Celebration Recipe Baba au Rhum
David’s inspiration for this festive cake was the movie Babette’s Feast, and a family gathering at Christmas time. Baba au Rhum is not complicated to make, however, it is a yeast-based dough so you need to allow enough time for the dough to rise. David’s Cocoa & Lavender post includes several beautiful photos for this dessert that David says he will make many more times. The recipe for Baba au Rhum is below.
Baba au Rhum
A soft spongy cake soaked in aromatic aged rum and topped with fresh whipped cream.
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup milk heated to 105-110°F
- 1 package dry yeast
- 1 3/4 cups flour sifted and divided
- 6 tbsp unsalted butter softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tbsp granulated sugar
- 4 eggs at room temperature
- zest of 1 orange in strips
- 1 cup dark rum
- 1 cup apricot jam
- 1 cup heavy cream (35%)
- 2-3 tbsp confectioners’ sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- glacé fruits (I used red and green cherries for Christmas)
Instructions
- In a large stainless steel bowl, dissolve yeast in warm milk.
- Stir in 1/4 cup flour.
- Cover, and set aside in a warm place to rise until spongy - about 20 minutes.
- Coat a 6-cup Kugelhopf pan with baking spray.
- Using an electric mixer, cream the butter.
- Add in 2 tablespoons granulated sugar and 2 tablespoons flour.
- Beat in eggs, 1 at a time.
- Whisk butter and egg mixture into the yeast sponge.
- Beat in remaining flour to make a thick dough-like batter.
- Spoon batter evenly into the prepared mold. Set aside in a draft-free place to rise until dough reaches the top of the mold - about 45 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- While the baba rises, combine remaining cup of sugar with 2 cups water in a saucepan; bring to a boil. Remove from heat.
- Add orange zest and allow to cool to room temperature.
- Stir in 1/2 cup rum.
- Bake baba about 40 minutes, until nicely browned on top.
- Remove from oven and unmold.
- Place cake in a pie plate and pour syrup over it. Using a pastry brush, brush the top and sides of the cake with the syrup that has accumulated in the pie plate. Not all the syrup will be absorbed.
- Transfer cake to a wire rack placed over the pie plate to catch drips.
- Strain jam through a mesh sieve into a small saucepan; heat until quite warm.
- Brush the jam onto the cooled baba.
- Mix cream, confectioner's sugar, and vanilla extract; whip until very stiff, then chill.
- Just before serving, fill the center of the baba with whipped cream; I piped it in from a pastry bag, but dolloping it on top is just fine.
- Decorate around base with glacé fruit.
- To serve, slice the cake and drizzle with some of the remaining rum as each portion is plated.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
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