King Cake Babka
When I was growing up in Arizona, king cake for Mardi Gras was not a popular tradition. As Catholics, we always celebrated Fat Tuesday, sometimes even adding colorful beads and feathered masks to our hearty meal and decadent dessert. But that was about as wild as the party ever got, and it wasn’t until I moved to the East Coast that I tasted my first king cake. For the past several years, I’ve enjoyed the king cake tradition the Tuesday before lent. I love the bright colors and the sweet, cinnamon-filled yeast cake. And of course, I love the game of finding the hidden baby.
This year I knew I wanted to make my own Mardi Gras king cake. As I was shuffling through and comparing recipes, I noticed a few common traits: yeasted cake, jelly-rolled filling, plaited dough, and of course the signature frosting and tricolored sprinkles. Apart from the topping, the king cake recipes struck me as highly familiar. And then it hit me! King cake was pretty much a babka, but with a fancy yellow, green, and purple Mardi Gras costume. Since babka is one of my absolute most favorite things, I couldn’t resist running with the idea. And thus, my king cake babka was born.
I have never lived in Louisiana, so I will not pretend that my king cake babka is even close to traditional, but I can affirm that it’s insanely delicious. I’ve taken the same butter enriched yeast dough recipe I use for my chocolate babka and replaced the cocoa filling with a cinnamon pecan swirl. The babkas are drizzled in syrup and then dressed up for the party with the traditional frosting and king cake color guard.
A few notes on this recipe. I really recommend that you use a stand mixer as the buttery dough is very sticky and needs a lot of kneading. I also believe the overnight proof in the fridge is critical to developing lovely flavor and making the dough more pliable for rolling. For the filling, you can leave out the pecans or replace them with a different nut if you would like. And finally, you can make this babka any time of year; simply leave off the colored sugars for a delicious cinnamon roll babka. Since the recipe yields two cakes, you could even have one for Mardi Gras, and freeze the other for a post lent break-fast on Easter Sunday.
Equipment:
Stand mixer
Food scale
2 9 in loaf pans
Large serrated knife/bread knife
Ingredients:
530g all-purpose flour
100g sugar + 2TBS sugar for filling + 260g sugar for syrup
2 tsp. SAF gold brand yeast
Grated zest of 1 lemon
3 large eggs
120ml water at 80º F+ 160ml water for syrup
150g unsalted utter at room temperature, cubed + 150g unsalted butter for the filling
Rounded 1/4 tsp. kosher salt
Canola oil for greasing
1 cup light brown sugar, divided in two
12 TBS. melted butter, divided in two
3 TBS. cinnamon, divided in two
1 cup raw pecans, roughly chopped & divided in two
2 TBS. sugar
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 tsp. lemon juice
2-3 TBS. warm water
Green, purple, and yellow decorating sugars
Method:
Make the dough. Measure out the flour, zest, yeast, and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Use a fork to thoroughly mix these together, and then load the bowl into the mixer. Add the eggs and 120ml of warm water, and use the dough hook to mix the dough on medium for about 4 minutes for the dough to come together. Continue to mix as you add the salt and then, one cube at a time, the 150g of room temperature butter. Wait to add additional cubes of butter until the previous one is mixed into the dough. You will need to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula and sprinkle flour around the edges several times to help the kneading process. Once all the butter is incorporated, continue to knead the dough on medium for 10-13 minutes until the dough forms into a smooth ball.
Place all of the dough into a large oiled bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. Leave it in the fridge overnight (8-16 hours) to proof.
The next morning prepare the loaf pans by greasing them with oil and lining the bottom with parchment paper.
Prepare the filling. Because you are making two cakes, keep the filling ingredients divided in two. Stir together 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1 1/2 TBS. cinnamon in one small bowl, and repeat in another small bowl with the remaining brown sugar and cinnamon. Have ready the melted butter (two separate containers of 6TBS. each) and the chopped pecans (two separate bowls each containing 1/2 cup).
Divide the dough into two equal parts. Store one in the refrigerator while you work with the other. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface. Your dough should be a rectangle about 11 inches long by 15 inches wide. Try to make the dough an even thickness and the edges as straight as possible. With the long side closest to you, spread about 4TBS of melted butter around the dough. Then top it with 1/2 cup chopped pecans and one of your sugar cinnamon mixtures. Spread the pecans and sugar evenly over the dough, but leave a border of about 1 inch around all sides, except the side closest to you. Spread the filling for that side right up to the edge to achieve a nice cinnamon spiral in the center of your cake. Pour the remaining 2TBS. of melted butter evenly over the filling. You can use an angled spatula or knife to even out the filling if needed. Then gently roll the dough up into a log starting from the side closest to you and moving up. Try to roll all along the log as evenly as possible. Once you get to the top, brush a bit of water along the top edge (where you left a border in the filling), and then continue to roll. The water helps to seal the seam. Gently push the two ends of your log in towards the center of the loaf to seal and massage the roll to make it a bit more even. Repeat for the second part of dough.
Cut and plait the cakes. Use a serrated knife to slice the roll in two. Position the halves so the filled layers are exposed, then pinch the two halves together at one end. From that end, lift the right half over the left, and then lift the new right half over the new left. You’re just gently plaiting the two dough halves all the way until you reach the next end. Once you get there, pinch the end again and lift the twisted cake into the prepared loaf pan and cover loosely with plastic wrap or a tea towel. Repeat for the second cake.
Allow the cakes to proof for 1 to 2 hours, until they have puffed and increased in size by about 30%.
Bake the cakes at 375ºF for 25-30 minutes or until the crust is golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (test the crumb, not the cinnamon filling).
While the cakes bake, make the syrup. Boil 160ml of water with 260g sugar. Once the sugar dissolves, remove the syrup and cool. Once you remove the cakes from the oven, immediately brush the syrup over the hot babka. Work incrementally, but be sure to use all of the syrup. Then leave the cakes to cool until just warm before removing from the pan.
Make the icing. Combine the powdered sugar, lemon juice, and enough water to reach your desired consistency. Drizzle or pipe the icing over your babkas and sprinkle immediately with the colored sugars. If you’d like, hide a plastic baby or two inside the cake.
Note: Babka can be wrapped and stored in the refrigerated for a week or frozen for several weeks. If you plan to freeze them, wait to ice them until after thawing to maintain a pretty appearance.
Recipe adapted from Yotam Ottolenghi’s “Chocolate Krantz Cakes” in Jerusalem: A Cookbook
