Patone's Vanilla And Citrus Rum Baba | Recipes From Our Guests

When he came home on Sundays, arms full of pastries for his family, my greedy father always saved a little space for his rum baba, which was forbidden to his children because it contained (a little…) alcohol. It must have been his ‘madeleine de Proust’. I’m trying a version with my own lemon sauce. Baba au rhum is a classic dessert loved for its soft texture and rum flavour.

Ingredients

For 6 babas

50 ml milk
3 eggs
150 g sugar
1 vanilla pod
(or vanilla extract)
50g butter
120g flour

Syrup

50g cane sugar
25 cl water
Juice of half a lemon
10cl rum
(to taste)
or
rum flavoured syrup
(alcohol free)

Decoration (your choice)

Homemade whipped cream (illustration)
Pieces of fresh fruit

Recipe

Preparing the cake :
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (gas mark 6).
- In a bowl, beat the eggs with the sugar until the mixture is pale and frothy.
- Add the flour and baking powder and mix until smooth. Add the melted butter and milk and mix again.
- Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold in.
- Pour the batter into six buttered individual moulds (for crown babas or simple ramekins). Leave some room for the baba to rise when baking.
- Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the cake is golden and a knife inserted comes out clean.
- Leave to cool.
Prepare the syrup :
- While the cake is baking, bring the water and sugar to the boil in a saucepan.
- Leave to boil for 5 minutes to obtain a light syrup.
- Remove from the heat, add the rum and lemon juice and leave to cool in the fridge.
Assembly:
- Place the baba cakes, which have chilled in the fridge, in shallow dishes
- Pour the syrup generously over the cake so that it soaks all over.
- Decorate the top with whipped cream or small pieces of fresh fruit.