Cinnamon Pecan Babka Coffee Cake
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This Cinnamon Pecan Babka Coffee Cake is a cross between a babka and coffee cake. This yeast dough has layers filled with brown sugar, cinnamon, and pecans, and it's topped with a sweet glaze. This nostalgic holiday breakfast was something we had every holiday season, and it makes the best brunch for Christmas day.
If you love coffee cake, try my Cinnamon Swirl Coffee Cake, Coffee Cake Muffins, and my Blueberry Babka Coffee Cake.
Table of Contents
Why You'll Love This Recipe
Yeast Dough: You will love this recipe because it's not your traditional coffee cake! This Cinnamon Pecan Babka Coffee Cake is made with a yeast dough and it's filled with cinnamon, brown sugar, and pecans. The dough is cut, swirled, and spiraled together to create an amazing round coffee cake that you can cut just like a cake! Plus, it has a sweet glaze on top, which was always my favorite part as a kid.
Nostalgic: For me, this is the best cinnamon pecan coffee cake recipe out there as it so nostalgic and reminds me exactly what we had from a bakery growing up.
Brunch or Dessert: This Cinnamon Pecan Babka Coffee Cake can double as brunch or dessert! That makes this the best cinnamon pecan coffee cake recipe to make for the upcoming holidays as you can enjoy it for brunch and have leftovers for dessert.
History of This Recipe
I got the inspiration for this recipe from a coffee cake that I had as a child. We had best holiday coffee cake ever every single Christmas of my childhood, until I moved out of my parent’s house. I’ve asked both of my parents where it came from, and what it was, and no one really knows!
Yet that coffee cake was a part of my Christmas holiday every single year that I lived at home. Even when we moved from Chicago to Michigan, my grandma (who is no longer with us, otherwise I’d ask her, and she’d know) would bring it from Chicago to Michigan so that our tradition didn’t have to change.
There was debate as to whether it came from a Jewish bakery or a Danish bakery, as there are many of both in the Chicago area. But neither of my parents seem to know! And as my parents are divorced, I’m getting different answers from both of them, go figure.
So, I’ve been looking and searching the internet for coffee cake recipes that look like what I had. I didn’t even know what to search though, so it’s been really difficult as your typical coffee cake or anything with coffee cake in the search phrase brings up a traditional cake with a crumb topping.
But, I finally figured out that the coffee cake was actually a babka! This yeast dough coffee cake is a babka, which is why I’m calling it a Cinnamon Pecan Babka Coffee Cake. This light and fluffy dough is swirled together with cinnamon, dark brown sugar, and pecans. I then drizzle it with a thick glaze, so it gives it a signature drizzle on top (just like the one I had as a kid), and it makes you want to eat every single bite that has glaze on top.
This is the best cinnamon pecan coffee cake recipe, trust me! You can easily make this Cinnamon Pecan Babka Coffee Cake the night before so it’s ready to go on Christmas morning. I recommend storing this in a cake dome so it stays moist if you make it ahead of time.
Ingredients
Costco Kirkland Organic Cane Sugar
Costco Kirkland Organic Raw Honey
Frontier Co-Op Organic Chinese Five Spice
Wholesome Organic Powdered Sugar
Frontier Co-Op Organic Korintje Cinnamon
Tools Needed
Baking Sheet Half Sheet Pan (use code MIMIBAKES for 10% off my favorite stainless steel sustainable bakeware!)
Parchment Paper (get my favorite nontoxic parchment paper and get 10% off with MIMIBAKES)
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Step by Step Instructions
Step 1
First step is making the yeast dough. This is really easy to do by combining yeast, warm water, and sugar. You want to let the yeast bubble, which takes about 5 minutes. If it’s not bubbly, then the yeast is bad and your dough won’t rise. So, there’s no point to continue on with the recipe. Time to head to the store to grab some fresh yeast.
Step 2
While the yeast is sitting, you’re going to melt the butter, milk and honey together. You can do this in the microwave or on the stovetop. I prefer on the stove. Allow the butter to cool so it’s not super hot, as it can kill the yeast if it’s too hot! It should be melted, but not so hot.
Step 3
Once the yeast is ready to go, you add in the flour, cane sugar, salt, Chinese five spice, butter, milk, and honey. You mix this in your stand mixer with the dough hook until it’s smooth – about 3 to 5 minutes. If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can do this by hand as well, but it will take longer to knead it.
