Recipe courtesy of Stephanie Boswell
Recipe courtesy of Stephanie Boswell
Watch how to make this recipe.
Baba au Rhum
Getting reviews...
- Level: Intermediate
- Total: 4 hr (includes rising, soaking and cooling times)
- Active: 1 hr
- Yield: 12 servings
-
- Nutritional Analysis
- Per Serving
- Serving Size
- 1 of 12 servings
- Calories
- 940
- Total Fat
- 47 g
- Saturated Fat
- 8 g
- Carbohydrates
- 115 g
- Dietary Fiber
- 1 g
- Sugar
- 87 g
- Protein
- 5 g
- Cholesterol
- 69 mg
- Sodium
- 117 mg
The French take credit for popularizing this sweet treat, but culinary historians trace its roots to Eastern Europe, specifically Poland, which makes sense as the yeasty cake dough shares a lot in common with another sweet cake-bread hybrid, babka. Although a bit time-consuming to make, baba au rhum is a pretty easy and straightforward treat. Best of all, the dough can be baked well in advance and soaked in the rum syrup just before serving!
- Level: Intermediate
- Total: 4 hr (includes rising, soaking and cooling times)
- Active: 1 hr
- Yield: 12 servings
-
- Nutritional Analysis
- Per Serving
- Serving Size
- 1 of 12 servings
- Calories
- 940
- Total Fat
- 47 g
- Saturated Fat
- 8 g
- Carbohydrates
- 115 g
- Dietary Fiber
- 1 g
- Sugar
- 87 g
- Protein
- 5 g
- Cholesterol
- 69 mg
- Sodium
- 117 mg
Ingredients
Dough:
Rum Syrup and Glaze:
NEW: You can now switch to Cook Mode to keep your screen awake.
Directions
- For the dough: Combine the raisins, rum, orange zest and vanilla in a small bowl and set aside.
- Combine the milk, sugar and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add the whole eggs and yolks, flour and salt and beat until smooth with no lumps, 5 to 10 minutes. Add the raisin mixture to the bowl and continue to beat until the raisins are evenly distributed throughout the dough. Slowly pour the melted butter into the dough, continuing to beat on low speed until incorporated.
- Increase the mixer speed to medium-high and beat until the dough pulls away from and slaps the sides of the bowl, 5 to 10 minutes. The dough will be sticky. Lightly coat a large bowl with vegetable oil. Transfer the dough to the bowl, brush the top of the dough with oil, cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm spot. Allow to rise until doubled in size, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
- Butter a 12-cup standard muffin pan. Punch down the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. With floured hands, evenly divide the dough into 12 pieces and shape each piece into a small ball. Place 1 dough ball into each muffin cup and allow to rise until the dough puffs over the sides of the muffin cups, about 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- Bake, rotating the pan halfway though, until the tops are dark golden and crispy, 18 to 22 minutes. Immediately turn out the baba onto a cooling rack and let cool completely.
- For the rum syrup and glaze: Combine the sugar and rum with 3 cups water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, reduce to a simmer and cook until the mixture is clear, about 8 minutes. Stir in the vanilla.
- Working with 2 or 3 at a time, add the baba to the hot rum syrup using a slotted spoon. Gently press to submerge and press out some of the air. Allow them to soak until they regain their shape and have soaked up enough syrup to reach the center of the baba, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer the baba to a rack set inside a rimmed baking sheet to drain.
- Heat the apricot preserves in a medium saucepan over medium heat until just beginning to bubble. Strain the preserves through a sieve into a small bowl. Brush the soaked baba au rhum with the strained preserves. Serve with whipped cream.
Cook’s Note
When measuring flour, we spoon it into a dry measuring cup and level off the excess. (Scooping directly from the bag compacts the flour, resulting in dry baked goods.)
