Teaneck—The Brooklyn-based Shloimy’s Bakery recently attempted to change its recipe for its vanilla babka, which is sold locally at Cedar Market. A public outcry ensued, with calls to Cedar Market and subsequently to Shloimy’s, arguing on behalf of the old recipe. The babka was a delicately lemon-scented vanilla confection with six whorls of dough baked together around one central whorl, creating a high, flaky outer core and soft middle. Heartfelt pleas to return the recipe to its old formulation were written and texted, petitioning the bakery on the importance of returning to the original recipe.

“Over the past few months, I have developed a particular affinity (more like an addiction) to your vanilla babka, which I have purchased for every single Shabbos, since I first tried it. I do not want to overstate this, but your vanilla babka was life-changing for me. I looked forward to eating it all week long; it gave me something to live for. It made my Shabbos complete. Simply stated, it put me back on the derech,” a letter from a Teaneck resident to Shloimy’s said. The letter writer then described feeling dismay and horror when a smaller, less fluffy, substandard version of the babka arrived in Cedar Market, “It all came crashing down,” the writer wrote.

After many residents emailed and texted the bakery, Shloimy’s reinstated its recipe and apologized for trying the new recipe. The classic vanilla babka sold under the Cedar Market label was enjoyed by all again last Shabbos.

By Elizabeth Kratz