Carrot Cake x Babka

Soft, twisted, spiced brioche layers with sweet carrots, pecans and cream cheese frosting.

Getting creative with brioche is honestly such a cheat when thinking of something more exciting to make. Neither carrot cake nor brioche is certainly not new or exciting on their own, but something about the intricate, twisted layers of this bake adds a little something extra. Adding warm spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, aniseed to the dough elevates it further to create the iconic carrot cake taste. I've used the babka recipe from Bon Appetit Magazine as base for my dough and built on that. It's such a great straightforward recipe that works every time.

Different to my cinnamon bun recipe, this one is enriched with butter and is 100% the star of this show. Even a day later, the butter continues to work when reheated. It makes this babka spring right back to it's original glory.

One thing that will make the twists easier and less messy is to freeze the rolled dough with the filling for about 5 minutes. You don't want a rock solid log, but rather one that is stiff enough for the filling not to melt out but still malleable. If you were to freeze it too long, the butter inside would crack. Another thing, all the proofing time is important. Skip on that step or bake your babka too early and you'll end up with a dense loaf rather than a soft and pillowy one.

Carrot Cake x Babka

Ingredients:

• 170g warm milk

• 1 packet yeast

• 50g sugar

• 1 egg

• 1 egg yolk

• pinch of salt

• 1 tsp mixed spice

• 1 tsp cinnamon

• 172g bread flour

• 99g butter

Filling:

• 113g butter

• 100g Muscavado sugar

• 2 tsp mixed spice

• 2 grated medium size carrots

• 100g pecans, chopped

Topping:

• 125g cream cheese, room temperature

• 25g icing sugar

• 2 tsp milk

Method

1. Add yeast to your warm milk and set aside for 5 minutes.
   

2. Whisk your egg, egg yolk and sugar together and add to the frothy yeast mixture
   

3. In a mixing bowl, add your bread flour, mixed spice, salt and cinnamon.
   

4. Add the wet mix to your flour and mix with a spatular until roughly incorporated. Using a dough hook, knead the dough until it looks uniform.
   

5. Cut your softened butter into pieces and while the dough is kneading, add a piece to the dough. Wait until the butter is fully incorporated before adding another. This will work best only if the butter is very soft.
   

6. Once all the butter is added, remove the dough and place it in a greased bowl and cover with cling film. Keep it in a warm spot until it has doubled in size, about 1.5 - 2 hours. Then place in the fridge for 45 minutes. The dough will still be very sticky, this is normal so do not add more flour.
   

7. To make the filling, grate your carrots and set aside. After a few minutes, using a cheesecloth (or your clean hands), squeeze all the excess moisture out of the carrots.
   

8. Melt your butter until softened, not liquid, and and your sugar, mixed spice and carrots. Mix everything together.|
   

9. Once your dough has risen, dust a clean surface with flour and roll it out to 30cm x 50cm. Make sure it isn't sticking to the surface.
   

10. Smooth your filling onto the dough and add your chopped pecans. Roll the dough tightly into a log and place in the freezer for about 5 minutes.
    

11. After 5 minutes, remove the log and cut it down the centre lengthwise until you have 2 halves of the log. Place them across each other and wrap one around the other. Watch this video for a tutorial. Place in a greased loaf pan and let it proof for another 30 minutes. Preheat your oven to 180C
    

12. Bake for 50 - 60 minutes and rotate halfway. While you wait, make the frosting the whipping the cream cheese and adding the icing sugar. Use the milk to make it a thinner consistency until its thin enough to drizzle but not watery.
    

13. Once baked, take it out of the loaf pan and onto a cooling rack. Add your cream cheese frosting and enjoy