You’re going to wish today was your birthday so you could make this Birthday Cake Babka to celebrate!
So pretty, right?? It’s no surprise I love rainbow sprinkle desserts. A lot. A real lot. So when I saw that my friend Shannon had a funfetti Birthday Cake Babka in her new cookbook Modern Jewish Baker, I knew that’s the first thing I was making!
I’ve had a super busy week of traveling and cooking myself, but this babka came together in no time. And so colorful!! Worth it.
Anyhoo, I had Sweet Noshings cooking events in New Jersey and Houston and then was a “celebrity” chef at the Food + Wine Festival at Horseshoe Bay Resort in Texas! I’ll share some photos soon, but it was so fun. We made dinner for 250 (I did the salad course with a twist on my Roasted Beet Salad with Pickled Carrots, Lemon Cream, Mint and Almonds) and demo/samples of my Bourbon and Coffee Braised Brisket for 500! The highlight was probably when Texans came back for seconds and thirds on my Jewish brisket. Victory!
If you like baking (and I know you do) Modern Jewish Baker is a great resource for all things challah, bagels, babka, rugelach and more. With lots of filling and flavor options for each. From Cinnamon Raisin Bagels to Everything Bagel Rugelach!
I love twists on the classics, so I pulled out my sprinkle collection with glee.
Ooh, ahh.
Babka success!
I was so excited I initially forgot to add the frosting and MORE sprinkles!
Shannon says it’s her daughter’s favorite, so of course, this babka is kid friendly, but my 20 and 30-something friends ate this babka right up too.
The cream cheese filling kind of melts into the babka, making a cheesecake meets poundcake meets babka cake. 
I couldn’t pick a favorite slice!
And then I remembered. Frosting and sprinkles! Perfection.
Birthday Cake Babka
Ingredients
- For the dough:
- 1 tablespoon dry active yeast
- ⅓ cup + ½ teaspoon sugar
- ½ cup lukewarm water
- 4 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- ½ cup whole or 2% milk or almond milk
- ¾ cup 1 ½ sticks unsalted butter (or margarine), melted
- 2 eggs
- For the filling: 12 ounces cream cheese softened
- ¾ cup confectioners’ sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/8 teaspoon baking powder
- Pinch salt
- ¼ cup colored sprinkles I used even more!
- For the crumb topping: I left this out
- ¼ cup sugar
- ⅓ cup packed brown sugar
- ½ cup 1 stick unsalted butter, melted
- 1⅓ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons colored sprinkles
- For the frosting: 3 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 5 –6 tablespoons milk
- Pinch salt
Instructions
- To make the dough: Place the yeast and ½ teaspoon sugar in a small bowl. Add the lukewarm water and stir gently to mix. Set aside until foamy, 5 to 10 minutes.
- In a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, mix together the flour, ⅓ cup sugar, and 2 teaspoons vanilla.
- In a medium saucepan, scald the milk (bring almost to a boil, until milk is just simmering). Allow to sit for 1 minute to cool just slightly. With mixer on low, add the water-yeast mixture, milk, and melted butter. Add eggs one at a time.
- When the dough begins to come together, after 2 to 3 minutes, turn off mixer and scrape down the sides. Raise the speed to high and mix for another 5 to 10 minutes until the dough is shiny and elastic. Place dough in a greased bowl with a damp towel on top. Allow to rise until it has doubled, about 1 to 2 hours.
- While dough is rising, make the filling and the topping. To make the filling: Beat the softened cream cheese, powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla, baking powder, and salt. Fold in the sprinkles.
- To make the crumb topping: Combine the sugars in a small bowl. Stir in the melted butter and the flour. Add the sprinkles and combine using fingers. Prepare three 8 ½-by-4 ½-inch greased loaf pans. Note: you can also make two larger round babkas that can be baked on baking sheets.
- Cut the dough into three equal parts (use a food scale for precision). Roll out one part into a rectangle. Spread with one-third of the cream cheese filling and roll up along the shorter side (to create more swirls inside).
- Once the dough is formed into a swirled log, cut it straight down the middle so the filling is exposed. Cut ½ inch off each end. Layer each cut piece on top of one another and twist. Place in a greased loaf pan. Repeat with other two pieces of babka dough.
- Lightly drape a kitchen towel over the top of pans. Allow to rise another 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350°F while the dough rises. Before baking, add one-third of the crumb topping on each babka. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes. The edges should be slightly brown and the middle should be slightly doughy.
