One of the most beloved Czech desserts is the Bábovka cake, which has been baked for generations in beautiful decorative molds. Try this little wonder of Czech cuisine!
I'm here with a classic old-fashioned Czech recipe for Cocoa Marble Babovka that is easy to make and doesn't call for any of those crazy fad ingredients.
➜ Czech Bábovka
Bábovka is a very popular weekend dessert in the Czech Republic. The most common is a combination of light and dark batter colored with cocoa powder. After baking, a lovely two-color pattern appears on the cut of each piece of Bábovka.
This bundt cake is called "Mramorová Bábovka" in the Czech Republic, while its English name might be Marble Bundt Cake.
MY TIP: Other famous Czech pastries are kolache or vánočka houska bread
When I was little, my father would make Bábovka. He used to prepare this beautiful swirl cake in the same way as this recipe: the vanilla part was generously marbled with a layer of cocoa cake. We were always curious about the pattern inside the Bábovka when we cut it open!
➜ Ingredients
Here are all the ingredients you need to make the best homemade Czech Bábovka from scratch:
- Plain Greek yogurt, about 10 % fat. If you can't find this yogurt in your area, substitute light sour cream. A sour milk product (yogurt or cream) adds the desired moisture and richness to the cake! Take the yogurt out of the fridge half an hour before baking so that it is not too cold.
- All-purpose flour, in Czech „hladká mouka“
- Granulated sugar
- Eggs; you don't need to separate the whites from the yolks; the eggs are beaten whole. Remove the eggs from the refrigerator about half an hour before baking to allow them to come to room temperature.
- Baking powder
- Vegetable oil; either Canola or sunflower oil. Both of these types of oils are perfect for baking as they have a neutral taste.
- Cocoa powder unsweetened; for a nice chocolate color and flavor
- A little milk; to thin the cocoa batter
- Vanilla essence or extract; I used vanilla paste
- Powdered sugar; to dust a baked cake before serving
- To prepare a bundt pan: a little fat, plain breadcrumbs, or flour
✅ You’ll find the exact amount of ingredients below in the recipe card, which you can also print out.
Equipment: a smaller, 6-cup bundt cake pan (1.5 liters in volume), two mixing bowls, a hand-held electric mixer
➜ Instructions
STEP 1: First, prepare the bundt cake mold. Grease it thoroughly with a piece of solid fat (for example, Crisco) and sprinkle with about two tablespoons of breadcrumbs.
Read: How to grease and flour a bundt cake
STEP 2: Crack the eggs in a large bowl. Beat them with an electric mixer, slowly at first, then increase the speed. Gradually add the granulated sugar until you've used it all. After about five minutes, you should get a light, fluffy egg mixture.
STEP 3: Reduce the mixer speed to the minimum. Gradually add the flour mixed with baking powder, oil, and yogurt to the mixture.
STEP 4: Take less than half of the batter and put it in a clean bowl. Add in the cocoa powder and a little milk to keep the cocoa batter from being too thick. Briefly whisk with a mixer.
STEP 5: How to marble bundt cake: Pour half of the light batter into the prepared bundt pan. Cover with all of the cocoa cake batter and finish with a layer of the remaining vanilla cake batter. During baking, the two doughs come together to form a beautiful marbling that is visible when you cut into the cake.
STEP 6: Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C), and set to upper and lower heat. Bake the cake for 45 minutes to an hour, depending on the type of mold.
TIP: At the end of baking, test for doneness. Insert a wooden skewer into the center of the cake. If it comes out dry, the cake is done. If there is any raw dough left, bake for another five minutes and repeat the test.
⇢ Learn how to tell when my bundt cake is done
➜ Unmolding
Taking the Bábovka out of the mold can be quite tricky, especially if you have an old pan handed down from your mother or grandmother.
So when you bake a cake, you should start by greasing all the pan creases and dusting them with fine breadcrumbs. This should prevent any problems when removing the cake from the pan.
Once you've baked the Bábovka, let the cake cool on a wire rack for about 10–15 minutes. Place a flat plate on top of the pan and turn it over.
If the cake does not come out of the pan immediately, cool the surface of the pan with kitchen towels soaked in cold water and wrung out. This will allow the cake to release from the sides of the pan and turn out easily without tearing.
➜ Decorating
In the Czech Republic, Bábovka is usually sprinkled with powdered sugar before serving. Glazing is less common. A bundt pan produces beautiful shapes on the surface, so the cake doesn't need any extra decoration to amaze.
➜ Pronunciation
I have recorded a short audio clip about pronouncing the Czech word Bábovka. The first word in the audio is "Bábovka", and the second is "Mramorová bábovka," which means marble bundt cake.
