This post presents a delectable apple and bread dessert known by various names. I call it Apple Babka, but similar recipes also are called Apple Zapikanka (pudding) or Apple Sharlotka (charlotte). The names often are confused because the recipes include similar ingredients: apples, bread or flour, butter, sugar and some also add eggs and/or milk.
Bread and apples, much loved in Ukraine, have been dietary staples since ancient times. Over centuries, Ukrainian cooks developed numerous apple-bread recipes.
Granny Smith and Honeycrisp apples
There are thousands of Apple Babka, Apple Zapikanka and Apple Sharlotka iterations which fall into four variations, each with numerous adaptations. In some versions, dry bread, softened with melted butter or egg-milk mixture, lines the baking mold before stewed apples or an apple purée filling is added before baking. In other recipes, rye or white breadcrumbs thickly line the sides and bottom of the form before adding the apple mixture.
In other versions, thin slices of apples are folded into a sponge cake batter, or the molded and sponge cake versions are combined when sliced apples are mixed with a sponge batter and poured into a bread-lined or breadcrumb-lined mold. These apple sponge cake versions have a Soviet origin: Women working long hours in state factories, coping with ingredient shortages and tiny communal kitchens, had little time for meal preparation. Recipes were adapted to what ingredients could be found in government stores, and cooks replaced stale bread in the molded dessert with a one-bowl sponge batter, leavened with egg whites or baking powder or soda.
Several legends seem to explain the name sharlotka, which is a legacy of Ukraine’s occupation by the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. One legend claims that sharlotka, a Slavic diminutive of Charlotte, is English in origin, named after Queen Charlotte, wife of King George III, who loved an old English molded apple-bread pudding. Another legend claims that Antoine Carȇme, history’s first celebrity chef and renowned pâtissier, learned of the molded English apple and bread pudding while cooking at the English court in London and modified it by replacing the stale bread with savoiardi (ladyfingers) and in place of simple stewed apples, a Bavaroise of cream, fresh berries, and gelatin, naming it Charlotte Russe, in honor of Tsar Nicholas I’s wife, who before marriage was Princess Charlotte of Prussia. Despite its molded appearance, Carȇme’s Charlotte did not resemble the English apple pudding. Still, the name sharlotka spread throughout the empire by word-of-mouth, eventually arriving in Ukraine, then part of the empire, and became synonymous with molded desserts. Yet, today the most common recipe for sharlotka is not as a molded dessert but an apple sponge cake!
The naming of these apple desserts seems to vary by region. Western Ukrainians use babka and zapikanka, while central and eastern Ukrainians use all three names. Generally, Ukrainians follow family tradition and call their favorite version by the name used in their childhood. Confusingly, however, the name sharlotka often is applied to any apple dessert.
Several weeks ago, I baked a highly touted Apple Sharlotka, the sponge cake version, after reading many nostalgic tributes to this Soviet pastry. It assembled quickly with virtually no cleanup, but while it baked into a fluffy apple sponge cake, I found it uninspiring and bland, good but not satisfying as a dessert. It reminds me of other recipes developed during repeated ingredient shortages when cooks adapted recipes to whatever sparse ingredients were provided by the Soviet Ministry of Food Production. I understand the nostalgia for these childhood recipes, but this recipe is too spartan and needs to be ramped up with additional vanilla, cinnamon, cloves and butter.
So, I prepared a classic Apple Babka from recipes published before 1917 to taste how frugal Ukrainian cooks combined leftover bread with apples in a dessert.
I started by locating the principal ingredients. Old Apple Babka recipes call for a firm white bread or bulka, an enriched bread like challah. I used a loaf of eggy brioche which I sliced and oven dried. I prepared the filling from tart, crisp Granny Smiths with one Honeycrisp to enhance sweetness, a combined substitute for Antonivka, the apple variety used in Ukraine. I also added a few tablespoons of brown sugar for a perfect sweet-tart balance. A large handful of raisins and cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and ginger rounded out the taste and spiced up the filling.
I buttered the bread and brushed it with a thin coating of apricot jam, rather than dip it in an egg-milk mixture à la French toast as some recipes advise. Following the Ukrainian practice of using even scraps of bread, I buttered the bread pieces and cutoffs left over after lining the pan and used them for a dividing layer and as a topping. I did not cover the top with toasted bread since I did not plan to invert the Apple Babka onto a platter before serving, but that is an option.
