# Dessert Breads and Coffee Cakes



## JustJoel (Nov 26, 2017)

I don’t see any particular forum or sub forum for dessert breads; I hope I’m posting in the right place!

My mom used to buy this delicious, chocolaty, dense and moist coffee cake at a local Jewish bakery and deli that since, I think, has gone out of business. It was called a chocolate alligator, because that was the shape of the braided cake, kind of. It was kind of like a babka on steroids, but rolled, braided, and topped with even more chocolate and sugar. Drat, I wish I’d taken pictures of it back then (with what, I don’t know. There weren’t smart phones or tablets!).e

Does this sound familiar to anyone? When I google “chocolate alligator,” all I get is a list of gator shaped chocolates! If it even sounds vaguely familiar, I’d love to hear about it.


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## Cooking Goddess (Nov 26, 2017)

If you click on the *"Forums"* link just below the Discuss Cooking logo, you can see all the sub-sub-categories below each sub-forum that is listed in a main forum. There are several listed beyond "Breads, etc" that might have worked. Also, if you're looking for a recipe (as opposed to posting a recipe), you might get quicker answers by adding ISO (In Search Of) at the very beginning of the title.

About taking a photo of something before phones and tablets? I would think you know that there is this wonderful invention called a camera.  Many modern people still use them.


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## JustJoel (Nov 26, 2017)

Cooking Goddess said:


> If you click on the *"Forums"* link just below the Discuss Cooking logo, you can see all the sub-sub-categories below each sub-forum that is listed in a main forum. There are several listed beyond "Breads, etc" that might have worked. Also, if you're looking for a recipe (as opposed to posting a recipe), you might get quicker answers by adding ISO (In Search Of) at the very beginning of the title.
> 
> About taking a photo of something before phones and tablets? I would think you know that there is this wonderful invention called a camera.  Many modern people still use them.


Thanks for the “ISO” tip, that’s useful!

Cameras, hmmmmmm. Oh those bulky things that you had to load with some kind of cellophane, or Kodachrome, and then have somebody else “develop”it for you. Then you had a “photograph” which was great for framing or putting in an album, and oh, you could upload to nowhere! I loved my first Kodak (got me in a heap o’ trouble when I took a shot of my mom sleeping!). But I wasn’t really savvy on the value of photographing food for future reference. &#55357;&#56832;


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## Aunt Bea (Nov 26, 2017)

I googled *Jewish Bakery Alligator Cake Recipe* and found several original famous secret recipes but none were chocolate.


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## Kaneohegirlinaz (Nov 26, 2017)

JustJoel said:


> I don’t see any particular forum or sub forum for dessert breads; I hope I’m posting in the right place!
> 
> My mom used to buy this delicious, chocolaty, dense and moist coffee cake at a local Jewish bakery and deli that since, I think, has gone out of business. It was called a *chocolate alligator*, because that was the shape of the braided cake, kind of. It was kind of like a babka on steroids, but rolled, braided, and topped with even more chocolate and sugar. Drat, I wish I’d taken pictures of it back then (with what, I don’t know. There weren’t smart phones or tablets!).e
> 
> Does this sound familiar to anyone? When I google “chocolate alligator,” all I get is a list of gator shaped chocolates! If it even sounds vaguely familiar, I’d love to hear about it.



Joel, 

LA Kosher Bakery | Schwartz Bakery Los Angeles - COFFEE CAKES

I found this...
if you let it scroll through, a "chocolate alligator" comes up


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## Cooking Goddess (Nov 27, 2017)

JustJoel said:


> ...Cameras, hmmmmmm. Oh those bulky things that you had to load with some kind of cellophane, or Kodachrome, and then have somebody else “develop”it for you...


Or digital cameras, which were invented in 1975 - quite possibly before you were born. The first consumer digital camera hit the market twenty years later - plenty of time since then for many of us to take film-free photos.


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## JustJoel (Nov 27, 2017)

Cooking Goddess said:


> Or digital cameras, which were invented in 1975 - quite possibly before you were born. The first consumer digital camera hit the market twenty years later - plenty of time since then for many of us to take film-free photos.


In 1985, I was living in Japan, teaching dance, choreographing, directing stage productions and performing on TV. Oh, and teaching English (if you live in Japan for more than a month, you will invariably end up teaching English. Even if you’re French or German!). Those digital thingies you were talking about (Kam-ur-ahs?) probably debuted in Japan first, and I have no excuse for not having had one, except that I was too busy to think about photography. Or write a cooking blog.


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## JustJoel (Nov 27, 2017)

Cooking Goddess said:


> Or digital cameras, which were invented in 1975 - quite possibly before you were born. The first consumer digital camera hit the market twenty years later - plenty of time since then for many of us to take film-free photos.


Poop! You said 1975. I graduated in ‘77. I had a camera in ‘75, but rarely used it. And I didn’t know how to cook in ‘75, there was no internet for the masses, people would have looked at you strangely if you mentioned the word “blog,” if that word even existed then. “.” was pronounced “period” or “stop,” not “dot.” I wasn’t even aware of “digital,” except for watches.


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## blissful (Nov 27, 2017)

Kaneohegirlinaz said:


> Joel,
> 
> LA Kosher Bakery | Schwartz Bakery Los Angeles - COFFEE CAKES
> 
> ...



Yum, that looks delicious!


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## JustJoel (Nov 27, 2017)

Kaneohegirlinaz said:


> Joel,
> 
> LA Kosher Bakery | Schwartz Bakery Los Angeles - COFFEE CAKES
> 
> ...


The chocolate Babka looks more similar to the alligator of my youth. Lots of chocolate exposed and beckoning! But the chocolate alligator on the website looks yummy!


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## Kaneohegirlinaz (Nov 27, 2017)

JustJoel said:


> In 1985, I was living in Japan, teaching dance, choreographing, directing stage productions and performing on TV. Oh, and teaching English (if you live in Japan for more than a month, you will invariably end up teaching English. Even if you’re French or German!). Those digital thingies you were talking about (*Kam-ur-ahs*?) probably debuted in Japan first, and I have no excuse for not having had one, except that I was too busy to think about photography. Or write a cooking blog.





Oh my gawd!
Joel I haven't heard that since we left Hawaii 10 years ago,
and I'm willing to wager that few folks here at DC got that one 
"nani"?


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