A Babka By Any Other Name

Whether you call it babka, “ugat sh’marim” or by its modern Israeli name “crunch,” this is a truly easy and brilliant dessert for busy Jewish cooks the world over.

It was Israel in the 1970’s. I was nine years old and we were visiting my maternal grandparents, as well as my many aunts and uncles that had made Aliyah from Morocco in the 1950’s. Sitting in the kitchen of my aunt Messody, I watched as she took a ball of dough and rolled it thin, spread it with jam and melted chocolate, rolled it into a tight log and placed it in a loaf pan. Half an hour later, hot out of the oven, that dough was puffed up into a tall log. It was completely crispy, golden and glossy on the outside and the inside was deliciously soft and chewy, delightfully streaked with melted chocolate.

Over the years, I often thought about my aunt’s “chocolate bread” and now I realize that she was making Babka.

As I started to research babka, I discovered that babka is a dessert that originated in Poland and Ukraine. The name comes from the word baba, which means grandmother. How sweet is that?

As I started to research babka, I discovered that babka is a dessert that originated in Poland and Ukraine. The name comes from the word baba, which means grandmother. How sweet is that?

Awhile back, I asked my cousin if she had her mother’s recipe for babka and she had no idea what I was talking about. That’s when I learned that in Israel, babka is called “ugat sh’marim” or yeast cake.

—Rachel

When I was a little girl, my mother would always bake cakes for Shabbat. Many times, she would reference her well worn Israeli cake recipe book. I can still picture the cover of the book, but I couldn’t tell you the name. At the time I couldn’t read Hebrew.

Sometimes she would make marble cake and I remember her carefully swirling the chocolate batter into the vanilla batter. My father had a very sweet tooth and he especially enjoyed this cake with his morning coffee.

Other times, she would make “ugat sh’marim” and the name of this cake would confuse me. I knew that “shomer” in Hebrew means guard, but had no idea that “sh’marim” meant yeast, so in my mind it was literally the “guard’s cake.” Thankfully, my Hebrew has improved with time.

Fast forward many years and now it’s my kitchen that is the scene of much action. Luckily, all three of my daughters are amazing helpers. But it’s my daughter Alexandra who especially loves to bake and dream up treats to serve family and friends.

On her recent visit home from college, between all the roasting of meats and vegetables, she kneaded some delicious light and fluffy challah dough. We braided some of it into challah and baked the rest into an orange and cardamom babka. We rolled the soft dough with a filling made with our favorite warm spices, orange zest, an oat milk butter and crispy, meaty walnuts. Then we drowned the dough with a glaze made from slowly melted sugar and freshly squeezed orange juice. The babka rose to glorious heights and it tasted absolutely scrumptious. (We know it was good because my mom took a slice home to have with her morning coffee!) Whether you call it babka, “ugat sh’marim” or by its modern Israeli name “crunch,” this is a truly easy and brilliant dessert for busy Jewish cooks the world over.

—Sharon

Babka Recipe

Filling
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp cinnamon
1 Tbsp ground cardamom
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 pinch salt
1/3 cup pareve butter
Zest of 1 whole orange

In a bowl combine the sugar, cinnamon, cardamom, vanilla extract, and salt. Add in the butter and orange zest and combine to form a paste.

Glaze
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup fresh orange juice

Combine the sugar and juice in a small pot over medium heat and bring to a low boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes until the sugar dissolves.

Remove from the heat and cool.

Dough
2 1/4 tsp yeast
2 Tbsp white sugar
1 cup warm water
2 large eggs
1/2 cup avocado oil
1/3 cup honey
1 Tbsp kosher salt
4 1/2 cups flour, plus more for dusting

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Grease a 9-inch round baking pan.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine yeast, sugar and water. Cover with a towel and allow to bloom for 10 minutes.

Using the hook attachment, mix the eggs, oil, honey and salt until mixture is smooth.

Slowly add the flour and knead to a smooth dough.

Cover with a towel and allow to rise in a warm place for 1 hour.

Lightly dust a work surface.

Remove the dough from the bowl and punch down and knead for two minutes.

Roll out the dough and spread the filling.

Roll the dough into a log. Using a sharp knife, slice the log down the middle.

Arrange the babka dough in the pan and bake for 35 minutes and tent with foil. Bake for another 10-15 minutes until fully baked.

Remove from oven and pour the glaze over the babka.

Let cool and serve.

Sharon Gomperts and Rachel Emquies Sheff have been friends since high school. The Sephardic Spice Girls project has grown from their collaboration on events for the Sephardic Educational Center in Jerusalem. Follow them
on Instagram @sephardicspicegirls and on Facebook at Sephardic Spice SEC Food.