➜ Useful tips
- The baking time depends on the material of the pan. If you have a stoneware or cast iron pan, the cake will take longer to bake in the oven. Light metal and silicone pans allow the cake to bake faster.
- I bake my bundt cake in an old stoneware mold (note that one of the handles is already chipped off). It just took an hour for the cake to be fully baked.
- The center of the cake usually puffs up during baking. You can cut it off to make the cake flat and help it sit better on the platter when served.
More Czech desserts:
- Zemlovka – apple bread pudding
- Livance – yeasted pancakes with cinnamon
- Míša řezy – black & white sheet cake
- Poppy seed bundt cake – maková bábovka
- Walnut bundt cake – orechova babovka
Tried this recipe?
Leave a review down in the comments! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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Bábovka – Czech Bundt Cake
Equipment
- 8-cup bundt cake
Ingredients
- 3 eggs
- 3 Tablespoons dark powdered cocoa
- ¾ cup plain Greek yogurt (210g) around 10 % fat, or sour cream
- 1 and ½ cups all-purpose flour (200g)
- 1 cup granulated sugar (200g)
- ½ cup vegetable oil (110ml)
- 1 and ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence or extract
- 2 Tablespoons milk to thin the cocoa batter
- 2 Tablespoons powdered sugar to dust baked babovka cake
Instructions
- First, prepare the bundt cake mold. Grease it thoroughly with a piece of solid fat (for example, Crisco) and sprinkle with about two tablespoons of breadcrumbs.
- Crack the eggs in a large bowl. Beat them with an electric mixer, slowly at first, then increase the speed. Gradually add the granulated sugar until you've used it all. After about five minutes, you should get a light, fluffy egg mixture.
- Reduce the mixer speed to the minimum. Gradually add the flour mixed with baking powder, oil, and yogurt to the mixture.
- Take less than half of the batter and put it in a clean bowl. Add in the cocoa powder and a little milk to keep the cocoa batter from being too thick. Briefly whisk with a mixer.
- Pour half of the light batter into the prepared bundt pan. Cover with all of the cocoa cake batter and finish with a layer of the remaining vanilla cake batter.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C), and set to upper and lower heat. Bake the cake for 45 minutes to an hour, depending on the type of mold.
Notes
- Makes 1 babovka cake / 12 slices.
- At the end of baking, test for doneness. Insert a wooden skewer into the center of the cake. If it comes out dry, the cake is done. If there is any raw dough left, bake for another five minutes and repeat the test.
- SERVING: Sprinkle the cake with icing sugar, cut into pieces, and serve with a cup of coffee or tea.
- The baking time depends on the material of the pan. If you have a stoneware or cast iron pan, the cake will take longer to bake in the oven. Light metal and silicone pans allow the cake to bake faster.
- The center of the cake usually puffs up during baking. You can cut it off to make the cake flat and help it sit better on the platter when served.
DISCLAIMER: Because I come from Central Europe, my recipes are based on metric units such as grams or milliliters. Check out how I convert metric units to the U.S. system:
Conversion chartNutritional Estimate pro portion
Bábovka is an ideal treat for mornings; Czechs like to eat a slice of this bundt cake for breakfast!
Jitka
Lovely cake, it looks delicous!
Petra
Hello Jitka, happy you like this bábovka cake!
margarita
came out Delicious! my first time making it. Everyone loved it!
Petra
Ahoj Margarita, thanks a lot for your comment, and I’m happy you liked the bábovka recipe! 🙂
Sabrina Koleilat
Petro, dekuji moc za recept! Dnes bude pect! Jsem moc rada, ze jsem vás našla! Happy New Year!
Petra
Hello Sabrina, thanks a lot for your kind comment, I hope bábovka will turn great out. Moc zdravím a samozřejmě v novém roce i vám jen to dobré!
Radka
Hello from Canada!
So happy I came across your website. It does not happen very often I'd be craving something but I did want to have babovka the other day! Your Babovka was a hit and will make it again. I appreciate that your recipe does not call for 6 eggs, 4 cups sugar and 2 cups oil if you know what I mean. 🙂 Take care and keep it up, best wishes from the Rockies.
Petra Kupská
Ahoj Radka, what a nice comment, thank you!
I have heard that abroad cakes similar to Czech bábovka are made much sweeter, and the home cooks top them with various glazes or frostings. Czechs are advocates of simple recipes; they usually just dust the surface of the bábovka with icing sugar. I think it looks good that way and tastes just enough to have a sweet life still 🙂
Best wishes from North Bohemia, Petra
Bianca
looks and smells great so far, cant wait to taste.
