05/23/2026
can i be sentimental for a moment?
this babka brings back so many memories from my teens and early adulthood. when i first met my boyfriend at the time, i was working at a jewish deli. you know the phrase, the way to a man’s heart… yada yada. so i’d show up with corned beef, piles of lox for him and his dad, all the good stuff. but i vividly remember bringing over a loaf of babka one day. lee looked at me and said, “now how am i gonna eat all of that?”
he found a way. and the rest is history.
the babka we make at second daughter is different, but somehow it still carries that same feeling of nostalgia. the nutella and cinnamon bring everything all the way home. this version is softer, more moist, way more chocolatey and, maybe a controversial take… no streusel. yes, i love streusel too, but i never felt like this babka needed it.
i remember working through the recipe late one night in february 2024. it was around 10:30 pm and i just kept pushing. adjusting the flavors, the proof, the bake, the syrup ratio. trying to get every detail exactly right.
and then, during that last hour of the night, i got it.
lucky for my neighbors , they were the very first people after me to try the babka straight out of the oven.
this wasn’t by mistake.
this was by design.
fast forward to today, and i reflect on my younger self often and where babka has taken me. it’s brought so many of you through our doors. some of you come in asking for it by name. some of you have never even tried it before, but somehow already know it’s going to be good.
that’s what i wanted to create.
that’s the second daughter babka.
if you were to ask me what my favorite pastry at second daughter is, every single time it would be the babka.
