Babka (cake)
Easter babka
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| Alternative names | Bobka, baba, kulich |
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| Type | Cake |
| Region or state | Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania, Romania |
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Babka, also known as Kulich (Cyrillic: Кулич), is a sweet yeast cake.
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.
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.
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Wikipedia