Chocolate babka-swirl coffee cake
Chocolate babka-ed sour cream coffeecake, the only way I'll make this coffee cake now + 5 kitchen things I love
MONDAY! Join me for live Q & A on May 13, 6pm to 7pm PST : all about baking with chocolate. Bring your questions and we’ll chat chocolate. Free and paid subscribers.
GIVEAWAY coming up next week! Guittard Chocolate Company has put together 3 generously filled gift bags with different kinds of chocolate and cocoa to go along with a summery frozen chocolate dessert recipe that I’ll post next Friday, the 10th of May. Three random winners will be chosen from paid subscribers and notified by email the following week. I’ll post more about it next week.
Some serving and kitchenwares that I like: I desperately needed new baking pans—mine are well-loved and show it and are still in use, but they don’t photograph well and the baked-on stains are downright unappetizing in photos. I started researching what's available for home bakers, and it’s mind boggling how many options there are. I was tempted to just fall back on what every restaurant and bakery kitchen uses: heavy duty aluminum sheet trays, but I thought I’d try out something new.
I’m still deciding if I like these half sheet pans from Nordic Ware. I’ll give therm a few months and see how they do, but so far so good. I don’t like non-stick anything, but these claim to be PFAS-free and thought I’d try out this “gold” line because every manufacturer seems to have one now. I like silicone liners and parchment, so it’s more about the even browning that I’m looking for.
I LOVE this spatula from Le Crueset. The head is heat resistant to 482ºf and removes for the dishwasher and has just the right bendiness, and I really like the feel of the wooden handle. You know how you have 7 spatulas, but only one that you look for each time you cook? This is the one I am always reaching for.
I’ve never in my life owned a spoon rest, but I couldn’t resist this one when I saw it at Heath Ceramics a few weeks ago. I don’t need to store it because it’s a beautiful cherry wood that will get a pretty patina over time and lives on my counter. Buy direct from Jonathan’s Spoons.
4-cup Pyrex measuring cup, classic kitchen workhorse. MIne’s in storage, and I couldn’t wait til I cleared out the unit, so I bought a new one—that’s how indispensable it is. Lately I’ve been using it for when I have to beat smaller amounts of egg yolks and sugar to the ribbon stage for cakes, or for making a 2-person sized batch of pancake batter. This 4-cup size is just the best.
FeFo Studio small pod bowl is the perfect size and shape for serving side dishes, it has a little spout at one end where you can pour from or rest a spoon, and it’s beautiful sitting empty on a shelf. They are handmade in NY by chef/ceramicist Fernando Aciar.
Besides being delicious, babka is complicated. I wanted the chocolate babka flavor and texture, but in a recipe that I could whip up in less time than a watching a full season of the Sopranos. I started with my Sour Cream Coffee Cake and made a few tweaks to the recipe. The chocolate filling that is normally spread over the whole babka dough, rolled up, and carefully shaped and cut open to reveal the layers, is simply spooned in alternating layers with coffee cake batter, with extra on top and finished with walnuts. When baked, the layers inside have a ribboned effect, and the chocolate and nut combination on top bakes into almost a confection that adds a layer of crunchy/chewy contrast to the cake.
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