Vegan Chocolate Yeast “Babka” Cake

 Filling suggestion:

• Chocolate and peanut butter

• Almond cream

• Cinnamon filling

• Cheese and apricots filling

• Caramelized apples.

Tools:

• Rolling pin
• Electric mixer * with dough hook
• 2 loaf pans/ 1 round pan
• Sauce pan
• Pastry brush
• Spatula

• 500 g all purpose flour
• 10 g dry yeast
• 100 g  white sugar
• 70 ml olive oil
• 250 ml warm water
• Pinch of table salt
• Your choice of filling
• non-dairy milk for brushing
• Vanilla infused syrup (100 ml water + 100 g sugar + vanilla extract)

1. Preheat your oven to a 370 F and put oil on your choice of pan .
2. Put yeast and water in the mixer’s bowl and mix until there are no lumps. Leave for a few minutes.
3. Pour the flour over the water and add the sugar and the salt on top of the flour. 
4. Start the mixer on low speed and add the oil. Increase the speed to medium and let the mixer work for 5-7 minutes.
5. When the dough is well mixed and flexible, remove the dough and transfer to a lightly floured bowl to let it rise. Cover with a wet clean towel or plastic film and let it sit at room temperature for 30 minutes or in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
6. The dough should be about double his original size. Remove the dough from the bowl and put it on a clean, lightly floured surface. Split the dough to 2 even 465 g pieces (or keep it one piece for the round pan).
7. Roll each dough to a very thin rectangular shape. Spread a generous amount of your filling or spread all over your dough.
8. 
9. Roll the dough as tightly as you can from the shorter side of the rectangle to make a log.
10. Cut the rolled up log in the middle (lengthwise) to create two even, long, half logs.
11. Braid the two log halves together and transfer to the loaf pan while securing the edges with a tight squeeze. At this point you can freeze the             cakes *
12. Let the cakes proof either in a proofing chamber or in room temperature.  Make sure the cakes are covered or moistened constantly (wet clean towel or a water sprayer will do the job). The cakes should be doubled and very soft to the touch.
13. Brush the proofed cake carefully with the milk. Bake for 15 minutes, turn the temperature down to 350 F and bake for another 10 minutes.
14. While the cake is in the oven, prepare the syrup: Put the water in a pot with the sugar, add beans from one vanilla bean/ 2 tsps of vanilla extract. Boil it for 5 minutes, remove from heat.
15. When the cake is ready to come out (tall, nice and golden), brush it with the hot syrup and enjoy the crazy good smell :)
16. Enjoy!

1. It is better to use cooled water. Your hand’s temperature will surely generate heat in the kneading process and will overheat the dough. 
2. Make sure to knead the dough for at least  7 minutes to ensure good and strong gluten development in the dough. Be sure not to tear the dough, if you feel the dough starting to tear, put the dough aside with a cover (wet, clean towel or plastic film), wait a few minutes and continue your kneading.
3. To freeze the shaped cake, cover very tightly and freeze. To thaw it, just place in the refrigerator (still covered) for a night or at least 8 hours before starting the proofing process.