Cardamom Babka Wreath

This Cardamom Babka Wreath is a stunning centrepiece for Christmas brunch, or any time of the year! Recipe with step-by-step photos.

Cardamom Babka Wreath

If you’re looking for the perfect centrepiece for Christmas brunch, may I suggest this Cardamom Babka Wreath? This beautifully-braided bread, heady with freshly-ground cardamom, will fill your home with the most wonderful scent as it bakes, perfect for getting everyone into the mood for a day filled with festive fun.

This Cardamom Babka Wreath is the perfect loaf for slicing and sharing, and I promise you that it is so much easier than it looks! The bread itself is soft and fluffy, but the crust is golden and caramelised from the cardamom-sugar topping which you add just before baking. I also like to generously sprinkle pearl sugar all over the wreath to make it extra cosy for winter.

Cardamom Buns

This Cardamom Bun Wreath is, as you may have guessed, a giant version of a cardamom bun which is popular throughout Sweden and Denmark.

Cardamom buns are usually made as knotted buns, and they are typically eaten at breakfast or during a coffee break. Whenever I am in Sweden or Denmark, I always seek out different bakeries to try every possible version of these delicious buns.

I think you have to be a fan of cardamom to like these buns – they are typically quite heavily spiced with freshly-ground cardamom, which can be quite spicy or peppery in taste. But at home, you can play with the spice levels somewhat, so you can add as much or as little cardamom as you like.

Cardamom Pods vs Cardamom Seeds

If you have ever tasted a fresh cardamom bun from a bakery in Sweden or Denmark, you will usually notice the distinct fragrance of cardamom right away, evidenced by the flecks of freshly-ground cardamom on top of the buns. They look like coarsely ground black pepper, but they are in fact ground cardamom seeds.

When making cardamom buns, I recommend using whole cardamom seeds which have already been extracted from the cardamom pods (also called decorticated cardamom seeds). If you can’t find cardamom seeds, you can remove the seeds from the cardamom pods themselves by pounding them open with a pestle and mortar. However, this process can be quite fiddly and time-consuming.

The cardamom seeds themselves are too large and coarse to use right away, so you will need to grind them coarsely, either with a pestle and mortar or an electric spice grinder.

If you are out of luck and can’t find neither cardamom pods nor cardamom seeds, you can use ground cardamom which is more readily available. However, store-bought ground cardamom is nowhere near as fragrant and punchy as freshly ground cardamom – you will smell and taste the difference right away.

If you opt to use store-bought ground cardamom in this recipe, I recommend adding an extra 1-2 teaspoons to increase the cardamom flavour.

Cardamom Wreath Bread

Here, the recipe starts out like a typical recipe for American-style Cinnamon Rolls or cardamom buns, but then it follows the steps for making a babka (a Jewish braided bread with a sweet filling), before being transformed into a wreath shape.

If you are not familiar with making babka, the steps for braiding or twisting the bread might sound complicated, but they are in fact very easy. In fact, making this large babka wreath is easier and quicker than making a dozen individual buns!

How to Make Cardamom Bun Wreath

Step 1

Measure the flour, sugar, yeast and salt into the bowl of an electric stand mixer. Lightly mix the ingredients together.

Step 2

Add the egg to the bowl. Slowly add the warm milk (you may not need all of it), and lightly beat everything with the dough hook until it comes together into a large ball of dough. Only add as much milk as you need to bring the ingredients together into a dough.

Step 3

Slowly incorporate the butter, one tablespoon at a time, until all of the butter has been used.

Then increase the speed to medium and continue kneading with the dough hook for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Step 4

Lightly oil a large mixing bowl, and place the dough into the bowl. Cover the bowl with a clean tea towel and leave it somewhere warm for 1 to 1.5 hours, or until the dough has doubled in size.

Step 5

Once the dough has doubled in size, gently remove the dough from the bowl. The dough will deflate as you handle it.

Roll out the dough into a rectangle shape measuring approximately 50 x 30 cm/20 x 12 inches.

Step 6

Make the filling by beating together the ingredients. Use a small palette knife to evenly spread the filling all over the dough. Be sure to spread the filling right to the edges of the dough so that you have maximum cardamom-sugar in each bun.

Step 7

Roll up the dough tightly from the long end, so that you have a log of dough which is 50 cm/20 inches long.

Pinch the edges together to seal the dough. Lay the dough with the seam facing down.

Step 8

Use a sharp knife to cut through the centre of the dough, length-wise, to expose all of the layers.

Step 9

Arrange both strands of dough in the shape of an X.

Step 10

Start twisting the strands of dough. I find it easiest to start twisting the dough from below the centre.

Step 11

Then twist the dough from above the centre to form a nicely twisted log of dough.

Step 12

Transfer the twisted dough to a large sheet pan lined with baking paper. As you do so, bring the ends of the dough together to form the wreath shape.

Carefully rearrange the dough as necessary to form a nice wreath shape. Make sure that you leave a large hole in the centre, and that the ends are securely tucked under the wreath. I like to secure the ends with toothpicks, to doubly ensure that they do not unravel upon baking.

Step 13

Leave the shaped wreath somewhere warm to proof until it has puffed up approximately 1/4 of its size. The timing will depend on how warm your room is. Make sure it is not too warm, otherwise the butter from the filling might melt.

Once you are ready to bake, lightly brush the dough part of the wreath with egg wash (you don’t need to brush the exposed filling). Sprinkle with the cardamom-sugar topping, followed by some pearl sugar.

Step 14

Preheat the oven to 200°C/390°F with a metal baking tray on the middle shelf.

Bake the wreath for 10 minutes on the pre-heated metal tray. 

Reduce the heat to 180°C/356°F and bake for another 20-25 minutes, or until the wreath is lightly golden. Check the wreath at about 10-15 minutes, and if it is browning too quickly, cover it with a loose sheet of foil for the rest of the baking time.

The wreath is cooked if an internal thermometer reads 85°C (185°F).

Place the baking pan on a wire rack and leave the wreath to cool completely. Some of the butter from the filling will melt and pool around the wreath during baking, and this is normal. As the wreath cools, the sugary-butter mixture will harden and caramelise. If you wish, you can break off these caramelised bits when they are still warm and before they have set completely.

Tips for Making Cardamom Bun Wreath

1. Make the dough in advance. You can make the dough the night before, and let it prove overnight in the fridge. The next morning, proceed with the rest of the recipe. The dough will be cold from the fridge, but it will be easier to work with.
2. Proof the shaped wreath somewhere warm, but not too warm. I typically use my steam oven to proof dough at a temperature of 40°C/104°F. However, for a recipe like this which uses a lot of butter, you want to avoid proofing the shaped wreath anywhere too warm as the butter can melt. Instead, I recommend that you leave the shaped wreath on the kitchen counter at room temperature to slowly puff up.
3. Don’t worry about leaks. Some of the butter from the filling will melt and leak from the wreath as it bakes. This is normal. Once the wreath has cooled, the butter and sugar will become crispy. You can either break these pieces off, but some people like these crispy bits with their cardamom bun.
4. The wreath will increase in size. During baking, the wreath will puff up and almost double in size. So keep this in mind when shaping the wreath, and making sure that the hole in the centre is large enough. Also make sure that your braid or twist is secure as any loose ends or strands of dough can become “detached” as it bakes.
5. Use freshly-ground cardamom seeds. If you are new to cardamom, you might want to start with regular ground cardamom. But nothing compares to the flavour and scent of using freshly-ground cardamom seeds in this recipe, both in the dough and in the filling.

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