Category: Pastry

What’s the difference between the two? asks reader Laura. Since they both originate in the same place, there really shouldn’t be much difference. However a baba is generally recognized as a small, cylindrical cake that may contain candied fruit, and may not be doused in rum syrup. A babka has come to mean something rather different. It’s also made from a yeast-leavened dough, but it’s a single large cake, usually ring-shaped, and usually filled with some sort of candied or dried fruit filling. Or at least that’s how Central European Christians interpret it.

What’s the difference between the two? asks reader Claire. There’s no question that the two are very similar, reader Claire. Both are yeast-leavened and both are quite buttery. However there is a difference between them, and that has to do with how much egg they contain. A typical baba is much eggier, which makes it lighter, more cake like and a good deal more crumbly.

It’s a grandmother. Or an old lady. That’s what “baba” means in Ukrainian, Russian and Polish, or so I understand. What does a tall, cylindrical shape have to do with a grandmother? That’s a very good question, for indeed for much of their history, baba molds were extremely tall things. It’s said that in imperial […]

I’m planning on doing a NOLA-style kings’ cake for mardi gras next month, and am trying to locate something close to a definitive recipe. I have it on good authority that the real deal came from a bakery called McKenzie’s that is now out of business. Anyone who knows where I might be able to […]

Central Europe is a cozy place to be this time of year, so the way I see it, why not stay? But wait, you might say, isn’t baba au rhum a French thing? Indeed it has come to be known as French, but in truth the baba (babka) originated well to the east of there. It took the French to completely soak the baba in alcohol, and for that we shall be forever grateful. But we can’t allow that to distract us from the truth:

Several questions and comments came in over the weekend on cheese for blintzes. Isn’t “real” farmers’ cheese the best? Can you use ricotta? Can cottage cheese really be considered “authentic?” Personally, the main thing I look for when choosing a cheese for blintzes is texture. I want something that’s flavorful of course, but even more […]