Rum Babà

 

I first tried Rum Babà for the first time in Naples when we were there over the holidays with the kids. It was delicious! This does take a minimum of 3 hours so would give yourself some time to make this. I made 6 of these in a popover pan and 2 in a large muffin tin.

 

The BEST Rum baba (VIDEO) - Spatula Desserts

 

Ingredients

Baba dough

100 g (½ cups) Whole milk lukewarm

20 g (1½ tablespoon) Granulated sugar

10 g Fresh yeast Can be substituted with dry yeast, check your local brand for exact measurement

1 Egg yolk room temperature

1 Egg room temperature

210 g (1⅔ cups) Bread flour High protein content flour. Can be substituted with All purpose flour (used all purpose flour)

¼ teaspoon Salt

60 g (¼ cups) Unsalted butter room temperature, soft

 

Syrup

250 g (1 cups) water

150 g (¾ cups) Granulated sugar

10 g (¾ tablespoon) Lime juice freshly squeezed (optional)

Lime zest zest of 1 lime (optional) (did not use)

70 g (⅓ cups) Rum

 

Whipped mascarpone frosting (did not make this)

200 g (⅘ cups) Mascarpone 41% fat, cold

200 g (⅘ cups) Heavy Cream 36% fat, cold

40 g (⅓ cups) Powdered sugar sifted

2 teaspoon Vanilla bean paste

US customary cup measurement is an indicative figure only. Measure the ingredients with a digital scale by weight (gram). Baking is art but also science which requires precision and accuracy.

 

Instructions

For the Baba dough

Start with mixing sugar with lukewarm milk then sprinkle yeast on top. Make sure the kitchen is nice and warm, and in 10 minutes the yeast the should foam

Place the yeast mixture into your Stand mixer with the kneading hook on, then mix it together with the egg and egg yolk

Mix in dry ingredients; flour, salt and start kneading until the dough comes together

Slowly start to add in room temp (soft) butter chunks by piece. Knead the dough for another 10 minutes on medium high speed until dough becomes elastic and shiny and not sticky any longer

Move the dough into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap or a tea towel and let it rest and rise at room temperature for 1-2 hours

After the dough has risen, know the air out, gently knead the dough for a minute and divide into 8

Form 8 balls with your hand and place them into your mold. Use a small amount of extra flour while shaping the dough, if needed

Proof Baba dough for the second time at room temperature. Proofing might take 1-2h

Pre-heat your oven to 190C / 374F then once the Babas are nicely risen, place them into the oven, lower the temp to 180C / 356F and bake them for about 20 minutes, or until golden brown

 

Rum syrup

During the end of the baking time make the syrup: boil water, sugar, lime zest, and freshly squeezed lime juice together for about 5 minutes until the mixture slightly thickens, then mix in rum

Pour half of the hot syrup over the Babas as soon as they are out of the oven

Remove the Babas from the mold and place them onto a plate or baking pan and pour the rest of the syrup over. Keep turning the Babas in the syrup and let them completely cool before frosting

 

Frosting

Whip heavy whipped cream, mascarpone, vanilla bean paste, and icing sugar for a few minutes until fluffy, then move it into a pastry bag

Once Babas are chilled and the syrup stablizied on them, pipe frosting on top

Store in air-tight container in the fridge