There are a lot of recipes I have that I truly feel I was original in creating it. Though I am a firm believer that everything has been done before and nothing is new (except technology of course), I pat myself on the back for making a dessert I’ve never seen before. And this is one of them!!
I introduce you the kaya coconut babka. I never heard of kaya, or kaya jam, until I came to Korea. It is actually super popular in Singapore, and it made it’s way over to Korea. Kaya jam is coconut jam, and is more like a pastry cream made of coconut milk. It has such a deep flavor, and it is heckin delicious.
There’s both green and brown kaya jam, and I usually use green because brown kaya jam has more sugar in it. The green in green kaya comes from pandan leaves, whereas the brown from brown kaya comes from sugar. So in this recipe, I’ll be using green kaya jam. But feel free to use either!
Anyway, when I first learned of kaya jam, it was so good that I had to use it in everything. In Singapore and Korea, they use it to make kaya toast – which is just kaya jam and butter between white bread. So I combined it with the beautiful babka to swirl the kaya jam within the bread itself. It isn’t complicated, but it is really soft and tasty. Try it yourself!! You’ll see (:
- Dough Ingredients:
- 530 grams all purpose flour
- 100 grams sugar
- 1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon yeast
- 3 eggs
- 120 ml milk
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 150 grams butter
- egg wash
- green kaya jam
- Streusel Ingredients:
- 78 grams flour
- 50 grams brown sugar
- 30 grams sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 43 grams butter
- ¼ cup shredded coconut
- Streusel Recipe:
- mix the flour, sugars, and salt together in a bowl
- add chunks of the butter and work them into the flour mixture with your hands until it becomes sandy
- mix in the coconut
- Babka Recipe:
- mix the yeast, sugar, and milk in the bowl of a stand mixer and let it sit for about 10 minutes until the yeast bubbles
- add all the other ingredients and knead on low speed for about 10 minutes
- put the dough in a greased bowl and cover
- let it rise until it doubles in size
- roll the dough out to a large rectangle and spread out the kaya jam
- tightly roll up the rectangle into a log and pinch the seams to close
- cut the log in half lengthwise and line the 2 pieces side by side with the filling side facing up
- twist the two pieces around each other tightly
- place it into a loaf pan and egg wash the top
- cover with a plastic wrap and let it rise for about an hour
- sprinkle the streusel all over the top
- bake in a preheated oven at 190°C for about 30 minutes
- let it rest for about 10 minutes before removing from pan
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