Baba au Rhum

A quintissentially French confection.

I made this as a finale for the rich and delicious meal that was Cassoulet.  Read about that here.  And here, here and here (Liz over at Sour Cherry Farm is a blogging pro- you should all read her blog as religiously as you read mine.)

A baba au rhum is essentially a brioche-like cake that is soaked in rum syrup.  How bad could that be? (As my muse Ina Garten might say.) I pretty much followed the Contessa's recipe word for word, but I took a tip from Mark Bittman, my favorite minimalist, and baked my baba in a loaf pan instead of buying a unitasking "kugelhopf mold".  It turned out very well, if I do say so myself.

Heat 1/2 cup milk to 115˚ and pour it into the bowl of your mixer.  If you don't have a thermometer you trust, 115˚ is hot to the touch but wouldn't burn your skin.  Add your packet of yeast and 2 tablespoons of sugar and let that sit for 5 minutes.

With your mixer on low, add 2 room temp eggs:

1 2/3 cups flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 4 tablespoons of softened butter.  Beat with your paddle attachment on medium high for five minutes.

Give that a good scrape, mix again, and then form into a ball-like blob.

Cover that with a damp towel and let it rise until doubled in bulk, about an hour.

This is when you stir in the 1/3 cup of currants you've been soaking in good dark rum.  Did I forget to mention that part?  Well, when you follow the recipe, it will tell you to do that.  It will also tell you to drain the currants.  Why in heaven's name would you want to waste that delicious flavor?  I went ahead and threw that in.  Call me crazy.

Here's my buttered loaf pan. 

Get your dough in there and smooth the top.  Then let that baba rise again for another hour.  I put mine on the radiator because the Hudson kitchen is pretty cool as far as kitchens go.  In Fort Worth I had to fill the washing machine with warm water and set the dough on that to get things to rise.

Hello, baba.

Goodbye, baba.  And into the oven, at 375˚.  Bake about 30 minutes, or until a toothpic comes out clean.

Now, make your rum syrup, which is just simple syrup with rum. (The recipe is down there.)

Place your baba on a rack over a sheet pan and go ahead and pour your syrup all over the warm cake.

Slice it up:

And serve with whipped cream. 

It's light, it's boozy, and it's delicious.

But most importantly, it's really easy.

Make it.


The Barefoot Contessa's Baba au Rhum

Ingredients

nocoupons

• 1/3 cup dried currants
• 1 tablespoon good dark rum
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 package dry yeast
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• Rum Syrup, recipe follows
• 3/4 cup apricot preserves
• 1 tablespoon water
• Whipped Cream, recipe follows

Directions

Combine the currants and rum in a small bowl and set aside. Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter and brush a 5-cup (6 1/2 by 3 1/2-inch) tube pan or kugelhopf mold with the melted butter. Be sure to coat every crevice of the pan. Heat the milk to 115 degrees F and then pour it into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Stir in the yeast and sugar and allow to sit for 5 minutes.

With the mixer on low speed, first add the eggs, then the flour, salt, and remaining 4 tablespoons of butter. Raise the speed to medium-high and beat for 5 minutes. Scrape down the bowl and beater to form the dough into a ball. It will be very soft. Cover the bowl with a damp towel and allow it to rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Drain the currants, fold them into the dough with a spatula, and spoon into the prepared pan. Smooth the top, cover the pan with a damp towel, and allow to rise until the dough reaches the top of the pan, 50 minutes to 1 hour.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and make the rum syrup.
Bake the cake for about 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool for 10 minutes, then tap it out of the cake pan onto a baking rack set over a sheet pan. Pour all of the rum syrup very slowly onto the warm cake, allowing it all to soak in thoroughly. Amazingly, the liquid will be absorbed into the cake, so be sure to use all of the syrup.

Heat the preserves with 1 tablespoon of water until runny, press it through a sieve, and brush it on the cake. Serve with whipped cream piped into the middle of the cake plus an extra bowl on the side.
 

Rum Syrup: 1 cup sugar
2/3 cup good dark rum
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Place the sugar and 1 1/2 cups water in a small saucepan and cook over high heat until the sugar dissolves. Pour into a 4-cup heat-proof measuring cup and allow to cool. Add the rum and vanilla and set aside.
 

Whipped Cream: 2 cups (1 pint) cold heavy cream
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Whip the cream in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. When it starts to thicken, add the sugar and vanilla and continue to whip until the cream forms stiff peaks. Don't overbeat, or you'll end up with butter!
Yield: 4 cups

(Just so you know, you don't have to make quite so much whipped cream.  1 cup would be just fine.)


Bake a baba.  You won't regret it.

Playing,
Meredith