Babka season is almost here, one of my favorite festive desserts. You will find below the recipe for two babkas, I made one with lemon, poppy, and cardamom and another one with chocolate and walnuts. I think that having two flavors on a festive table is such a treat.

babka
babka

Ingredients for two medium babka:

530 flour (type 000)
7g active dry yeast
zest of two lemons
3 eggs lightly beaten
150ml water
100g sugar
150g soft butter
a pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla extract

Filling for the chocolate babka:

130g dark chocolate
100g butter
50g powdered sugar
30g cocoa powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons crushed walnuts or any other nuts you prefer

Filling for the lemon, poppy & cardamom babka:

150g soft butter
100g sugar
zest of one lemon
1 tbsp flour
1 tbsp poppy seeds
1-2 tsp cardamom powder
1 tsp vanilla extract

Syrup:
100ml water
100g sugar
Juice of one lemon (for the lemon babka)
30ml rhum (for the chocolate babka – optional)

chocolate
babka

Rub the sugar with the lemon zest using your hands, this way the flavor of the lemon will be intensified. Mix the flour with the sugar and yeast in your mixer bowl. Add the eggs and the water and mix using the dough hook until everything comes together. If it’s too dry you can add a little bit of extra water. Add the salt and then add the butter at room temperature a little at a time, this is very important, add the next knob of butter once the previous has been incorporated. Once you added all the butter, add the vanilla extract, and mix on low for around 10 minutes or until you have a smooth and elastic dough. It will be a bit sticky too, you might need to scrape it down off the hook a few times. Let the dough rise in a large, lightly oiled bowl and cover it with a clean kitchen towel.

Let it rise in a warm place or in your oven using the rising option for about 1 hour (in the oven) or 2 hours if you let it in a warm place. When it’s almost ready you can make the fillings. For the chocolate babka melt the chocolate and butter on low heat, put it aside, and add the sifted cocoa and sifted powdered sugar, then cinnamon, and mix. Split the dough into two equal parts and roll them out on a lightly floured surface, making a rectangle of 25/30cm. Spread the chocolate mix on your first babka and the walnuts, leaving a 1cm margin, brush the margins with a bit of water, then roll. For the lemon poppy babka, mix the soft butter with the rest of the ingredients with a spatula and spread on your roll dough. Place the rolls in the freezer in a tray with baking paper for 10 min. Make sure to dust the paper with a bit of flour, if they stay in the freezer they will be a lot easier to cut and shape. Cut the dough in half, lengthwise then twist the two parts, chocolate side up, and seal the ends with a bit of water.

Place the two babkas in two baking tins brushed with butter and dusted with flour. Cover the two tins with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let the babka rise in a warm place or in the oven, rise function on, for about an hour or until they have risen consistently. Bake them in the preheated oven at 180 Celsius for about 25 minutes or until golden.
Meanwhile, make a quick sugar syrup, boil the water and sugar together until the sugar dissolved, once slightly cooled split the syrup in half, squeeze a lemon into one half, and add the rhum to the other half.  Brush the lemon poppy babka with the lemon syrup and the chocolate babka with the rhum syrup. Enjoy!