I’m not usually a huge fan of sweets, but since moving to New York a few years ago, I have enjoyed my share of the local babka. If you’re not familiar with babka, you’re missing out! It’s yeasted and braided, similarly to challah, then sweetened and intermingled with a filling, often chocolate or cinnamon sugar, and baked into a loaf. The texture is both gooey and fluffy, kind of like a cinnamon roll. The version I’m sharing with you today is a variation on chocolate babka. It has some black sesame paste and toasted sesame oil mixed in with the dark chocolate. That way, you still have that striking color contrast, but the chocolatey goodness is accented with the nuttiness of the sesame. I loved it even more than the classic chocolate babka and am excited to share it with you!
A quick introduction to my pastry chef
Here I want to quickly introduce my new team member, Emily Drucker (@_embrulee). Emily has been a Pastry Chef for over a decade in some of NYC’s best restaurants and was featured on Chopped: Sweets Showdown. She also runs an Instagram based micro-bakery, (@dirtybirdsweetsnyc), where you can order customized cakes delivered to your doorstep. She is currently in school for neuropsychology. Emily helps me develop and test sweets and bakery recipes. For this Christmas, we decided to make this black sesame babka to celebrate the holiday.
Black sesame babka ingredients
The black sesame babka includes three parts: the dough, the filling, and the syrup.
Dough ingredients
For the dough, you will need:
All-purpose flour Yeast Whole milk Dry milk powder Butter Sugar Salt Lemon zest Eggs Vanilla extract
We used the dry milk powder here because it extends the shelf life of the babka, and you can store it at room temperature for 3 to 4 days.
Filling ingredients
The black sesame and chocolate filling is what makes this babka stand out! It uses:
Black sesame seeds Honey Sesame oil Dark chocolate Heavy cream Sugar Butter Salt Vanilla extract
The sesame seeds and sesame oil add a very fragrant and nutty flavor, which goes perfectly with the dark chocolate. In fact, the filling was so good that we snacked a ton while shooting the recipe. And we planned to make some more baked goods and sweets using the same ingredients, because they’re too good to only be used once!
The syrup
The syrup contains four simple ingredients:
Sugar Water Vanilla extract Sesame oil
It might look like a lot at the beginning, but it’s very important and is what gives the black sesame babka that irresistible gooey texture.
How to make black sesame babka
Making black sesame babka involves three stages:
Prepare the dough
Once the dough is made, you should let it rise twice. The first time, the dough will rise about 30%. Then you will punch it down and briefly knead it. It will double during the second rise. (You can see how the dough changes in the pictures below.)
Make the sesame filling
Assemble the black sesame babka
This step is the messiest part of the recipe, because the filling will spill all over your workspace. When we were shooting this recipe in my home studio, we were running short on time and didn’t take the time to chill the filled dough before shaping it into babka. So we got a pretty messy counter and a lot of filling spilled over. I highly recommend you chill the dough (once you fill it) until it firms up, which will make the braiding process a lot easier. But, do not worry even if the filling spills out a bit. The babka will be totally OK once it’s in the loaf pan. The exposed / spilled filling will caramelize in the oven and taste even more divine!
Bake the babka
Once you assemble the babka, you need to let it rest again before baking. After baking, finish it up by drizzling the syrup into the loaf pan. It will look like a lot of syrup at first, but it will give the babka that heavenly moist, gooey texture.
Afterthought
Making black sesame babka definitely requires a big chunk of time and it’s a nice weekend project. However, the result is so rewarding. It is hard to resist not eating the whole loaf of babka with just the two of us once it’s finished. It is also the perfect holiday sweet to share with family and friends. I hope you give this one a try!
More delicious baking recipes
Fluffy Monkey Bread with Jujube Syrup Soft Cinnamon Rolls with Sesame Pineapple Buns (Bolo Bao) Chinese Almond Cookies Hong Kong Egg Tart (港式蛋挞)
The dough in this recipe is adapted from a Melissa Clark recipe.
