Thursday, July 25, 2013

Summer Babka

 This is one of my favourite cake. Babka is made mainly in Eastern Europe, traditionally baked for Easter.
It's swirly brioche-like with a filling of chocolate or cinnamon. 
Mine it's a variation on the theme, with a summer flavor. I used ricotta and raspberry jam for the filling.





Ingredients:

3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup + 2 Tsp sugar
 25 g fresh yeast (3 tsp dried baking yeast)
3 1/4 cup flour
2 egg + 1 yolk
150 g butter

for the filling:
300 g ricotta
3 Tbsp sugar
100 g raspberry jam
80 g chocolate chip



How to


Melt the yeast in the warm milk and 2 tsp sugar and let rest for some minutes. Add 1/2 cup flour, eggs, egg yolk and the remaining sugar. Add the flour, 1/2 cup at a time, alternating with the soften butter. The batter will be very sticky. Let rise for at least 3 hours.
Divide the dough in two and roll it into 2 rectangles of 45x25 cm.
Prepare the filling beating ricotta and sugar. Set jam and chocolate aside.

Spread the dough first with a layer of ricotta, then add scoops of jam and half chocolate chip.

Starting from the short side, roll the rectangle over the filling to create a swirl.






Put the babka in a plumcake tin and bake at 180° for 40 minutes.
Let cool.










Cinnamon Babka




Chocolate Babka

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Lavender, apricot and ricotta cake



Ingredients


250 g dried apricots
2 Tbsp Cointreau
2 Tbsp sugar
125 ml boiling water

125g butter
125g sugar
300g flour
200g ricotta
3 eggs
2 tsp baking powder
vanilla bean, split
2 Tbsp fresh lavender flowers


How to


Boil water with Cointreau and 2 Tbsp sugar. Pour over the dried apricots and let rest for 15-20 minutes. Put them in the blender until rughly chopped.

Prepare the cake batter: beat butter, vanilla and sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time. Add flour and baking powder. Finally add the ricotta and mix roughly. Put the batter in a 20 cm baking tin, lined with packment paper, and cover the surface with the apricots.
Bake at 180° for 20 minutes, then put over the cake some foil to prevent the surface from burning. Let bake for another 25 minutes.







Buried in water