Recent Bakes — Oct/Nov 2025
Cinnamon Rolls
Ratings
- Difficulty: 3/5
- Taste: 5/5
- Appearance: 3.5/5
Improvements
I’m not good at getting a tight and consistent roll, which lead to several of them opened up during baking. And although the two rises seemed to go okay, you can see they didn’t quite fill out enough to press up against the sides of the baking dish and create that IG worthy square shape. They’re all just a little lopsided and uneven, it’s crazy how precise you need to be with your rolling and trimming as any deviation is amplified during baking.
I also forgot to foil them for the first 15 minutes of baking which lead to uneven colouring and the icing needed to be much thicker!
Date Caramel Babka
Ratings
- Difficulty: 3/5
- Taste: 4/5 Chocolate | 3/5 Date Caramel
- Appearance: 2/5 Chocolate | 4/5 Date Caramel
Improvements
The Babka on the left was my first attempt using chocolate. I poured the hot filling onto the dough and tried to roll and braid instantly, which was a huge mistake. I only managed to get one cross over done before chocolate starting oozing out of every possible gap, so I hastily wedged it into the loaf pan and baked it like that. I was pleased with the dough and the final result was very indulgent! Perhaps a little too indulgent, the chocolate filling included 40g of butter which I think I’ll skip next time.
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The one on the right was my second attempt using date caramel. This was far better as the caramel was cool and allowed me to cut and braid without making a mess. I will say though that the date caramel needs some work. Despite softening the dates in boiling water for 30 minutes, they didn't blend well and I had to pass it through a sieve to remove stubborn chunks. It was nice to just rely on the natural sugar from the dates for the filling so the whole Babka only contained 50g of granulated, but compared to the first attempt it was much more rustic tasting.
Gingerbread Loaf
Ratings
- Difficulty: 1/5
- Taste: 4/5
- Appearance: 3/5
Improvements
This was incredible minus one small mistake, I didn’t use enough ginger! I’d seen recipes call for anywhere from 1 to 2 tablespoons, so I played it cautious and it was an instant regret. I added cinnamon and mixed spice too, only 1 tsp of each which I think you could also nudge slightly higher.
Spooning over a simple syrup right after baking was a highlight. It added a nice sticky coating to the top, providing some differentiation between bites. Although I couldn’t help but feel a little dried fruit would go into this really well. I still have some dates left, so I may knock up another loaf and throw some of those in.
Perhaps an icing to cover would increase the appearance score, or I was thinking some small fudge cubes. But as a super simple, 1 bowl recipe it certainly delivers.
