My Danish Drømmekage Babka

From the moment I thought of this blog, even before I had all the details, it was clear to me: this is the first pastry I would share with you. This recipe best captures my passion for combining three of my greatest loves — baking, Copenhagen and people.

For me this is a creation that embodies the essence of my connection with baking, and with Copenhagen and Danish culture, and with the people who play such a significant role in my life. The recipe itself is based on my grandmother’s family recipe for yeast cakes, also known as babkas, especially among immigrants from Eastern Europe, mainly Poland. It’s a fairly simple pastry, just a few ingredients, but endless opportunities for variation.

My grandmother used to fill the cakes with an Israeli chocolate spread called “Hashachar Ha'ole״, a very fatty spread that only added to the richness of the pastry itself. Each cake was packed with the spread, whose richness made the dough feel like a rich brioche, even though originally it was baked with butter substitutes.

As I grew up, she taught me how to bake the babkas myself - from making the dough, to the filling and braiding, to baking and finally glazing them with syrup. After completing my pastry chef education, I began to experiment with the pastry in various ways. I went back to using butter. I experimented with various fillings, various forms of braiding, and different sizes of cakes. Today, I have about 10 different variations, each one tastier than the next.

As for the Drømmkage (Dream cake in Danish), I got acquainted with it by a Danish-Israeli store owner for whom I worked a while after we moved to Copenhagen. Drømmkage is a classic soft Danish cake, made of a fluffy vanilla sponge with a toffee-coconut layer on top, which gives it a sweet taste and moist texture. If you are a coconut lover (like me!), you would love the combination of a simple sponge and a crazy-good coconut layer with a punch.

So how was this fusion born? Completely by chance!

One afternoon, I was sitting with a friend in a cafe in the city center, not far from the Danish Parliament. We were chatting when an older tourist couple walked in. They had an unmistakable Jewish–New York accent and just wanted coffee and a pastry to recharge after a long day of sight-seeing. By that time of day, most cafés have very few pastries - if any. All they had in their small glass box by the register was a few slices of Drømmkage. 

While my friend went to use the restrooms, I overheard the woman order coffee and asked if, by any chance, they had a yeast cake in the kitchen in the back. “You know, a babka?” The barista apologized and explained that all they have left are those slices of cake. The couple didn’t know the Danish cake and wondered what it was made of. It seemed like the barista was having a hard time explaining it, perhaps because her English wasn’t as good, and I felt the need to come to her aid.

I explained to the nice couple about the cake and added my warmest recommendation to try it, just as my friend came back. At the corner of my eye I could see that my recommendation was successful and that they enjoyed the coffee and cake. When I filled my friend in on what had happened, the idea hit me instantly — a babka with that caramelized coconut filling! No doubt that Danes would enjoy it just as much as a traditional Drømmkage.

From that point on, the road to a recipe was short. I took the basic dough from my grandmother’s original recipe, with all the adaptations I had made over the years. I took the recipe for the filling from that former employer who introduced it to me and after a few trials and adjustments, I was ready to test it out on friends and colleagues.

What can I say? It was a success — and one that quickly won the Danes over.

Drømmekage Babka - The Recipe

This recipe makes 4 loaves in a 30 x 10 cm English cake tin. This may sound like a lot, but  trust me - it will be gone in no time.

Ingredients

For the dough:

1000g Plain white flour

4 Eggs

75g Sugar

50g Yeast (or 17g dried instant yeast)

200g Unsalted butter at room temperature, cut into cubes

A dash of salt

1 cup Lukewarm / cold water

For the filling:

250 Unsalted butter, cut into cubes

100ml Milk

400g Dark Moskovado sugar

200g Desiccated coconut

For the sugar syrup:

75g Sugar

100g Water

Method

1. Place all the dough ingredients (except the water) in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, and start mixing until the eggs break apart. Gradually add the water and keep kneading until the dough is smooth and cohesive and the sides of the bowl are clean. At this point, I transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead it by hand, stretching and folding, until it is completely smooth. Transfer to a floured bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise until doubled in size.

2. While the dough is rising, make the sugar syrup by bringing the sugar and water to a gentle boil, making sure that all the sugar has dissolved. Then, set aside to cool completely.

3. Make the filling by melting the butter in a saucepan. When the butter has almost melted completely, add the milk and bring to a light simmer before adding the sugar and letting it dissolve to a rich, dark syrup. Remove from the heat and mix in the coconut, until you get a uniform spread, then set aside, covered, to cool to room temperature.

   
   

   

4. Once the dough has risen enough, preheat the oven to 170℃ (340℉), using the fan or convection setting. Line the tins with baking parchment.

5. Divide the dough into 4 equal parts and start with one part, while the others rest covered under the plastic wrap or a lightly moistened tea towel. On a floured surface, roll the dough into a rectangle, about 30 X 20 cm and 3 mm thick. Spread a quarter of the filling on top of the dough, keeping a distance of 1 cm from the edges and then roll it into an even roll. Cut the roll along its length into 2 parts and set them perpendicular to each other. Then, twist them together like a braid, tuck in the edges and transfer to a baking tin.
   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

6. Bake the babkas in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes. They’re ready when puffed, golden brown, and filling the kitchen with an irresistible aroma. If you bake on several trays in parallel like I do, I recommend switching between trays and rotating them mid-bake, to ensure a uniform bake.

7. Brush the cakes generously with the syrup while still hot. Use it all — the glaze not only gives a shiny finish, but also helps keep the babkas fresh for longer.

Tips & Tricks to Make a Difference

• The dough can be prepared either the night before (with shaping and baking the next day) or on the same day. If you do it the night before, use all cold ingredients and leave the dough to rise in the fridge overnight (about 8 hours). If you make the dough on the same day with room-temperature ingredients, the rising time is significantly shorter and could be about 2 hours at room temperature or 4 hours in the fridge.

• You can use salted butter but then omit the added salt.

• I divide the risen dough and the filling into 4 equal parts using a scale. It might come across as pedantic or too much, but it contributes to an equal and uniform result across all cakes.

• I try to roll the dough and even stretch it out into as rectangular a shape as possible. This helps to create an even log once the dough is rolled up with the filling.

• The cakes should be kept in an airtight container or wrapped tightly in plastic wrap or aluminum foil to prevent drying. If a cake was not covered well and dried up, microwave it for 30–60 seconds to restore its moisture.

• The cakes can be kept for 4-5 days, provided they are well wrapped. Most likely, they’ll be long gone by then!

• The cakes can be frozen (well wrapped) for up to 2 months. Simply thaw at room temperature for 4–8 hours before serving - perfect for unexpected guests when you don’t have time to bake.

• You can vary the filling as you like, but I recommend experimenting to find the right amount and texture. Too little filling and the babka will feel more like sweet bread (which isn’t a bad thing!). In my experience, 150–200 g of filling gives the best result, depending on the type.

I hesitated about sharing my babka recipe. At first, it felt like giving away a trade secret. But then I remembered: babkas are made with love — or not at all.

Who am I to deny the world such goodness? Bon Appétit!

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