Baba au rhum cake

It is one of my favorite french dessert. A truly gourmet cake, suitable for the most special occasions.

For the cake
- 4 oz all purpose flour
- 4 tbsp butter
- 4 oz sugar
- 1 tsp yeast
- 3 tbsp warm milk
- 3 eggs


For the syrup
- 1 c water
- 1 c sugar
- 1/4 cup rum
For the apricot glaze
- 1/2 cup apricot
- 1 tsp lime juice

Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Whip the egg yolks with the sugar just until it whitens.
Add the warm milk, melted butter, flour and the yeast.
Whip the egg whites until fluffy.
Mix them gently with the batter.
Pour the batter in a buttered cake tin.
Cook for 25 minutes.

While the baba is baking, combine the sugar with the water in a saucepan and boil until syrupy. Remove from heat, let cool and stir in rum.
Dissolve apricot jam with lime juice and boil on a medium flame.

Remove baked baba from oven and spoon rum syrup over it, saturating completely, then add apricot glaze.

Cool at least 2 hours and serve with a fruit salad and / or the whipped cream.

Bon appétit! Et la recette en français, c'est ici.

And a bit of history...
Baba au rhum dates back to the early 1800’s and likely originated in the Alsace region of France.
It is a yeast cake that is soaked in rum – and is named after the storybook hero Ali-Baba. It is traditionally baked in a savarin mold.