Individual baba au rhum cakes recipe

July 10, 8:13 AMLA Baking ExaminerHilary Cable

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Baba au rhum cakes are soaked in a rum-laced sugar syrup./Wikimedia Commons

In honor of Rum Month, I’d like to share a cake and a story. Baba au rhum was my grandmother’s favorite dessert to serve her bridge club. 

The ladies would get together at a different house each month. On her day, Lorena would serve liberal amounts of Four Roses scotch, and then a ladylike lunch complete with table cloths, crystal, silver, flowers and pressed linen napkins. They would eat baba au rhum for dessert, and then play bridge all afternoon. Containing enough rum for twice as many guests, these rich little yeast cakes got the cards and the cutthroat tactics flying. By the time the ladies left, it was a miracle they were sober enough to drive themselves home. 

This recipe is modified slightly from the Red Star Yeast baking website and is the closest I could come to the recipe Lorena used to make for her bridge players. 

Ingredients

For the cakes: 

3 cups bread flour 

4 ½ tsp. active dry yeast

¼ cup water 

½ cup milk 

¾ cup salted butter

¼ cup sugar

½ tsp. salt 

4 eggs

½ cup currants

½ tsp. almond extract 

For the syrup: 

2 cups granulated white sugar

2 cups water 

½ tsp. lemon juice

1 cup dark rum 

Method

Make the dough:  

Measure the yeast and 1 ¾ cups of the bread flour into the bowl of your stand mixer with paddle attachment. Turn the mixer on briefly to blend. Set aside. 

Measure water, milk, butter, sugar and salt into a saucepan. Stir constantly over medium heat until warm. Check the temperature with a candy thermometer – it should be 120°-130°. 

Pour the warm liquid ingredients into the flour-yeast mixture. Beat at low speed until blended. 

Add the eggs. Beat 30 seconds on low speed. Stop and scrape the bowl. Beat 3 more minutes. 

Stop the mixer. Add the remaining 1 1/4 cups flour, the currants and the almond extract. Beat until incorporated, about 1 minute. 

Cover the bowl with a damp dish towel. Let the dough rise in warm place until doubled, 30-45 minutes. 

Punch the dough down with the back of a spoon. 

Spray 12 individual baba, mini Bundt or ring molds with non-stick spray and set them on a baking sheet.  

Spoon the batter into the 12 prepared molds. Each should be about half full. 

Preheat oven to 350°. 

Let the dough rise in the prepared molds a second time for 30-45 minutes. 

While the dough is rising, make the syrup. 

Make the syrup: 

Place the water, sugar and lemon juice in a heavy-bottomed 2-quart saucepan. 

Bring the sugar mixture to a boil and cook for 8 minutes. 

Remove from the heat and carefully add the rum. The hot sugar syrup may foam. 

Bake the babas: 

Bake the cakes 15-20 minutes until golden brown, or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick comes out clean. 

Prick cakes with fork while still in their molds. Invert the molds to remove the cakes. Place the cakes in the cooled baking pan and prick the tops of the cakes with the fork. 

Spoon the hot syrup over the cakes a little at a time until they can’t absorb any more.  

Serve the cakes at room temperature. Spoon a generous dollop of the remaining syrup over the cakes when you’re ready to serve. 

Makes 12 cakes.  

Cook’s notes: 

• For a faster rise, use rapid-rise yeast. It measures the same way as standard yeast. 
• Use bread flour, which has more protein than all-purpose flour. The protein will help the cakes hold their shape after being soaked with syrup. Here's a primer on flours.
• This recipe can be baked in a 2-quart turban mold for 30-40 minutes instead of the individual molds. 
• Use caution when making the sugar syrup. It can cause severe burns. 

More information: 

Take a look at the Red Star Yeast baking website. Receipes could be better written, but the site does have some useful information. 

For lots more recipes that celebrate rum, see Examiner.com's Rum Month website.  

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