Isadora: July 2013

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Summer Babka

This is one of my favourite cake. Babka is made mainly in Eastern Europe, traditionally baked for Easter.

It's swirly brioche-like with a filling of chocolate or cinnamon.

Mine it's a variation on the theme, with a summer flavor. I used ricotta and raspberry jam for the filling.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup milk

1/2 cup + 2 Tsp sugar

25 g fresh yeast (3 tsp dried baking yeast)

3 1/4 cup flour

2 egg + 1 yolk

150 g butter

for the filling:

300 g ricotta

3 Tbsp sugar

100 g raspberry jam

80 g chocolate chip

How to

Melt the yeast in the warm milk and 2 tsp sugar and let rest for some minutes. Add 1/2 cup flour, eggs, egg yolk and the remaining sugar. Add the flour, 1/2 cup at a time, alternating with the soften butter. The batter will be very sticky. Let rise for at least 3 hours.

Divide the dough in two and roll it into 2 rectangles of 45x25 cm.

Prepare the filling beating ricotta and sugar. Set jam and chocolate aside.

Spread the dough first with a layer of ricotta, then add scoops of jam and half chocolate chip.

Starting from the short side, roll the rectangle over the filling to create a swirl.

Put the babka in a plumcake tin and bake at 180° for 40 minutes.

Let cool.

Cinnamon Babka

Chocolate Babka

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Lavender, apricot and ricotta cake

Ingredients

250 g dried apricots

2 Tbsp Cointreau

2 Tbsp sugar

125 ml boiling water

125g butter

125g sugar

300g flour

200g ricotta

3 eggs

2 tsp baking powder

vanilla bean, split

2 Tbsp fresh lavender flowers

How to

Boil water with Cointreau and 2 Tbsp sugar. Pour over the dried apricots and let rest for 15-20 minutes. Put them in the blender until rughly chopped.

Prepare the cake batter: beat butter, vanilla and sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time. Add flour and baking powder. Finally add the ricotta and mix roughly. Put the batter in a 20 cm baking tin, lined with packment paper, and cover the surface with the apricots.

Bake at 180° for 20 minutes, then put over the cake some foil to prevent the surface from burning. Let bake for another 25 minutes.