Babies, babies, babies are everywhere.
This baby boom started almost a year ago with my friend Marsha, when her son, Marco, was born. Then came the next-door neighbor with her son, Andrew. Many babies later this boom was capped off with my friends Tania and Shelly, and their sets of twins who were born in the last two weeks: Noa, Nathan, Emma and Elie.
In the Jewish tradition, babies are welcomed into the community with a brit milah or a naming. Through this significant lifecycle event, the Jewish community surrounds its newest members and shows its responsibility to them. Bread and wine are cutomarily present, but it’s my own custom to bring a challah, a tangy and sweet lemon cake or a rich, chocolaty babka.
Chocolate Almond Babka | Serves 12 to 16
4 cups flour
1 tsp. fine sea salt
1/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 tsp. yeast
4 oz. unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cup warm milk
2 eggs, beaten
1 Tbs. vanilla extract
4 oz. melted butter
Put the flour and salt in a large bowl or in the bowl of an electric mixer. Stir with a wooden spoon or use the dough hook of the electric mixer. Make a well in the center and add the sugar and the yeast. Stir for 30 seconds. While continuing to stir or with the machine running, add the melted butter and the warm milk. Add the beaten eggs and vanilla. Knead for 15 minutes by hand or 5 minutes by machine, adding up to 1⁄2 cup more flour as needed. Knead until the dough is no longer sticky.
Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover tightly with lightly oiled plastic wrap and allow to rise until doubled in size.
Punch the dough down and divide it in half. Roll out on a floured board to a rectangle, about 1/4-inch thick. Spread the rectangle with some melted butter. Sprinkle with half of the filling mixture. Roll up tightly, like a jellyroll. Twist the rolled up dough around to form a spiral, and then place in a greased bundt pan. Repeat the process with the second half of the dough. Add the second spiral to the one in the pan. Brush with more melted butter. Cover and allow to rise to the top of the pan.
Bake the babka in a preheated 350-degree oven for 35 to 45 minutes. Loosen the babka from the bottom of the pan. Remove when cool enough to handle.
Filling Mixture:
4 oz. almond paste
2 oz. unsalted butter
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup chopped toasted almonds
8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped
Beat the almond paste until softened and add in the butter and sugar. Beat in the chopped almonds and chocolate.
Lemon Tea Cake | Serves 8 to 10
4 oz. unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
zest of 1 lemon
2 1/2 cups unbleached white flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 cup milk
For the glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 Tbs. lemon juice
Cream together the butter and the sugar. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each one. Stir in the lemon juice and lemon zest.
In another bowl, combine the flour, and baking powder. Stir one third of the flour mixture into the butter mixture. Then add half of the milk. Add a third more flour, then the rest of the milk, then the rest of the flour. Beat well, but do not over mix.
Pour the batter into a loaf pan and bake in the center of a preheated 350-degree oven until a skewer comes out clean, about 45 minutes.
Let bread cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then take out of the pan and let cool on a wire rack. Mix together the glaze ingredients, and when the cake is thoroughly cool, pour the glaze over. Slice and serve.
Rebecca Ets-Hokin is a Bay Area cooking teacher and food professional. Her columns alternate with those of Louise Fiszer. Questions and recipe ideas can be sent to j. or to [email protected].