Alternative names Bobka, baba, kulich | Type Cake | |
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Region or state Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Macedonia (FYROM), Albania, Romania Similar Dessert, Gugelhupf, Mazurek, Makowiec, Sweet roll | ||
Babka, also known as Kulich (Cyrillic: Кулич), is a sweet yeast cake.
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Christian version
Babka is a spongy, brioche-like yeast cake made mainly in Central and Eastern Europe. It is traditionally baked for Easter Sunday in Ukraine, Poland, Russia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, and Albania, and for the major holidays (Christmas, Easter, New Year, Pentecost) in Romania. Traditionally it does not have any filling, and is glazed with a vanilla- or chocolate-flavored icing and decorated with almonds or candied fruit, sometimes with rum added.
Jewish version
Another version of babka is associated with the Eastern European Jewish tradition. This babka is made from a doubled and twisted length of yeast dough and is typically baked in a high loaf pan. Instead of a fruit filling the dough contains cinnamon and/or chocolate. The babka is usually topped with streusel. A similar cake called a kokosh is also popular in Jewish bakeries. Kokosh also comes in chocolate and cinnamon varieties, but it is lower and longer than babka, is not twisted, and not topped with streusel.
Babka of this style has become popular in North American cities with large Jewish populations, including Montreal, New York, Chicago, Miami, and Toronto.
Soviet-Bloc Jews also refer to babka as a kind of fried spaghetti cake, made with eggs, salt, pepper, and thinly sliced onion. Other cultures may refer to this as noodle kugel or Lokshen.
Etymology
The Polish and Belarusian noun babka and the Belarusian, Ukrainian, and Russian baba means "grandmother," and as applied to the pastry probably refer to its shape, a tall cylinder, sometimes with corrugations resembling a skirt’s pleats. The name of the pastry entered the English from Polish, via French, although "babka" is also sometimes used in its original sense ("grandmother"), especially among those of Central and Eastern European descent.
Depiction in media
In the Seinfeld episode The Dinner Party, Jewish protagonist Jerry Seinfeld and his female friend Elaine Benes miss out on the last chocolate babka, which they wanted to buy, while at a bakery. They resort to purchasing a cinnamon babka, which Elaine considers a "lesser babka," but Jerry begs to differ.
In the Orphan Black episode History Yet to Be Written (Season 3, Episodes 10), Helena bakes a babka cake to celebrate Allison's electoral victory. Amongst the Clone Club and their allies, Helena appears to be the only person who knows what a babka cake is.
In the second episode of The Nanny (Smoke Gets Caught In Your Lies), Fran and Maxwell bring babka to Yetta at her retirement home; which later backfires at the episode's end, after all the people in her home surround them, causing Maxwell to throw the babka towards the hungry crowd.