Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Chocolate Babka

This is one of the more successful recipes I've done in a while. People really responded well to it, and the final product looked kind of rustic and professional at the same time. This style of babka is basically an extra-buttery challah dough with a giant swirl of chocolate through it and a streusel topping. The filling was made of dark chocolate, cake crumbs (great way to reuse leftovers), and pureed apricot jam for kind of a mild sweet tanginess. Even though the recipe was kind of long, it came together very easily. Definitely a recipe I'd keep on hand to throw together for a potluck or brunch. It'd be fun to try other filling flavors, too, like cinnamon. Speaks well for the new book I got the recipe from, The Art of the Dessert.

Chocolate Babka - preparing yeast for dough Chocolate Babka - incorporating flour, eggs, yeast, milk, sugar, vanilla Chocolate Babka - mixing/kneading dough Chocolate Babka - setting dough up to rise Chocolate Babka - dough has doubled in size Chocolate Babka - preparing baking pans Chocolate Babka - filling layers Chocolate Babka - rolled up dough Chocolate Babka - ready for last rise Chocolate Babka Chocolate Babka