Chelsea Bun Babka – a delicious British/Jewish hybrid

British Chelsea buns meet sticky swirly babka! This lightly spiced, fruited, syrup drenched babka recipe is a real teatime treat!

Do you enjoy eating your traditions, however diverse and varied they are? Me too.

I especially love to cook things that fuse the different parts of my background, combining my Jewish heritage with my British heritage. For instance, previously I’ve made Chanukah mince pies (with kiddush wine mincemeat!) and hot magen david buns.

Famous Chelsea Buns

Anyway, I was walking through Cambridge (where we live) and passed by Fitzbillies bakery and cafe, which is a real local institution and particularly famous for its luscious Chelsea Buns which have been made to the same recipe since 1921.

Chelsea Buns galore!

They make trays and trays of them every day (over 100,000 buns a year!), and display them proudly in the window, dotted with currants and glistening in pools of sticky spiced syrup.

Head baker Gill, custodian of the secret recipe, has apparently been making the buns for the last 46 years. That’s a lot of buns.

Fitzbillies even make Chelsea Bun wedding cakes for real aficionados!

Spot the difference

But as I contemplated the quintessentially British Chelsea Bun – a swirled yeasted cake, drenched in syrup – I found myself thinking of that classic Jewish bake, the Babka – a swirled yeasted cake, drenched in syrup!

Chelsea Bun Babka recipe

Surely it would be the work of a moment to hybridise the two and create a recipe for a spicy, fruity, sticky, Chelsea Bun Babka!

Well, OK, maybe not a moment. Yeasted doughs take time to rise after all. But the end result was everything I’d hoped for. Golden brown and glistening under its syrupy glaze, with a moist, fruited, lightly spiced interior. 

Babka recipe – ingredients

The ingredients to make this delicious babka recipe are all pretty straightforward. To whip up a couple of these gorgeous babka loaves, you will need:

For the babka dough:

• Plain flour – also called all-purpose flour
• Dry active yeast
• Sugar
• Butter or margarine – butter tastes better, margarine is parve (dairy free) so choose whichever works best for you
• Milk or a diary-free alternative – I like oat milk
• Egg

For the filling:

• Butter or margarine
• Light brown sugar
• Mixed spice – this is a popular British sweet spice blend but you can substitute any similar blend e.g. pumpkin spice, apple pie spice or hawaij l’cafe
• Currants – delicious tart dried fruits
• Raisins, sultanas or mixed dried fruit – for a really fruity cake. Yum!

For the syrup

• Light brown sugar
• Golden syrup or honey – syrup is more traditional on a Chelsea Bun but honey works just fine

Chelsea Bun Babka – terrific at any time

I thought the Chelsea bun babka was exactly the thing to go with a cup of tea for elevenses, and my daughter Kipper took a slice to school in her lunchbox, announcing when I collected her later that it had been, “Amazing! Really yummy!”

Baking Babka – just go for it!

If you’re nervous of yeasted cakes, don’t be! If you have a stand mixer and a few hours to let it rise, then you’re good to go.

Simply follow the instructions and you’ll be rewarded with a pair of luscious British-Jewish Chelsea Bun Babka loaves, just like the ones in the photos. 

If you want deliciously easy, family-friendly recipes like this one delivered straight to your inbox, simply click here to subscribe. (Of course, I’ll never pass on your email address to anyone.)

📖 Recipe

Chelsea Bun Babka

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

British Chelsea buns meet sticky swirly babka! This lightly spiced, fruited, syrup drenched babka recipe is a real teatime treat!

4.67 from 6 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe Save Saved!

Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

rising time 2 hours hrs

Total Time 2 hours hrs 50 minutes mins

Course Cake

Cuisine British, Jewish

Servings 16 slices

Calories 226 kcal

Ingredients

 

US CustomaryMetric

 

1x2x3x

For the dough

• 1½ teaspoon dry active yeast (5g)
• 1½ teaspoon sugar
• 100 ml hand-hot water
• 85 g butter or margarine (6 tbsp)
• 60 ml milk or plant-based alternative e.g. oat, almond etc.
• 400 g plain flour
• 2 tablespoon sugar
• 1 egg

For the filling

• 40 g soft butter or margarine (scant 3 tbsp)
• 50 g light brown sugar
• 2 teaspoon mixed spice (or your favourite sweet spice blend)
• 50 g currants
• 25 g raisins, sultanas or mixed dried fruit

For the syrup

• 100 g light brown sugar
• 3 tablespoon honey or golden syrup
• 75 ml water

Instructions

 

Make the dough

• Put the yeast, the 1½ teaspoon of sugar and the hand-hot water into a jug and mix well. Set aside for about 5 minutes.
• Put the 85g butter (or margarine) and the milk (or milk alternative) into a small saucepan and heat until the butter has melted and the mixture is quite warm.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer, with the dough hook attachment, mix the flour and 2 tablespoon sugar. Add the yeast mixture, the warm milk/butter and the egg. Mix gently till combined then turn up the motor slightly and continue mixing for another 8-10 minutes until the dough is shiny and smooth. It will be quite soft and sticky – don't worry.
• Tip the dough out onto a floured surface and gently form into a ball. Place in an oiled bowl and leave to rise, covered, in a warm place, for 1-2 hours or until doubled in size.

Make the filling

• Mix the softened butter/margarine, the brown sugar, and the mixed spice. Cover and set aside.

Assemble the babkas

• Line two loaf pans with greaseproof paper.
• Turn out the risen dough onto a well-floured surface to prevent it sticking. Working with floured hands, gently pat the dough out to form a rectangle approximately 45 x 30 cm (18 x 12 inches).
• Spread the butter/sugar/spice mixture over the dough – I found this easiest with my hands, rather than a utensil. Sprinkle the currants and dried fruits over the top.
• Starting from a long edge, roll up the dough into a long sausage. Using a very sharp knife, slice the roll lengthwise to give two long pieces, each a semi-circle in cross-section. Keeping the cut edges uppermost, twist the two long pieces together.
• Cut the long twist of dough in half and put one half into each lined loaf pan. Cover, and put in a warm place for about half an hour. After this second rise, the dough should have expanded to about half-fill the loaf pans.

  Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). 

Bake, and finish

• Place the babka loaves into the hot oven and bake at 180°C (350°F) for 30 minutes until thoroughly risen and brown.
• Meanwhile, make the syrup. Place all the syrup ingredients into a small pan and heat gently until everything is dissolved and well amalgamated. Set aside.
• After 30 minutes, remove the babkas from the oven and immediately brush each one liberally with some of the warm syrup, using a pastry brush. Once they are evenly glazed and shiny, pour the remaining syrup over and allow to soak in.
• Leave in the tins to cool.

  Serve in slices, with a cup of tea!

Nutrition

Nutrition Facts

Chelsea Bun Babka

Amount per Serving

Calories

226

% Daily Value*

Fat

 

7

g

11

%

Saturated Fat

 

3

g

19

%

Trans Fat

 

1

g

Polyunsaturated Fat

 

1

g

Monounsaturated Fat

 

2

g

Cholesterol

 

22

mg

7

%

Sodium

 

72

mg

3

%

Potassium

 

106

mg

3

%

Carbohydrates

 

38

g

13

%

Fiber

 

1

g

4

%

Sugar

 

17

g

19

%

Protein

 

4

g

8

%

Vitamin A

 

246

IU

5

%

Vitamin C

 

1

mg

1

%

Calcium

 

25

mg

3

%

Iron

 

2

mg

11

%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Keyword babka, baking, cake, chelsea buns

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

More delicious babka recipes

If you’re in the mood for a sweet and swirly babka, you might also enjoy this delicious cinnamon babka, or this fabulously gooey vegan chocolate babka.  

And if you like British/Jewish hybrids, how about Eccles cake hamantaschen, or the fabulous Full Jewish Breakfast?!

Do you make any British/Jewish hybrid foods? Let me know in the comments!