By Orly Gottesman
Desserts don’t get much better than chocolate babka, but most recipes for this beloved Jewish bake call for all-purpose flour — not helpful if you’re a celiac or don’t eat gluten. So I came up with this gluten-free babka recipe, which is just as sweet, gooey and indulgent as the original. Plus, this recipe can easily be made dairy-free, too, using your vegan butter and dairy-free milk of choice.
It may well be the chocolatiest chocolate babka recipe around. First, you have a moist chocolate filling, which you can customize to make as sweet as you like. Then, the babka is sprinkled with chocolate chips before baking. Once the babka is baked, the final touch is a melted chocolate drizzle.
If you’re feeling extra-indulgent, along with the chocolate chips, you can also top your babka with my simple and very useful crumb topping before baking. It adds an extra layer of texture and enhances the appearance of your baked goods — I use it for everything from babka to coffee cake, fruit crisps and muffins. Store the streusel topping in an airtight container in the freezer and use it as needed. Or, if you have any leftover gluten-free cookies or cake lying around, you can grind them into crumbs and top the babka with those crumbs instead.
Notes:
1. This recipe yields two chocolate babkas. You can bake them in loaf pans or roll them up into a cylinder and bake in round pans for something a little different.
2. I’d recommend using Blends by Orly Manhattan Blend Pastry Flour (made with millet and sorghum) or Blends by Orly Tuscany Blend Bread Flour for this recipe.
3. You can either freeze the whole babka or preslice it and freeze it in a freezer-safe Ziploc bag. After the babka is defrosted, I recommend wrapping in foil and heating in the oven, or you can heat individual slices in the microwave.
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