Babka with poppy seeds, sesame seeds and cinnamon and served with Valençay goat's cheese and honey

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Pascal Aussignac serves up a cake inspired by by his travels to Israel, a spin on babka. This version is much more simple than the traditional method using yeasted dough – instead he infused the half of the batter with black sesame paste and creates a marble effect by swirling the batters together before baking. The chef stays true to his French roots by serving the cake with Valençay cheese and a sweet fig leaf and honey dressing.

First published in 2017

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

Babaka

  • 60g of plain flour
  • 300g of marzipan, (white)
  • 30g of honey
  • 100g of butter
  • 5 eggs
  • 80g of black sesame paste, (this can be made by roasting black sesame seeds and blending with a little vegetable oil)

Fig leaf dressing

  • 100g of fig leaves, washed and ripped up
  • 400g of grapeseed oil, or other neutral vegetable oil
  • 300g of runny honey

To serve

Equipment

  • Blender
  • Cooking thermometer
  • Small loaf tin

Method

1
Preheat the oven to 160°C/gas mark 3
2
Add all of the ingredients for the babka to a blender (except the eggs and black sesame paste) and blitz to combine
  • 60g of plain flour
  • 300g of marzipan, (white)
  • 30g of honey
  • 100g of butter
3
Once well-mixed, add the eggs slowly until fully combined
4
Remove about half the batter and add the black sesame paste to the blender. Blitz the batter and sesame paste until well-combined
  • 80g of black sesame paste, (this can be made by roasting black sesame seeds and blending with a little vegetable oil)
5
Pour the white and black batters into a single jug at the same time (from opposite sides) so that each coloured batter occupies each half of the jug from top to bottom
6
Pour the batter into a greased loaf tin, swirling the batter as it comes out, to create a marbled effect
7
Bake for about 35–40 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean when inserted into the centre of the cake. Leave to cool before cutting
8
While the cakes are cooking, make the fig leaf dressing. Blend the oil and fig leaves at high speed in a blender for a minute or so until very well-chopped
  • 400g of grapeseed oil, or other neutral vegetable oil
  • 100g of fig leaves, washed and ripped up
9
Transfer to a pan. Stir and heat the mixture to about 80–90°C for a few minutes then leave it to cool to room temperature
10
Strain through a fine sieve, squeezing any excess oil out of the pulp, and discard the pulp. Whisk the honey and oil together until fully combined
11
Serve with the sweet fig leaf dressing, a scattering of poppy seeds and some Valençay cheese (or another high quality goat's cheese). Decorate with cinnamon bark
First published in 2017

Pascal Aussignac left France with business partner Vincent Labeyrie to champion 'la cuisine de Gascogne' at his restaurant, Club Gascon, in 1998.

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