I was looking for a Bábovka recipe as I fondly remember the ones my Grandma and my Babi would make for me as a child. This is one of the recipes that I never leaned from them so am so grateful for your blog!
Petra Kupská
Oh, thank you so much for such a sweet comment and for remembering your Grandma and Babi! I truly hope you enjoy the bábovka cake, and as we say: dobrou chuť!
kristena
This is a fantastic recipe. I had written you a few months back to tell you how excited I am to find Czech recipes in English. You and your son did a great job!
For me, the recipe is perfect. However, my cooktime was less than recommended. I live at 2500 above sea level and used 340. It was done after 40 minutes for me. Maybe next time I will try 325.
Again, I appreciate these recipes. It makes me so happy..
Petra Kupská
Hi Kristena, thank you for writing in again! Your comment made me happy and of course, I'll let my son know too, I'm sure your words will please him. I am surprised that altitude affects baking time - nature works wonders and we have to adapt 🙂 Anyway, I'm glad you had success with the bábovka cake and that your loved ones enjoyed it! Many greetings from the Czech Republic, Petra
kristena
I'm making it again - I have found that 335 for 45 minutes is the trick. Also, I have one of those thick non-stick bundt pans, so that may impact baking time too.
Everyone loves this cake. My husband takes it to work and they asked for the recipe! Thanks again.
Petra Kupská
Thank you very much for the feedback on the bábovka cake. It's true that a lot of seemingly little things affect the baking method or time. What is important is the result, which was a success, and that is the best praise for any home baker!
Milena Bartik
Wow, I have never made or eaten such a fine(jemnou) babovku. That yogurt makes such a difference,
Petra Kupská
Oh, thank you for such a lovely comment 🙂 You're right, and I can confirm that sour cream (or Greek yogurt) will ensure that the bábovka cake is soft and moist (not dry). I'm glad the bábovka cake was a success with you! ????
Milena Bartik
Just a question, do you think that the yogurt would make a difference in gluten free(bezlepku) babovka? So far any gluten free baking from scratch was not success for me.
Sandy
My husband’s cousin who recently passed away used to make something she called Babovka. She must have been using the wrong name because this is not at all what she made. Her’s was a poppy seed filled very light bread type roll shaped more like a strudel. Does this sound familiar to you? Do you know what the correct would be? I’m going to have to give this “real” babovka a try. It looks delicious.
Petra Kupská
I suppose it could be either a classic poppy seed strudel or a sweet pastry made from yeast dough called "babka." The word babka is similar to the phrase bábovka. Babka pastry is a slice of yeasted dough, coated with a filling of ground poppy seeds (or chocolate, walnuts,...), then rolled and baked. Please try a google image search for the word "babka poppy seed," it might be what you are looking for. Otherwise, the classic Czech bábovka cake is baked in a particular mold (see recipe) and tastes wonderful 🙂 If you decide to give the bábovka a try, I'd love it if you'd post how it turned out. Best wishes, Petra
Andrea
This babovka is delicious! Feels like “home”, thank you so much for the recipe 😉
Petra Kupská
Thank you for your nice words, Andrea! 🙂
Helena Johnson
Dobry den Patro, manzel nasel tvuj recept, ja mam formu - jsem z Plzne a je to stara Ceska forma - budu pect zitra, dnes vyrabim susenky. Ziji v Anglii uz 53 let, cesky mluvim s manzelem, on je Anglican. Moc mu chutna moje vareni a peceni. Jestli bys chtela, podivej se na muj blog
letitgrowblog.me
Petra Kupská
Hezky den, Helenko, dekuji za mily komentar! Mate krasnou cestinu, na to, ze jste z Cech tak dlouho pryc. Babovku vyzkousejte, jen recept je na mensi formu. Pisu, protoze kazda forma je jinak velika. Z tveho blogu na me dycha pohoda, drzim moc palce pri tvorbe prispevku!
Daniela
No idem vyskusat, ja mam slovensky recept a neni to z tej all purpose flour to prave orechove. Dak si drzim palce, nesiem zajtra na pohostenie na meeting. Dakujem!
Petra Kupská
DanielO, dekuji za komentar a budu rada, kdyz das vedet, jak se babovka povedla! S moukou muze byt problem. Pecu z ceske hladke, měla by nejvic odpovidat AP mouce v USA.
Erena
Where in the world do you find 10% Greek yogurt? I have not seen that anywhere here in the USA. I have 2% yogurt and hope that will work.
Petra Kupská
I'm from the Czech Republic, where 10% fat Greek yogurt is readily available. If you can't find 10% yogurt in your store, please try a light sour cream with a similar fat content instead.