Chocolate Babkabraided with cocoa filling
Enriched sweet bread, rolled out thin, covered with an intense cocoa paste, rolled up, sliced, and braided to create many spirals.
Chocolate babka relies on a sufficiently elastic enriched dough that can be rolled out without tearing. After spreading a concentrated cocoa paste, the dough log is sliced lengthwise and braided with the exposed layers; the final proof and baking unite the spirals without losing the pattern.
Ingredients
Dough
Dough and filling
Dough
Filling
Preparation
Knead the dough
Mix milk, eggs, 80 g sugar, yeast, flour, and salt; knead and gradually incorporate 80 g softened butter until smooth.
20 minutesFirst fermentation
Cover and let rise for 90 minutes; chill for 30 minutes to firm the butter.
120 minutesPrepare and spread the filling
Mix 100 g sugar, cocoa, and 80 g melted butter until forming a paste; roll dough into a rectangle and spread filling leaving edges clear.
15 minutesRoll, slice, and braid
Roll along the long side, chill for 15 minutes, slice the log lengthwise in half, and braid with cut sides up.
20 minutesProof and bake
Place in a pan, proof for 45 minutes, and bake at 180 °C for 40 to 45 minutes until the center is cooked.
45 minutes
Substitutions
Dutch-processed cocoa results in a darker color; filling with chopped chocolate creates a different texture and requires a separate ingredient listing.
Storage
Once cooled, keep well wrapped at room temperature; freeze individual slices for longer storage.
Approximate shelf life: Up to 3 days at room temperature or 30 days frozen.
Nutrition values are estimates and may vary by brand, substitution and actual yield.
