Babka Boi

During Melbourne’s lockdown in early 2020, Melbourne chef Avi Azoulay introduced his Facebook friends to his choc-hazelnut babka – a dense, rich cake that originated in Poland’s Jewish community in the 19th century. By July, he had assumed a new Instagram alter ego: Babka Boi. From scratch, babka takes a few days to prepare. Starting with mixing a smooth brioche style dough, followed by a slow cold bulk proof for 24 hours. The cold dough is then rolled thin, filled, rolled up like a jelly roll and split in half and then delicately braided. The babka then proofs for a few hours and is baked. Once out of the oven the babka is covered in simple syrup and cooled. And with that in mind, Azoulay makes only around 15 per week. Azoulay’s signature Babka quickly shot to fame in Melbourne’s hospitality scene following several notable food-bloggers resharing his baked, chocolatey masterpieces. And since then, he’s been selling out every week.

As well as the signature choc-hazelnut filling, expect to see others such as apple, cinnamon and almond in the future.