Step 4
The dough is placed in a greased bowl and covered. You can cover it with a kitchen towel, but if you live in a very dry place (like I do) I prefer plastic wrap, so it doesn’t dry out. Put it in a warm place, this could be by the oven or on top of your pellet stove or mantle! It needs to rise and double in size.
This can take anywhere from 1 to 3 hours. Never look at the time when letting yeast dough rise, always look at the dough itself to see what it’s done. Your climate can have different effects on the dough such as making it rise faster or take longer, so you always want to make sure the dough has doubled before moving on to the next step.
Step 5
The fun part is flouring your surface and dumping out that dough to roll it out. You will roll it out into a large rectangle and then smear it with the butter for the filling. After that it gets topped with the brown sugar and pecans and rolled up, just like you would cinnamon rolls.
Step 6
Place the dough seam side down and use a sharp knife and cut it down the middle to expose the insides. Some pecans may fall out, or a little sugar, no worries there! Then twist the two pieces together so you have a twisted rope. Then, you’re going to roll that rope so it looks like a big lollipop!
Step 7
Place that giant circle of dough onto a baking sheet with parchment paper and bake it until golden brown!
Step 8
Once it’s cooled, it’s time to drizzle the shit out of it with glaze. And you’re ready to indulge! If you’re not eating it now, be sure to store it in an airtight container like a cake dome!
Baker's Tips
- Make sure your yeast is fresh, if it's not bubbly, then it's not good and you should get fresh yeast before beginning the recipe.
- If you don't have dark brown sugar you can make your own or you can use light brown, but the flavor will not be as rich.
- If you don't have pecans you can omit them or you can even use almonds or walnuts.
- Make sure to store this in a cake dome so it stays fresh for days.
FAQ's
Technically babka is a bread. It’s made with yeast, therefore putting it in the bread category. It is an enriched bread (which means it usually has sugar, butter, and eggs) and it is sweet compared to traditional bread. It was first created in the Jewish community when bakers would have leftover scraps of Challah, they’d fill it with jam and roll it up to make babka. Though babka is filled with sweet things like chocolate, cinnamon, or jam it can tend to fall more in the dessert category than in the bread category.
Yes, you can definitely make this Cinnamon Pecan Babka Coffee Cake ahead of time. If you make it the day before, just be sure to store it in a cake dome so it stays moist. After all, it is bread and bread should stay moist so it doesn’t dry out! If you don't have a cake dome, then let the glaze set and then wrap the entire circle in plastic wrap. This is how it used to come from the bakery we got it from when I was a kid.
I highly recommend you high tail it to the store then and pick some up! Chinese five spice is pretty common and you should have no problem finding it at your local grocery store. But, if you just refuse to do that, you could substitute cinnamon, allspice, or cloves. All of those spices would be good – they’re just not as good!
Craving More?
Cinnamon Pecan Babka Coffee Cake
Ingredients
Dough
- 10 grams instant yeast
- ½ teaspoon cane sugar
- ¼ cup warm water
- 57 grams salted butter
- 1 cup milk
- 7 grams raw honey
- 446 grams all purpose flour
- 57 grams cane sugar
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ teaspoon Chinese five spice
Filling
- ¼ cup salted butter
- 113 grams dark brown sugar (packed)
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 127 grams pecans (chopped)
Glaze
- 142 grams powdered sugar (sifted)
- 2 tablespoons water
Instructions
- In a small pot over medium heat, add the butter, milk, and honey. Stir until completely melted, remove from heat.
- Add the flour, remaining 1/4 cup cane sugar, sea salt, and Chinese five spice to the mixing bowl in that order. Add the milk mixture and knead on speed 2 to 4 for 5 minutes.
- Place the dough in a greased bowl and cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and let rise for 2 to 3 hours, until doubled in size.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- To make the topping: In a small bowl, add the brown sugar and cinnamon and mix together.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to about 12 x 9-inches.
- Using a spatula, spread the butter onto the dough. Then top it with the brown sugar and cinnamon mixture. Then sprinkle the pecans on top.
- Starting at the longer side, roll the dough so it is completely rolled into a log. Pinch the dough to seal it and put the seam side down. Using a sharp knife, cut the dough log in half lengthwise to expose the rolled inside. Twist the halves together, leaving the cut side up.
- Spiral the dough into a circle and transfer it to the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake for 40 or until golden brown. Allow to cool completely.
- To make the glaze: In a small bowl, add the powdered sugar and water and whisk together until you have a smooth glaze. Add into a pastry bag with a tiny hole, or just drizzle the glaze over the top of the babka with a spoon.
- Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
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Notes
Nutrition
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