More Babeczki – More Buns

I saw a baking tin recently whilst shopping – by the American company Nordic ware  – as it was at a greatly discounted price, I could not resist buying it.

I have similar tins bought from both Lidl and from Marks & Spencer and used these in previous recipes.

This one is much thicker and heavier.

Babka refers to the shape of the cake and babeczki are smaller – they are buns.

Babka and Babeczki

I tried our various recipes using this new tin and found it was rather difficult to get the babeczki – the buns – out of the tin and many just ended up being fed to the birds.

Cake Seeking Bird

One of a pair of large wood pigeons that come into my garden – looking for cake!

20170415_180808

At last I found two recipes that work well with this tin!

Tip

I have found that you have to grease the tins very well – I use melted butter and then I dust with dried Breadcrumbs (or you can use flour).

20170415_072934

Carrot Spice Babeczki

  • These are based on a recipe for carrot cake which I use and has  dark brown sugar  as one of its ingredients – this is very popular in Britain  where sugars made from sugar cane are readily available.
  • In Poland where sugar is made from sugar beet, white sugar is the norm in the shops.

Ingredients

  • 225g self raising flour
  • 1 teaspoon mixed spice ( I like the mixture from Marks & Spencer)
  • Grated rind of 1 orange
  • 150g of soft dark brown sugar
  • 150g of medium grated peeled carrots.
  • 2 eggs
  • 150ml of sunflower oil
  • 2 tablespoons of milk

Method

  • Grease and dried breadcrumb (or flour) the tin ... you might have some mixture left over – so use bun cases in bun tins for the remainder.
  • Pre-heat the oven to GM5 – 190°C.

 

20170415_071313

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Place the flour and the mixed spice into a large bowl.
  • Add the sugar (sometimes I have found that this sugar has a few lumps in it  – I mix these into the flour with my finger tips to remove them.)
  • Stir in the carrots and the orange rind.

20170415_072908

 

 

  • Make a well in the centre of the mixture and add the beaten egg, oil and milk.
  • Mix well together with a wooden spoon until the mixture is evenly blended.
  • Fill the tins around 2/3rds full.
  • Bake for around 15 to 18 minutes.

20170415_073426

 

 

 

  • Let them cool slightly, then, using a spatula ease the buns gently out of the tins.
  • Dust well with icing sugar.

Chocolate Babeczki

  • Here I have used the same recipe as for my Chocolate Babka with a slightly different recipe for the chocolate icing.
  • Evaporated milk is used for the cake and the icing – a very small tin – 170g is enough for both.

20170415_143657

Ingredients – cake

  • 200g self raising flour
  • 2250g caster sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 25g cocoa powder
  • 200g butter or block margarine
  • 2 eggs
  • 75ml evaporated milk
  • 75ml water
  • 2 drops of vanilla essence

Method – cake

  • Grease and dried breadcrumb (or flour) the tin ... you might have some mixture left over – so use bun cases in bun tins for the remainder.
  • Pre-heat the oven oven to GM 4  – 180°C.
  • You need to use a large bowl for this cake mixture.
  • Rub the butter into the flour so that the mixture is like breadcrumbs.
  • Stir in the salt, sugar and cocoa powder.
  • Lightly beat the eggs and add the evaporated milk, the water and the drops of vanilla essence.
  • Stir the liquid mixture into the dry ingredients mixing thoroughly to give a thick batter.
  • Fill the tins around 2/3rds full.
  • Bake for around 15 to 20 minutes.
  • Let them cool slightly then using a spatula ease the buns gently out of the tins.
  • You can then dust with icing sugar or add an icing.

Ingredients – icing

  • 40g butter
  • 2 level tablespoons of cocoa
  • 2 tablespoons of evaporated milk
  • Around 180g icing sugar

Method – icing

  • Gently melt the butter in a small saucepan and add the cocoa, stirring continuously.
  • Remove from the heat and beat in the evaporated milk.
  • Beat in the icing sugar until the mixture is thick.
  • Pour the icing over the babeczki.

Babka

Babka is the name of a Polish cake.

Babka means grandmother and refers to the round dumpy shape reminiscent of an older lady wearing a long full skirt as is traditional in many Polish folk costumes.

