Baba Au Rhum

I love baba au rhum, these open-textured breads/cakes moistened with rum syrup. They are easy to make, there's no need to bring out the food processor or stand mixer as there is no kneading involved, and rising time is fairly short. I like them with fresh figs but they are not in season, preserved fruits are okay. These should be baked in baba molds called dariole molds which are thin, long and tapered at the bottom but they are $32 for 6 pieces, very expensive in my opinion. For one recipe I would need 10 - 12 molds which will cost me $64 and if I want non-stick that's $35 for 4 pieces or $105 for 12, that's just crazy! I used my mini cheesecake pan which are fatter and squat and unfortunately not non-stick and the cakes got stuck and some got broken, no problem really, I just put them back together after dipping them in the syrup. I will line the sides of the molds with parchment paper next time or will use mini muffin molds instead.

Baba au Rhum
1½ cups flour
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 teaspoons sugar
1/3 cup lukewarm milk
¼ teaspoon salt
3 beaten eggs
5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, chopped
1½ cups sugar
2 cups water
½ cup dark rum

• Brush molds lightly with oil. Place 1 T of the flour, yeast, sugar, salt and milk in a small bowl. Leave, covered until foamy, for 10 minutes. Using your fingertips rub the butter into the remaining flour in a large bowl, until the mixture has a fine crumbly texture.Add the yeast mixture and eggs to the flour mixture. Beat with wooden spoon for 2 minutes until smooth and glossy. Scrape the mixture down, cover and let rise for 1 hour.Preheat oven to 400°F. With a wooden spoon, beat the mixture again for 2 minutes. Divide among the prepared pan. Cover with plastic wrap and leave for 20 minutes until well risen. Bake for 20 minutes until golden brown.

• Prepare the rum syrup: In a medium saucepan, combine the water and sugar and let boil for 10 minutes. Let cool slightly then add rum. Dip the still warm babas until completely saturated. Keep leftovers in a covered container in the fridge. Strain leftover syrup and refrigerate. Drizzle some of the syrup on the plate and on top of the babas. I love the babas swimming in rum syrup.