babka

Chef Sue’s Chocolate Babka / Cinnamon Babka

Flakowitz Bakery.  If you lived in Jericho NY in the 1950’s-1970’s, it was the go-to bakery for delicious breads, cookies and cakes.  It was a bit of heaven.  My dad used to buy all kinds of delicious cakes from them: plum upside-down cakes to chocolate blackout cakes; marble cakes; taiglach (little balls of dough, maraschino cherries and walnuts baked with gooey honey glaze) baked especially for Jewish holidays; and of course, rye breads and challah.

One of my personal favorites was their chocolate babka.  It was super chocolatey and fragrant.  They didn’t offer cinnamon babka to my recollection, but other bakeries did and I loved both tastes.

So, when I started to bake, I decided to bake both kinds of babkas.  I worked on the recipes to make sure both had the kind of flavor and texture I remembered and still crave.  Marsha, my first taster for every recipe, made a few suggestions that I agreed with.  First, she suggested doubling up on vanilla for the dough.  And for the chocolate part, she suggested strongly that I not use nuts (walnuts). Finally, she thought a chocolate reinforcement of chocolate extract might be nice.

The results are as I intended.  The dough as well as both the chocolate filling and cinnamon filling are all delicious.

Give them both a try.  Yum!

INGREDIENTS - chocolate and Cinnamon babka

Dough for Both

All-Purpose Flour
Granulated Sugar
Active Instant Yeast
Eggs
Vanilla extract
Water
Kosher Salt
Unsalted Butter

Chocolate Filling

Bittersweet Dark Chocolate
Unsalted Butter
Confectioners’ Sugar
Dutch Cocoa Powder
Espresso
Granulated Sugar
Vanilla Extract
Chocolate Extract

Cinnamon Filling

Brown Sugar
Unsalted Butter
Korintje Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Kosher Salt

Glaze for Both

Water
Granulated Sugar

Jewish Apple Cake

Lottie Pierce, who was one of my parents’ dearest friends, was also someone I called “Aunt”.  Her mom Minnie (how cute is that name?!?) made a Jewish-style apple loaf cake that has haunted my memories since I was a little girl.  Filled with chunks of apples, held together with a lovely, light cake, it was simply scrumptious.  When I started to bake for myself and my friends, pre-internet, I looked for this recipe everywhere.  Sadly, Aunt Lottie and her daughter Rona had passed away; they had been my only hope.  I searched cookbooks.  I asked my mom who agreed with my memory of the cake but had never asked how it was made. She, like me, had collections of recipes and recipe books.  Gornisht. Nada.  Nothing.

And then during the COVID-19 quarantine, I looked at a few recipes that were close.  Polish Apple Cake.  Hungarian Apple Cake. Russian Apple Cake.  German Apple Cake. Heck even Irish Apple Cake.  They were all close but none said “this is it”.  I also joined a few FB food groups.  And one day ... a photo of a baked cake and recipe were posted that got my attention.  It looked like Minnie’s loaf cake.  So I copied it.  It was missing cinnamon and the almond topper but those were easy adjustments.  I upped the amount of vanilla too.  And ... Voilà ... “Minnie’s” Jewish Apple Cake came to life.

I baked it for my roommate and me to try.  Marsha doesn’t usually care for fruit-based cakes and it even made her sit up and sing.

I hope you love it as much as we do.

INGREDIENTS

Batter

Granny Smith Apples
Granulated Sugar
All-Purpose Flour
Korintje Cinnamon
Kosher Salt
Baking Powder
Eggs
Vegetable Oil
Orange Juice and Zest
Vanilla Extract

Topping

Brown Sugar
Korintje Cinnamon
Toasted Almond Slices

Irish soda bread and guinness brown bread

So, it turns out that this Jewish woman loves pubs.  Irish pubs and pub fare.  For birthdays, I get taken to pubs, which makes me so very happy.  And the best part, while I do cook with wine and beer, I don’t really drink most beers or most wines.  The only beer I do drink is a German grapefruit beer (not served at most Irish pubs) and for wines, German Rieslings, Moscato and Georgian/Russian semi-sweet red wines.  Hey nothing here is perfect, including me.  But I love the food and I love the atmosphere.  And I love that so many pubs feature live music (especially that of my friend Chris Brown with his band).  As a side note, and off point, Chris is the brilliant graphic artist, cartoonist and sculptor who created both my logo and also my roommate Marsha’s Glacier Agency, Inc. logo.

But I digress. 

My first memory of tasting soda bread was at a now defunct local restaurant called The Harp & Mandolin. It served Irish-American food, had a lovely Irish coffee, and a delicious bread basket.  I didn’t know what the bread I was loving was called.  I did know it was wonderful with a shmear of butter.  It was a little sweet and it had tiny raisins which I now know are currants.  It was fragrant and melted in my mouth.  It was absolutely lovely as an accompaniment to Shepherd’s Pie.

With the internet came access to looking up thousands of recipes.  For me it took a long time to narrow down the texture and taste of the soda bread I liked best and to create my own version, with caraway seeds and currants.  Now I bake it year-round for friends.

I first tried the Guinness Brown Bread at Tir Na Nog, a Manhattan-based Irish pub near my old office.  It was also slightly sweet with a curious taste which I found out was the hops in the beer.  I tried about 15 versions and was still unhappy with the results until one night when I was watching Recipe.TV and saw Chef Justin O’Connor who was the Executive Chef for Guinness Brewery in Ireland.  He demonstrated his recipe and bless him, he posted the recipe online.  I give him full credit for this fabulous recipe and along with my thanks. It is absolutely D.E.L.I.C.I.O.U.S.

I am proud to bake these to you.  I hope you will love them both as much as I do.

INGREDIENTS

Chef Sue’s Irish Soda Bread

All-Purpose Flour
Granulated Sugar
Baking Powder
Baking Soda
Kosher Salt
Unsalted Butter
Caraway Seeds
Currants
Buttermilk
Egg

Chef Justin O’Connor Guinness Brown Bread

All-Purpose Flour
10-Grain Flour
Oatmeal
Baking Soda
Brown Sugar
Unsalted Butter
Milk
Molasses
Guinness Draught Beer