Baba cake is a rich and sweet European dessert made with rum, raisins or currants. It is sometimes classified as a bread due to the use of yeast. Different countries have their own variations of the recipe, but all show a common thread of Middle Eastern influence. The origins of the cake are uncertain, but it is believed to have been brought from Russia to Eastern Europe. The cake is made by soaking raisins in rum, mixing bread flour with sugar, yeast, salt, eggs, and butter, and then kneading in the raisins. The dough is then baked in molds and glazed with a sugar-rum syrup.
Baba cake or baba au rhum is a European cake made with rum, raisins or currants. Some bakers classify baba as a bread, rather than a cake, as it includes yeast. Either way, the dessert is rich, sweet, and extremely flavorful. Numerous European nations have different regional recipes for baba cake, which is usually served on special occasions. Outside of Europe, dessert can sometimes be difficult to find, but luckily it can be made at home.
Different nations call baba cake by different names. In Turkey, it is known as “father cake”, while French and Polish speakers know it as babka. In France, a baba cake made in a large ring mold called a savarin. The recipes for the cake are slightly different in each of these countries, but the cakes are clearly related and all show a common thread of Middle Eastern influence, as they are usually heavily sweetened. When baked in individual moulds, baba cakes are very tall and may have textured sides to hold the sugar-rum glaze.
Many stories to explain the origins of the baba cake have been banned. The concept was probably brought from Russia to Eastern Europe. According to popular mythology, a king of Poland was eating stale kugelhopf, a very similar pastry, and decided to dip it in rum to refresh the flavour. Apparently the result was so pleasing that the king decided it should be added to his nation’s pastry repertoire.
To prepare the baba, cooks begin by soaking ¾ cup of raisins or currants in rum so that the dried fruit fills up and is infused with the flavor of the rum. Next, two and ¼ cups of bread flour are mixed with two tablespoons of sugar, two teaspoons of yeast dissolved in two tablespoons of warm water, and a pinch of salt. Four eggs are added one at a time to the flour mixture and the dough is beaten with a spatula. A half cup of softened butter is added and the baba dough is kneaded until smooth and elastic before the raisins are worked in, with the cook reserving the rum for last.
The kneaded dough is either divided and placed into oiled baba molds, or it is pressed into one large oiled ring mold. As the oven heats up to 400 degrees Fahrenheit (204 degrees Celsius), the baba cake can rise until doubled in size to fill the molds. The baba cake is baked in the oven for 15-20 minutes and then left to cool on a rack. A sugar syrup is made by boiling four and 1/3 cups of water with two and ¼ cups of sugar, and the cakes are dipped in the sugar syrup to create a sweet glaze. After icing, the rum is drizzled over the baba cake and it is ready to serve.
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