Babka is a sweet leavened cake popular in Eastern Europe, often topped with rum and raisins, and traditionally eaten at Easter. It can be found in European and Jewish bakeries, or made at home with various fillings. Babas au rum are similar, but smaller and soaked in rum. Babka can be molded into different shapes and can be made without rum for a family-friendly version.
Babka is described in many ways and her origins tend to be obscured. Some argue that babka is a classic Czech coffee cake, while others call it a traditional Polish cake. What is known is that babka is a sweet leavened cake, popular in most of Eastern Europe, which is topped with rum, studded with raisins and considered a traditional Easter treat.
There’s no reason to wait for Easter if you want to try a babka. If you have a good European bakery nearby, you will probably find bread/coffee cake available most of the year. Although babka is a celebratory food associated with Passover, also check out good Jewish bakeries and delicatessens, as many Jews from Eastern Europe also make the cake.
You can also make your own babka. Many recipes suggest mixing and letting the babka dough rise in a bread maker, before shaping it and rising again before baking. Of course, you can also make babka by hand, especially if you’re an expert with dough. You’ll need to finish and shape the dough outside of a bread maker if you plan to add fillings.
You will find babkas with numerous fillings including chocolate or cream cheese. These are not traditional babka fillings but are enjoyed nonetheless. More traditionally, the babka is filled with cinnamon. This may sometimes be known as the “lesser babka”.
A dessert related to babka is babas au rum. These are golf ball-sized cakes, leavened with yeast that can often be purchased in tins, where they are stored soaked in rum. You can find them frequently in grocery stores, and if you plan to serve them for dessert, you can delight guests or family members with their presentation. They are often served flambéed to burn off the extra rum. These mighty little cakes enjoyed a brief surge in popularity in the United States in the 1970s and are once again becoming popular dessert items in the 2000s.
Babka can be molded into various shapes. Loaves, bagels and round cakes are all considered acceptable. If you’re not interested in adding rum to the cake, that’s totally fine. There are many recipes that don’t call for rum, which is usually added as a flavoring to the icing. When rum is added directly to the cake recipe, it will cook down to a certain point, but in the icing, it tends to be quite strong and may not be a great choice for children. You should note that most recipes don’t include rum, and a plain white diluted icing is a perfectly acceptable alternative so that everyone in the family can enjoy the cake.
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