The original babka was a tall, yeast-risen cake.

It was probably a lot like an Italian panettone. Its origins date back five hundred years or so to the Jewish communities in eastern Europe. Historian Lesley Chamberlain believes it arrived from Italy via Queen Bona in the 16th century, and developed into a Russified version of panettone.

The babka we know is a sweet loaf, both fluffy and rich with a dense filling swirled throughout.

By the late 19th Century, babka looked like what we know today: a sweet, swirled loaf, longer than it is tall. The grandmothers of the shtetls in Eastern Europe (where babcia is the word for grandmother) probably made babka with leftover challah bread dough wrapped around nuts or jam. These days, the nuts have been replaced with fillings like cinnamon or, most popularly, chocolate—an addition that first showed up in the Jewish communities in New York’s lower east side in the mid-1900s.

The master bakers at Zingerman’s Bakehouse have given babka a flavor update worthy of the new millennium.

Rich with butter, swirling with chocolate and cinnamon, and studded with golden sultana raisins, our modern babka bursts with chocolatey sweetness. If you have memories of dry, lifeless babka from your childhood, forget ‘em.