The enchanting and irresistible aroma envelopes the kitchen as this Apple Babka bakes is a preview of what is coming. This Apple Babka is a comforting fall dessert. It has an intense apple flavor, enhanced by warm spices, lemon with a subtle touch of rum. Apricot jam adds a fruity dimension. The brioche fingers and layers soften to a toothsome pastry. This Apple Babka is delicious as baked, but a scoop of vanilla ice cream raises it to ethereal heights.
Apple Babka, adapted from a host of unknown cooks
1 ½pounds (700 g) crisp and tart apples (about 3 Granny Smiths and 1 Honeycrisp)
1 lemon, zest and juice
4 tablespoons brown sugar, more to taste
3 tablespoons tapioca starch or Clear Jel*
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 lemon zest
½ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground ginger
½ cup (120 ml) golden raisins
Pinch of salt
1 loaf firm white bread or brioche bread
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons white sugar
2 tablespoons dark rum
½ cup (125 ml) apricot jam
Preparing the filling: Peel, core, quarter and slice the apples with a sharp knife or mandoline into even ⅛ inch (0.6 cm) pieces.
Preparing apples
Toss sliced apples with lemon juice to prevent browning. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar with tapioca starch or Clearjel.*
Adding brown sugar and tapioca starch mixture
Sprinkle evenly over apple mixture and stir to combine. Set aside for 15 minutes.
Then, melt 2 tablespoons of butter over medium heat in a deep skillet. Add apples and toss to coat. Cook over low heat until the apples soften (3-4 minutes). Stir in cinnamon, lemon zest, ground cloves, ginger, salt and raisins. Continue to cook for an additional 2-3 minutes until thickened and apples are fork tender. Remove skillet from heat. Stir in rum and set aside to cool to room temperature.
Prepare baking pan: Brush 3 tablespoons of butter evenly on bottom and sides of an 8-inch (20 cm) diameter and 2 ½- inch (6.4 cm) deep springform pan and sides. Then sprinkle pan with white sugar, covering the sides and bottom. Refrigerate pan.
Preheat oven to 250°F (121°C).
Preparing brioche
Cut bread into ½ inch (1.27 cm) thick slices and remove the crusts. Then, cut the bread slices into 14 fingers about 2 inches (5 cm) wide, leaving the remaining bread slices whole. Cut leftover bread into 1 cup of small cubes. Lay out bread pieces and cubes on baking sheets and bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes until dry to the touch without changing color. Then remove the bread from the oven and cool.
Assembling and baking: Preheat oven to 375ºF (190ºC) with oven rack in the middle position.
When ready to assemble, trim each bread finger with a serrated knife to the height of the pan. Then brush the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter on each bread finger and line the walls of the pan, slightly overlapping and adhering them to the pan. Cut the large pieces of bread to fit snuggly on the pan bottom in an even layer. Brush with butter.
Lined baking pan
Melt apricot jam in microwave and brush on the lined sides and bottom.
Fill the mold with half the cooled apple mixture, pressing down with the back of a spoon to release any air bubbles.
Adding filling
Butter and coat with apricot jam enough remaining bread fingers and scraps to spread in an even layer over the apples.
Coating brioche with apricot jam
Cover the scrap layer with the remaining filling, leveling off the top. Press filling with a spoon to eliminate air bubbles. Coat the toasted cubes with butter and distribute evenly over the top.
Apple Babka ready for the oven
Place the pan on a baking sheet and loosely cover the top with aluminum foil. Bake for 45-50 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for another 10 minutes until the top is browned.
Ready to serve
Cool for 1 hour before removing form and transferring the babka to the serving platter. Best served warm the same day.
Cover and refrigerate leftover babka. Reheat for 30 seconds in the microwave. Serve with whipped cream, crème fraiche or vanilla ice cream.
Serves 8-10.
*Clear Jel, a modified corn starch used by commercial bakeries for fruit pies, can be purchased online. I use Hoosier Hill Farm Clear Jel Cooktype Powder, available online, which requires heat to trigger jelling and works best for pie filling made with uncooked fruit. Another version of this thickener, Clear Jel Instant does not require heat and jells on contact with liquid but works best with cooked fruit fillings.
Photo credit: All photos—Slava Johnson
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