According to the legend, this cake became one of the most popular when the Polish king Stanislas Leszczynski, finding the biscuit too dry, asked that it be basted with wine. But it was not until 1735 that it became the cake that the French all know, when the Parisian pastry chef Nicolas Stohrer, a descendant of the Polish king’s pastry chef, replaced the wine with rum.
Ingredients
For the dough
- 5g of baker’s yeast
- 50g of butter
- 125g of flour
- 12g of sugar
- 2 eggs
For the syrup
- 250g of sugar
- 1 vanilla pod
- 5cl of rum
- Butter and flour for the moulds
Preparation
- Prepare the dough. Dissolve the yeast in a tablespoon of warm water. Melt the butter in a small saucepan and let it cool. Put the flour, sugar and 1 egg in a bowl. Mix with a wooden spatula until the dough is smooth. Add the yeast, then the last egg, stirring constantly. Work the dough for 5 minutes until it is soft and elastic. Carefully incorporate the melted butter.
- Butter the moulds (use special moulds). Fill them with the dough and leave them to rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 200°C.
- Place the cakes in the oven and bake them for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove the cakes from the moulds while they are still warm onto a rack and let them cool to room temperature.
- Meanwhile, prepare the syrup. Split the vanilla pod lengthways in two and place it in a saucepan with the sugar and 40cl of water. Bring to the boil and then remove from the heat.
- Dip the babas into the syrup. Let them soak until no more air bubbles escape from the cakes. Take them out and drain them on a plate to remove the excess syrup.
- Collect the remaining syrup and pour it into a bowl with the rum. Set aside in the fridge until ready to eat.
- You can accompany them with whipped cream and decorate them with cherries or strawberries.