Rum baba

After sampling a rum baba at Jameson’s Irish Pub, I found a recipe.

It is not English or Irish, no matter what Kim Fletcher might say. The modern rum baba, with dried fruit and soaked in rum, was invented in the rue Montorgueil in Paris, France, in 1835. I take no responsibility for this recipe.

Cooking method

Dissolve the 5g salt in water and add 15g sugar. In a separate bowl, mix the 50ml water with the yeast and mix well then add the yeast to the salt/sugar mixture and blend. Add the flour and knead gently. Add the eggs, a third at a time and mix in the food processor for 7 minutes.

Soften butter then slowly add to the mixture and increase the speed until the mixture is smooth. Pour the mixture in to the baba moulds until they are 3/4 full. Transfer to the oven and cook for 20 to 30 minutes until the babas are golden all over.

Whilst the babas are in the oven, prepare the syrup: Zest the orange. Place the 500g sugar in a saucepan with 1 liter of water, the orange zest and the spices. Bring to the boil to dissolve the sugar and allow the spices to infuse. Add the rum to the pan and stir. Remove the babas from the moulds and immerse in the syrup, allow them to soak up plenty of the syrup.

Whisk cream in a bowl until thick then add the icing sugar. Mix vigorously to thicken the cream. Garnish babas with the cream, and more rum.