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Better Chocolate Babka

Inadvertently, this has become week on Smitten Kitchen, wherein I air my grievances at past recipes and exhibit what I hope can be passed off as “” in reformulating them for modern times. Still, nobody could more surprised than I am that of all the recipes in the archives, it’s from seven years ago that have ended up in this queue, because at the time we found them beyond reproach: rich, buttery, crumbly and intensely chocolaty. They were precisely what we’d remembered getting from the store growing up, but better, I mean, I’d they’d be. Clocking in at 3/4 pound of semisweet chocolate and almost a cup of butter per loaf, the recipe in fact uses triple this (2.25 pounds of chocolate! 1.25 pounds of butter!) for three loaves. And not unlike the , this, along with the messy, complicated prep, became the problem. Despite repeated requests from our families every holiday, I’ve probably only made it once since, if that. It’s all too much.

By smittenkitchen · From Open Recipes · 16 ingredients
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Better Chocolate Babka

Why it works: Lemon and sunflower match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 352 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Better Chocolate Babka

Ingredients

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1203Calories
28 gProtein
54 gFat
153 gCarbs

Counts 11 of 12 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 11 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Sunflower1 oz (28g) hulled165
Chocolate1 oz (28g) semisweet155
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Orange1 medium (131g)62
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By smittenkitchen. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Lemon + sunflowertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together352 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  2. Flour + sunflowertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together803 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Flour + cocoa powdertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,244 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, egg, butter, sunflower, chocolate, cocoa powder):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Coconutfits better
  3. Avocadofits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, egg, butter, sunflower, chocolate, cocoa powder. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.