Eggless Cinnamon Pecan Babka Coffee Cake
This Eggless 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 brunch, try some of my other favorites like Peppermint Mocha Coffee Cake, Maple Pumpkin Spice Baked Donuts, Hot Chocolate Sweet Rolls, and Eggless Blueberry Babka Coffee Cake.
A Quick Look At The Recipe
- Recipe Name: Eggless Cinnamon Pecan Babka Coffee Cake
- Ready In: 3 hours 55 minutes
- Makes: 12 servings
- Main Ingredients: butter, yeast, all purpose flour, cinnamon
- Flavor Profile: cinnamon, brown sugar and hearty pecans
- Dietary Info: eggless, no seed oils
- Difficulty: Medium
- Why You’ll Love It: light, pillowy cinnamon-roll like coffee cake
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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.
- Babka: Just like traditional babka, the dough is cut, swirled, and spiraled together to create an amazing swirl with every slice. This is a round babka coffee cake that you can cut just like a cake!
- Eggless: While most enriched yeast doughs have eggs, this one is free of eggs but it is still incredibly light and fluffy!
- 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. I think of this as a Christmas coffee cake, because that was the only time of year we had it. So, I love making this for the holidays!
- Brunch or Dessert: This Eggless Cinnamon Pecan Babka Coffee Cake can double as brunch or dessert! That makes this the best round babka to make for the upcoming holidays as you can enjoy it for brunch and have leftovers for dessert.
What is babka?
Babka is a swirled bread that is made up of an enriched yeasted dough. This typically means the dough has butter, eggs, milk, and sugar in it along with the flour. Babka was derived from Challah bread, (which is why its made with a sweet enriched dough) and it was usually made when there was leftover Challah dough and other ingredients.
The inside of babka can be filled with anything from cinnamon and sugar, jams, chocolate, fruit, and more. Once the dough is filled, it's rolled up to enclose the filling. Then it's cut down the center to reveal the filling, and then twisted and baked so you can see the beautiful swirls. You can make more traditional babka in a loaf pan, but I also love making round babka, like this!
While I'm calling this an Eggless Cinnamon Pecan Babka Coffee Cake, it's not a traditional coffee cake at all! But, the definition of coffee cake is literally a cake eaten with coffee, haha. So, I say this counts! I grew up eating a version of this recipe every single Christmas (and we just called it coffee cake). It was my favorite sweet on Christmas morning. So, this Christmas coffee cake is a must bake this holiday season!
Ingredients
- Yeast: I use RedStar Organic Instant Yeast.
- Cane Sugar: You'll need a little organic cane sugar to activate the yeast for this round babka.
- Milk: Use whole milk for the best flavor. I have also tested this with coconut milk if you want nondairy milk.
- Honey: Because this is eggless, I use a little honey inside the dough for sweetener and structure.
- Powdered Sugar: I use organic powdered sugar for the glaze. This provides a little sweetness to go with the fluffy dough.
- Dark Brown Sugar: I use my Homemade Dark Brown Sugar, but store bought also works. Dark brown sugar mixes in with the spices inside each and every swirl of this babka.
- Chinese Five Spice: This is my secret ingredient in perfectly spiced babka. This organic Chinese five spice is made up of five spices: cinnamon, fennel seed, cloves, star anise, and white pepper. Not all Chinese five spices use the same five spices though, so I recommend using this one. This spice mix is amazing blend of sweet, cozy, and a little savory. It really makes this babka!
*For a full list of ingredients and measurements, visit the recipe card below.
Baker's Tips
- Always use a digital food scale for the best results.
- 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.
- While I provide time estimates for dough rising, it's always best to look for visual signs that your dough has risen. This can take less time or more depending on your temperature or climate.
- If you don't have dark brown sugar you can make your own with my Homemade Dark Brown Sugar recipe 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.
How to Make Cinnamon Pecan Babka Coffee Cake
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!
Recipe FAQ's
Technically babka is a bread. It’s uses yeast, therefore putting it in the bread category. It is an enriched bread (which means it has sugar, butter, and eggs) and it is sweet in comparison 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. Because babka is filled with sweet things like chocolate, cinnamon, or jam it can be 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!
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Eggless Cinnamon Pecan Babka Coffee Cake
Equipment
- Digital Food Scale
- Small Pot
- Stand Mixer
- Half Sheet Pan
- Mixing Bowl
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.
Notes
- Always use a digital food scale for the best results.
- 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.
- While I provide time estimates for dough rising, it's always best to look for visual signs that your dough has risen. This can take less time or more depending on your temperature or climate.
- If you don't have dark brown sugar you can make your own with my Homemade Dark Brown Sugar recipe 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.
Nutrition
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This is the most delicious coffee cake I’ve ever had! The layers of cinnamon and sugar combined with soft and pillowy dough and little bits of pecans in every bite — this is a must bake!