Wooden Dolls in Polish Costumes

IMG_20160122_115232764

IMG_20160122_115446112 IMG_20160122_115431469 IMG_20160122_115339715 IMG_20160122_115323452 IMG_20160122_115312632

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are references to this cake in Poland in the early 18 century.

The early cakes will have been yeast cakes.

Later cakes were creamed sponge cakes and  then marbled (usually with cocoa powder) cakes  became very popular.

Yeast cakes are glazed with either warmed honey, a sugar and lemon glaze or poncz (derived from the English word – punch) which is a  sweetened syrup made with tea and rum.

At Easter a yeast babka is very traditional and it would also be covered in a thin icing glaze.

A creamed sponge babka  can be  made with wheat flour or a mixture of potato flour and  wheat flour.

Dried fruit such as currants, sultanas, raisins or candied peel can be added – just small amounts – this is not a heavy fruit cake!

Many are also iced or glazed with  a lemon or vanilla icing

The marbled cakes  are often coated with a runny  chocolate icing which is allowed to run down from the top.

Assorted Babka Tins

 

Yeast Babka with Raisins – Dusted with Icing Sugar

 

Creamed Sponge Babka

 

Marbled Babka

In other parts of Europe there are similar cakes such as Gugelhopf or Kugelhopf in southern Germany, Austria and Switzerland  and Bundkuchen in Northern Germany.

In Italy there is the panetonne – the name for this in Polish is włoska babka which means Italian babka.

In the 1950s Nordic Ware in the USA produced a tin which they trademarked as a Bundt  tin.

It is thought the name comes from a  Bundkuchen   – a cake for a large gathering in Northern Germany.

Babecki – small Babka cakes

IMG_20160112_170556139 IMG_20160112_170548279 IMG_20160111_150948880 IMG_20160111_170817391

 

Babecki – made in a new tin from Marks & Spencer – which they call a 12 cup mini Bundt tray.

IMG_20160117_155144747

IMG_20160117_162535255

 

The origin of baba au rhum or rum baba 

Legend has it that when Stanisław Leszczyński   (1677-1766) the exiled King of Poland was living in Lorraine in France (He was made Duke of Lorraine and Bar for his lifetime) he had acquired some (yeast) babka which turned out to be very dry. His pastry chef revived it by soaking it in a sugary rum liquid (very like the poncz they use in Poland). This became the start of baba au rhum in France. These  are usually done as small individual cakes nowadays. note

Dry babka will soak up more liquid than a freshly baked one – so if you are making this it is better to use cake at least a day old.

 Savarin

The savarin was invented in Paris in 1844 and was inspired by the baba au rhum but it is large cake made in a circular(ring) tin. In the centre it usually has fruit in syrup and whipped cream (this is not used in Polish cookery).

Recipes to Follow

Future posts are coming up shortly with recipes for the various types of babka – look out for these!

 

 

 

 

Makowiec – Poppy Seed Cake 4

A Very Easy Method

Weighing the poppy seeds

This cake is a more modern version as soft tub margarine is used and it is an all-in-one method which is so easy to do with an electric hand whisk.

I use either Flora original or Stork for baking – both of these have given good results.

Cake Ingredients

175g soft tub margarine for baking

225g self-raising flower

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

175g caster sugar

Grated rind of 2 lemons

3 eggs

3 tablespoon milk (full fat or semi-skimmed)

100g poppy seeds

Lemon Glaze Ingredients

Juice of 2 lemons

175g caster sugar

Pre heat the oven to Gas mark 4 – 1800C.

Make this as a tray bake in a tin about 31×22 cm.

I have a selection of Mermaid Hard Anodised rectangular baking tins and they are superb.

Grease the tin and use one piece of greaseproof paper to line the base and the two long sides of the tin.

Place all the ingredients except the poppy seeds into a large bowl and beat well for about 2 minutes until they are well blended.

Add the poppy seeds and beat till they are well mixed in.

Put the mixture into the tin and bake for about 30-35 minutes.

Leave to cool for about 5 minutes and release the cake from the tin and put on a cooling rack.

Mix the lemon juice and caster sugar to dissolve the sugar.

Prick the top in several places with a thin cake testing skewer.

Dribble the lemon glaze over the cake so the top in covered.

You can dust with icing sugar before serving.