The sweet saga of rum baba: From royal origins to modern delight
There are legends about the French rum baba. One such story involves a Polish king. Some credit him with the idea of the rum-soaked cake, but it's difficult to pinpoint the exact origins. Nevertheless, the dessert undeniably possesses a certain allure. After indulging in such a sweet delight, little 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 a hot fruit sauce, often enhanced by a touch of aromatic liqueur.
A Polish touch in the recipe for French rum baba
There are tales suggesting that the recipe for the French rum baba was accidentally created at the court of King Stanislaw Leszczynski, who was exiled in France in the first half of the 18th century. His cook at the time, Nicolas Stohrer, once served him a very dry cake. The angry king threw the cake at a bottle of rum. The alcohol spilled over the cake, unexpectedly saving the dessert. The baba gained worldwide fame, and based on the original recipe, various versions emerged, such as baba Savarin and Neapolitan baba.
Rum baba without alcohol
According to the original recipe, the cake is soaked in rum, but it can also be made alcohol-free. For the punch, prepare juice squeezed from three sweet oranges, 1.5 cups of water, and half a cup of sugar. Mix the ingredients and heat them until the sugar dissolves. Pour the hot punch over the baba and let it absorb the mixture.
Recipe
In the alcohol-free version, omit the rum and instead add extra freshly squeezed orange juice to the punch.
Ingredients:
- 0.7 oz yeast
- 3 tablespoons warm milk
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2 cups flour
- 2 eggs
- a pinch of salt
- 2.1 oz butter
- for the punch: 0.5 cups water, 0.5 cups orange juice, 0.5 cups sugar, 4 fl oz rum
- extras: 7 fl oz heavy cream, 7 oz fruits in sweet syrup
Instructions:
- Make the starter with 0.7 oz 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 mold 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 390°F 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 mold, place it in the center. For a classic baba mold, 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.
