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The plural and genitive form of ''baba'' is ''baby'' (pronounced ''{{small|BAH}}-bih'', not ''{{small|BAY}}-bee''). You can sometimes see in Poland some half-translated labels, like ''żel do mycia baby'', which was probably meant to say "baby washing gel", but actually says "crone washing gel". When Eugeniusz Bodo sang "''ach te baby''" in the 1930s, he wasn't addressing his one and only baby; he meant all women in general. Or did he mean the cakes?

{{ Cytat

| <poem>Lovely 'baby', oh these 'baby'!

}}

After all, baking a beautifuil, tall, airy ''baba'' was one of the most demanding tasks Polish home cooks ever had to face. Great care was needed to prevent the cake from sinking or browning a little too much. A housewife who aimed for the perfect ''baba'' had to start by choosing the best ingredients – high quality wheat flour, good beer yeast and fresh butter. The oven had to be heated as much as possible, so that it could keep a constant temperature for a long time. The moulds had to be perfectly clean before being filled with dough and popped into the oven. Then came the almost magical practices whose goal was to prevent the ''baba'' from getting cold and falling. Doors and windows were sealed to avoid draughts, women walked on their toes and talked in whispers when close to the oven, and finally, the ''baba'' was gently placed on down pillows for cooling. And of course, no men were allowed in the kitchen; the baking of a ''baba'' was a ''baby''-only affaire.<ref>{{Cyt

}}</ref>

In any case, the word ''baba'' was used in the sense of "yeast cake" at least as early as the 17th century.<ref>{{Cyt

| inni = ed. Włodzimierz Gruszczyński

}}</ref> Here, for example, is a description of an Easter breakfast, supposedly celebrated at the court of Prince Sapieha during the reign of King Vladislav IV (r. 1633–1648), long before Stanislas was even born:

{{ Cytat

| <poem>In the middle stood a lamb with a pennon representing the Lamb of God, all in pistachios {{...}}