Rum Baba

I used to make this classic in my early days of dinner parties when I was a lot more formal in my entertaining style!

It is sweet, slightly boozy, yeasty, rather heavy but a great end to a meal when sorbets and panna cottas etc just don’t feel substantial enough…

Ingredients

2 cups plain flour
7 gms or 1 sachet of dried yeast
1 – 2 tbl sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 large free range eggs, beaten
2/3 cup warm milk
1/3 cup melted butter
1/3 cup mixed dried fruit

Method

Place dry ingredients (including yeast) in a bowl, make a well in the centre, add beaten eggs and warm milk and mix well. Cover with a cloth or plastic wrap, and stand in a warm place for 1 hour until dough becomes spongy.
Beat in melted butter and fruit and place into greased fluted baba moulds – 6 small size ones, or one large one. Cover with plastic wrap again and leave to rise in a warm place for approximately 1/2 hour.
Bake in a moderate oven – about 160 to 170 degrees C – for approximately 25 minutes. Remove from oven and spoon over rum syrup while still warm.
Unmould from tins/tin and serve with more syrup poured over the baba/s and lashings of whipped cream!

Rum Syrup
Combine in a small saucepan 3/4 cup sugar, 3/4 cup water, 1/4 cup apricot jam and stir until boiling. Remove from the heat and add 2 tbs dark rum.