Bopcha's Babka Blog

Hello Babka Lovers! Today we have 2 Babkas to taste. I happened upon these 2 babkas while shopping at Best Market. They were $4.99 a piece.   Greens Bakery in Brooklyn. I had tasting help from Jon this time . There was cinnamon and there was chocolate. First, the chocolate. It looked good. However, there was not much chocolate taste. It was mainly sweet. Just an overall sugar taste.  Disappointing!!! It looks like it should be delicious!! Doesn't it?  I mean, The swirls? The lovely layers? Looks can be deceiving.  We know that! On to the Cinnamon.  Now you know, I am not the biggest fan of the cinnamon babka. I much prefer the chocolate. Okay. Now, this cinnamon babka was good! Looks good, right? Nice layering. Good swirls. It tasted good! Yes, Greens make a good cinnamon babka. But they should work on their Chocolate. Here they are side by side.  The ratio of cinnamon to cake is better that the chocolate ratio....

Well it has been awhile! The "holidaze" got to me. But Bopcha is back with a great addition to the blog. The fantastic vegan baker Maritza topped off our holiday dinner with her homemade vegan babka! YES! Homemade vegan babka! Here is how it all began....after many hours of proofing the dough, it was rolled out and the chocolate filling layered in. After this, it is rolled and the topping applied. Here comes the hard part: the dough is folded and then twisted. More topping is applied and then the babka is placed in the loaf pan to bake. Here is how it looked coming out of the oven. Doesn't it look fantastic!!!  A lot of work. And guess what?  It was devoured in about 10 minutes. Some spontaneous quotes from the tasters: "ultimate babka" "gimme that hot babka" "best babka I ever ate" " Fluffy, yet crisp: robust" "savory", "molten" "delectably moist" "I'm from Brooklyn ...

Hello Babka Lovers!! So I received this photo from one of my blog followers: A round cheese babka??  This was a new variation of babka for me . But as always, I am game for any new babka. So my fellow babka enthusiast saved some of this babka for me to taste. The label read: Backiel's Lithuanian Bake . The Bakery with the European Style. Here's what it looked like inside: Not much of a babka you say? I agree. It does not look like a babka to me. There were no layers for starters. There was no visible cheese to speak of. And do you see those little brown spots?? RAISINS ! TWO raisins. But lets talk about taste because that is the most important criteria. Well, babka friends, it was an ordinary pound cake. And by ordinary I suggest that  Sara Lee offers a better pound cake. Backiel should hang their head in shame.  They have nerve using the word babka. But as we move along in our lives we shall no doubt encounter lesser babkas as wel...

Trader Joe's Brooklyn Babka Okay. If you have never tried Trader Joe's Babka you are really missing something.   It comes in a plastic wrap.  It has chocolate chips covering the top. It is quite lovely to look at. One draw back is the cardboard wrapping around the babka. The slices tend to stick to the bottom and pull apart. However, look at that layering!!! I invited two babka loving friends to sample this babka with me, Maria and Jon. Maria offered us chai tea  that went with a slice quite nicely. The babka was top notch. It is called Brooklyn Babka, but who knows if it's really from Brooklyn. But it sure tastes like it should be! Maria commented, "Incredibly moist. A perfect ratio of deep chocolate to cake. The chips are unnecessary." Jon commented, "Yum." It flaked like it should and melted in your mouth. Here you can see how the babka tends to stick to t...

Hello!  Happy Babka Wednesday! The clip below is one of my favorite episodes from Seinfeld.  The Babka episode. A short clip is below. Also included is a quote from Jerry that expresses my exact feelings on carrot cake. Don't get me started on carrot cake!!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i78azsi7M94 What are your feelings on the subject of cinnamon versus chocolate babka? Here is Jerry's opinion.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNcrrwQwskw Enjoy your Wednesday!

Welcome to Bopcha's Blog! We will be studying and experiencing all kinds of Babka's. Mostly Chocolate, but we will have some occasions to taste Cinnamon Babkas. Babka: A cake of the Ashkenazi Jews of Eastern Europe filled with Chocolate and sometimes cinnamon. Babkas are a heavenly creation. I have made it a mission to try all the babkas I have occasion to come across. I will report my findings here. First Babka Ben's Kosher Restaurant. Mineola, New York. While having a lovely homemade potato knish at Ben's Kosher Restaurant yesterday, I saw that they offered babka on their dessert menu. As a babka fan, I had to try their version.  It arrived cold, hard and mostly frozen!!!!! I asked the waitress and she replied that it had been in the refrigerator. I asked if she could "warm it up".  Well she nuked it for a few minutes and it came back to my table warm  and deliciously moist. It was very chocolaty. There was a dark chocolate flavor. It turn...