The storied journey of rum baba: From Polish royalty to Parisian delight
There are legends about the French rum baba. In one of them, the name of the Polish king Stanisław Leszczyński even appears. Some attribute the idea of rum-soaked cake to him, but it's hard to determine the truth. It certainly holds its allure. After such a sweet delight, nothing else is needed.
In France, the cake is known as baba Savarin, named after a French confectioner and epicurean who lived during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. In Paris, it is served in two versions – cold with whipped cream and fruit in sweet syrup, or warm with hot fruit sauce, often with a touch of aromatic liqueur.
Rum baba without alcohol
According to the original recipe, the cake is soaked in rum, but if preferred, you can also make it alcohol-free. For the punch, prepare juice squeezed from 3 sweet oranges, 350 ml of water, and 120 ml of sugar. Mix the ingredients and heat them to dissolve the sugar. Pour the hot punch over the baba and leave it until the cake absorbs everything.
Recipe for Savarin baba
In the alcohol-free version, omit the rum and instead, add more freshly squeezed orange juice to the punch.
Ingredients:
- 20 g yeast,
- 3 tablespoons warm milk,
- 1 tablespoon sugar,
- 2 cups flour,
- 2 eggs,
- a pinch of salt,
- 60 g butter,
- for the punch: 120 ml water, 120 ml orange juice, 120 ml sugar, 120 ml rum,
- extras: 200 ml heavy cream, 200 g fruits in sweet syrup.
Instructions:
- Make the starter with 20 g yeast, 3 tablespoons warm milk, and 1 tablespoon sugar. Set aside to rise in a warm place for 15 minutes.
- Sift the flour into a large bowl, add the eggs, the yeast starter, and a pinch of salt.
- Melt the butter in a saucepan and set aside to cool.
- Use a mixer with hooks to knead the ingredients in the bowl. Towards the end, add the melted butter. Continue kneading until the dough starts to separate from the sides of the bowl. Cover with a cloth and set aside in a warm place for at least 30 minutes.
- Grease a baba mould with butter. Transfer the risen dough into it and set aside for another 15 minutes.
- After this time, place it in an oven preheated to 200°C for 30 minutes. Remove and let cool on a rack.
- In a saucepan, heat the punch ingredients, but do not bring to a boil. Once the sugar dissolves, remove from the stove and mix with the rum.
- Place the baba on a plate with a high rim, pour over the punch, and leave it until it absorbs all the liquid.
- Whip the cream – if the baba was made in a ring mould, place it in the centre. For a classic baba mould, cut it in half and fill it with whipped cream.
- Put the fruits in sweet syrup on top of the cream or next to the baba.
