The Best Rum baba (VIDEO)

5 from 21 votes

Rum baba (baba au rum), this classic yeast bundt cake soaked in delicious rum syrup, decorated with a light vanilla bean whipped mascarpone frosting is the ultimate brioche-like boozy dessert! My rum baba recipe is super fluffy and moist and the rum-based soaking syrup makes it even creamier without making it soggy. An easy and light vanilla bean mascarpone frosting is added on top making the baba rum cakes even more luxurious and creamy.

Prep Time30

Cook Time30

Waiting Time3

Total Time4

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: French

Servings:

Calories: 479kcal

Author: Katalin Nagy

Equipment

Ingredients

Baba dough

100 g Whole milk lukewarm
20 g 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 Bread flour High protein content flour. Can be substituted with All purpose flour
¼ teaspoon Salt
60 g Unsalted butter room temperature, soft

Syrup

250 g water
150 g Granulated sugar
10 g Lime juice freshly squeezed (optional)
Lime zest zest of 1 lime (optional)
70 g Rum

Whipped mascarpone frosting

200 g Mascarpone 41% fat, cold
200 g Heavy Cream 36% fat, cold
40 g Powdered sugar sifted
2 teaspoon Vanilla bean paste

Metric - US Customary

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

Video

Notes

INGREDIENT NOTES

Use always unsalted butter in baking, in this recipe butter needs to be at room temperature so soft enough to be able to knead into the dough
Fresh or Dried yeast can be used. Please check your local brand and calculate based on that
Use milk and egg at room temperature in order for the ingredients to properly emulsify
Since rum Baba is effectively a sweet bread use high protein content bread flour
Use good quality rum as that is the main flavor of this cake

TECHNIQUE NOTES

For activating the yeast (whether it is dried or fresh), make sure that the milk is lukewarm and your kitchen is also nice and warm
You will knead the dough for about 10 minutes in a stand mixer. The dough is ready when it is shiny, elastic, and does not stick to your fingers any longer. Do not add more flour to the dough. If it sticks too much, continue kneading
Second proofing is necessary for the perfect rise = fluffy texture
Regarding the syrup, aim to roll the Babas in the syrup a few times but avoid making them too soggy
Regarding the frosting, make sure you do not overwhip it. The most common reason for soupy frosting is overwhipping

Nutrition