- Allow to cool for 5 to 10 minutes. Using a butter knife, loosen sides of the babkas from the pans and place on top of parchment wire rack to cool. Place babkas on a platter. To make the frosting: Combine confectioners’ sugar, milk, and salt in a bowl. Drizzle on top of each babka.
- Note: It is best to use jimmies or oblong sprinkles, not round (nonpareil) sprinkles.
- Short cut: If you don’t want to make the crumb topping and frosting, you can skip those steps. After the babka has baked and cooled, combine 1 cup (approximately 6 ounces) white chocolate chips with 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for 30-second intervals, mixing in between with a small spatula, until completely melted and smooth. Drizzle melted white chocolate on top of each babka and allow to set.
18 Comments
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[…] this Birthday Cake Babka, which is de facto rainbow babka, which is de facto Satisfaction babka. Visually, it’s a winner, […]
[…] Birthday Cake Babka by Shannon Sarna […]
Hi, this looks fantastic… does it freeze well?
Yes it does but I would freeze without the frosting on top and frost when ready to serve or eat!
This looks so good! What a great twist on a classic!
Thanks for sharing! Does it keep long?
A few days wrapped well!
Would this work prepared the night beforehand?
Do you mean the whole recipe or just the dough? I haven’t tried with this recipe, but usually with challah or babka you can slow rise it in the refrigerator overnight for the first rise.
Hi, I made this recently and while it was delicious I had some serious soggy problems. Around the cream cheese swirl my bread was so soggy it was like it didn’t even cook! I’m not sure what I did wrong. Yours look beautiful and don’t look like they had any soggy issues. Help???
Oh no! This is not my recipe so I can’t say for sure. Maybe it needed to bake longer or was there too much filling? Mine was definitely a little wet from the cream cheese but cooked through.
I would add an egg it sounds like a bread with a cream cheese filling. I have not made this yet, but if I do I think I might do this my birthday is coming up and thought I would give this recipe a try. I’m not sure why yours turned out soggy.
Hi! I’ve made this recipe five or six times now cause I am a heifer ?… So I can tell you from experience that when that happens, Either you didn’t roll the dough out thin enough, Or it is because you didn’t “aerate” the loaf properly.
Explanation:
When you roll the dough thin before adding filling and twisting it, you’re creating more, thinner layers instead of one thick, dense center.
This helps with even baking because heat can penetrate those thin layers better.
Think of it like cinnamon rolls—if you leave the center super thick, it stays doughy while the outside bakes.
Why Did Yours Stay Gooey?
Too Thick in the Middle:
If you didn’t roll it thin enough, that tight, thick spiral takes forever to cook through.
Too Much Filling:
A lot of filling (especially wet fillings like cream cheese or chocolate spreads) can make the center soggy and prevent it from baking properly.
Low Oven Temperature or Not Long Enough
Thanks for all the feedback and tips!
I just made this and I am an advanced baker thank God for that. I added 2 eggs to the filling and 1/4 c. from the flour mixture to thicken it up, That’s why it didn’t work for Carley Say! It’s sad b/c there are women out there cooking for their husbands and they would get hit if it didn’t work out. Especially with money being such an issue. Or if she was making this for a birthday and she used all the money she had only to have it not turn out. I also added 2 eggs to the dough. I haven’t put it in the oven yet to bake I hope it turns out the way I tweaked your recipe. I also used 1/4 C. Vanilla yogurt with 1/4 C. water since I didn’t have milk. One good thing you said and I will give you credit for that is to put the yeast and sugar and lukewarm water and allow the yeast to proof. I believe mine will turn out great I suggest you change your recipe a little by adding the eggs to the cream cheese filling so it doesn’t ooze all over the place.
Glad the modifications worked for you! This is not my recipe, but re-shared from a cookbook. I’m sure men like making babka too for their wives!
If there are people out there reading reviews trying to figure out if this recipe is worth making. Make it! I dare say it’s one of my favorite sweet breads now. I’ve made it five or six times and I live alone lol. Tonight I am waiting impatiently as the second rise rises in my bundt pan. Yes you can use a bundt pan And… If you are having issues with it, cooking all the way through this is a hack because of the middle portion in the Bundt pan. It helps it to cook more evenly …You just have to adjust the baking time a tad. Also, I would recommend not making the filling until right before you’re about to spread it on there as the sprinkles tend to bleeeeeeeed …even if you get the ice cream sprinkles. Then you end up with some “what’s the gray stuff, it’s delicious“ kind of crap in the middle. However… This shit is amazing. I call it fairy bread. Make it. You’re welcome.