This gluten free babka from Simply Pesach and Beyond goes on your must-bake list this Pesach.
Editor’s Note: After Renee Muller styled the photos for Rivky Kleiman’s Simply Pesach and Beyond, she told the rest of us, “We must feature the Meltaway Babka on Between Carpools. Rivky is a genius.” She had tasted it, and we trust her, so this is going on our Pesach bake list as well! For Rivky’s Sesame-Less chicken recipe for Pesach, see this post.
As I was growing up, my Erev Shabbos routine included going to the bakery to get my Zaidy’s standing order for his shul. The mouthwatering aroma that greeted me a block before is still with me to this day. The aroma of this “one for now and one for later” recipe brought me back in time… my house smelling like a bakery!
Meltaway Babka
Servings: 2 loaves
Ingredients
- 4 eggs
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- ½ cup oil
- ¾ cup orange juice
- 1 ½ cups almond flour
- 1 ½ cups potato starch
- 1 pkg instant vanilla pudding
- 1 tsp baking powder
Streusel:
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ cup almond flour
- ½ cup potato starch
- 1 tbsp vanilla sugar
- ¼ cup oil
Chocolate Filling:
- ¾ cup sugar
- ⅓ cup cocoa powder
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- ¼ cup oil
- ⅓ cup boiling water
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat 2 (10×4½-inch) loaf pans with cooking spray.
- Prepare the streusel: In a medium bowl, combine streusel ingredients. Mix until a loose crumb consistency forms. Sprinkle ¼ cup crumbs into each pan. Reserve remaining streusel for the topping.
- Prepare the babka batter: In a large bowl, combine eggs, sugar, and oil. Whisk until thick and light yellow in color. Add remaining babka ingredients, whisking until completely smooth.
- Prepare the chocolate filling: In a medium bowl, whisk together chocolate filling ingredients until a smooth and pourable consistency has been reached.
- Pour one-quarter of the babka batter over crumbs in each loaf pan. Pour one-quarter of the babka filling over the batter in each pan. Use a knife to cut through the batter and marbleize the filling. Pour remaining batter over the marbleized batter in each pan, dividing it evenly. Pour remaining babka filling evenly over the batter. Top with remaining streusel.
- Place loaf pans on a metal baking sheet; bake for 60 minutes.The metal baking sheet conducts heat and ensures that the babkas bake evenly. Use a toothpick to test for doneness. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean.
Is there a substitute for vanilla pudding for Pesach?
How can I adjust the cook time if not placing on a metal baking sheet (I don’t have)? Or is this one recipe I’ll need to skip if I don’t have a metal baking sheet?
any idea if cud sub more potato starch + vanilla sugar if don’t use the pudding pesach?
any idea if cud sub potato starch + van sugar for the pudding?
Same here; would love to know if what I can sub in place of the pudding for pesach
They sell KFP pudding. It is artificial but I assume that’s what they used to test the recipe.
Homemade Pudding Powder:
1 cup potato starch (as a Passover-friendly thickener)
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla powder (you can also use kosher-for-Passover vanilla extract if you can find it)
A pinch of salt
This mix will help mimic the consistency and flavor of the commercial instant pudding mix. To use, simply combine it with the wet ingredients in your recipe and proceed as you would with the store-bought mix.
i dont have vanilla powder…Can i substitute vanila sugar for it?
If you can get vanilla beans, split the pods open and scrape it out into sugar. Let it sit about a week or two for fresh vanilla sugar.
Isn’t that kitniyos?
Made the recipe!! Baking time did take longer then noted, maybe because I didn’t use a baking sheet but I did the recipe in 3 smaller loaf pans instead of 2 larger ones.
The look when done and taste is superb but it doesn’t make the neatest slices for serving. It has to be eaten with a utensil.
The noted loaf pan size is a 1.5lb loaf pan? Seems really small.
10×4½-inch Pan they say to use is a 3 lb loaf pan. I found on Amazon
Instruction #5 is very unclear. And it was different before. I was following those directions, it’s in the oven, I hope it will be ok. Please fix up what is there now, and also please add to your post that it was corrected so people will know. Thank you
Does it freeze well?
I heard this is fantastic! What can you substitute for the almond flour for those who are allergic?
This was a perfect recipe. Babka came out great. Everyone was so impressed. Love it. A keeper. Thank you
Recipe was a great success! Wouldn’t call it a babka more like a good morning French coffee cake!! Thanks Malky for the vanilla pudding substitute ingredients! It did stick to the pan any ideas how to get it to slide out nicely?
This recipe came out amazing! So delicious and got finished right away! This will definitely be the first dessert that I make next year
Everyone loved this. Used it as counter cake over yuntif. Froze well and tasted delicious. Very moist