Rum baba

This cake was officially invented during the first half of the eighteenth century, when the king of Poland Stanislas Leszczynski, father-in-law of Louis XV then Duke of Lorraine and installed in Nancy, finding the kougelhopf too dry asked him to be watered of Tokay wine, then replaced by rum.

The kougelhopf (or kouglof), is a dough bun, the appearance of which is characteristic because of its mold, which gives it a high, fluted shape and hollowed out in the middle. Kouglof can be sweet, with raisins soaked in rum or kirsch and almonds, or salted, with bacon and walnuts. This specialty has long been a celebration cake, prepared for many occasions: Christmas, wedding, birth, village party.

It is more likely, however, that the origin of the baba au rhum is a Polish recipe, the baba or babka. It is a cake prepared for the main religious festivals (Christmas or Easter), from time immemorial. Becoming Duke of Lorraine, King Stanislas brought the recipe to his castle in Lunéville and Diderot evokes the "baba" in a letter to Sophie Volland in 1767. This pastry shop will be an unsurpassed success during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, with some adaptations.

But it was in Paris in 1835 that the Parisian pastry chef Nicolas Stohrer, a descendant of the Polish chef-pâtissier of King Stanislas, became the specialist in this dessert, replacing the tanaisie liqueur with rum.

The Baba is also the favorite cake of the Neapolitans. It is available with rum or liqueur of limoncello. It can be enjoyed alone or accompanied by vanilla ice cream.

Recipe

Ingredients

For Cake

1 tablespoon dry yeast
3 tablespoons warm water
3 eggs (beaten)
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon orange zest
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup golden raisins or dried currants
3 tablespoons dark rum
12 baba molds

For Rum Syrup

3 cups water
2 cups sugar
1/2 to 2/3 cup dark rum
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2/3 cup apricot preserves

Garnish

Sweetened whipped cream

PREPARATION

Stir the yeast and the warm water together in a large bowl and allow the yeast to dissolve for 5 minutes. Lightly beat the eggs into the yeast and water.
Mix the flour, sugar, citrus zest, and salt together and then stir the mixture into the yeast and eggs.
Knead the dough with the softened butter for about 5 minutes, until it turns soft and elastic. Cover the dough and allow it to rise for 1 hour until it doubles in size.
While the dough is rising, soak the raisins or currants in 3 tablespoons of rum. Once the dough has doubled, beat the rum-soaked fruit into it. Grease the baba molds and divide the dough among them.
Preheat an oven to 400 degrees. Cover the molds and allow the dough to rise for 30 to 45 minutes, or until the dough has just started to rise above the molds’ edges.
Uncover the babas and bake them for 20 to 25 minutes, until they turn golden brown and begin to pull away from the sides of the molds.
Immediately remove the babas from the molds and allow them to cool on a wire rack.
While the babas are cooling, make the rum soaking syrup. In a medium saucepan set over medium heat, bring the water and sugar to a boil for 5 to 10 minutes, until the syrup has thickened. Remove the syrup from the heat and stir the rum and vanilla extract into the mixture.
Place the babas into the hot rum syrup and turn them several times, allowing them to soak up the syrup. They will swell and absorb most of the syrup. Carefully transfer each baba onto a dessert plate and brush with a generous amount of heated apricot preserves. Garnish the babas au rhum with vanilla Chantilly cream and serve immediately.

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