a homogeneous mass. So that the candied fruit does not sink to the bottom, it is best to coat it first in flour. The sugar will stick to the flour and it will prevent it from sliding to the bottom, being distributed throughout the dough.
Grease the babka mold - you can use a bundt, metal or silicone one - and pour the dough into it.
We preheat the oven to 180 degrees (356 F) and bake for half an hour. Before removing, check that when sticking a toothpick it comes out completely dry.
It is unmolded cold and decorated to taste - with icing sugar, chocolate coverage etc - or as is, it is just as good.