Rum Baba is a true masterpiece of European pastry, blending the richness of a buttery yeast cake with the deep warmth of a spiced rum syrup. Originating from Eastern European babka, this delicacy was refined in France and Italy, becoming a signature dessert in fine patisseries. The dough, enriched with eggs and butter, is baked into delicate, airy rounds before being soaked in a luscious syrup infused with dark rum, citrus zest, and vanilla. The result? A perfectly moist, melt-in-your-mouth cake that’s both fragrant and indulgent.
Often served with a dollop of whipped cream, fresh fruit, or a velvety pastry cream, Rum Baba is a showstopper at festive gatherings and elegant dinners. Its boozy, syrupy goodness makes it especially comforting in cooler months, where its warmth and richness pair beautifully with an after-dinner espresso or a glass of dessert wine. Whether you’re enjoying it in a Parisian café or making it at home, this legendary dessert is a must-try for lovers of fine baking.
Ingredients
Method
- Put the water, sugar, vanilla pod and mint sprigs in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
- Simmer the syrup for 4–5 minutes, then take it off the heat and let it cool completely.
- Stir the 50 ml of rum into the cooled syrup and remove the mint.
- Soak the raisins in the 20 ml of rum while you make the dough.
- Mix the flour, sugar, salt and instant yeast in the bowl of the stand mixer.
- Warm the milk to 30°C (86°F), lukewarm to the touch, and whisk in the eggs.
- Pour the milk mixture into the flour.
- Knead with the dough hook on medium-low speed for 8–10 minutes (or beat with a wooden spoon for about 15 minutes), until the dough is smooth and shiny and stretches in long strands; it will stay soft and slightly sticky.
- Add the soft butter a few pieces at a time, mixing until each addition disappears.
- Mix in the raisins with any rum left in their bowl.
- Cover the bowl and leave it in an oven with only the light on, about 30–35°C (86–95°F), for about 1 hour, until the dough has at least doubled.
- Butter the muffin cups or ramekins generously.
- Stir the dough down and divide it between the 4 cups with a spoon or wet hands; they should be about half full.
- Cover loosely and leave in a warm spot outside the oven for 20–30 minutes, until the dough reaches the rims.
- Meanwhile, heat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
- Bake the babas for 25–35 minutes, until deep golden brown and hollow-sounding when tapped.
- Turn the hot babas out of the tins and drop them straight into the cooled syrup.
- Turn them every few minutes for about 10 minutes, spooning syrup over, until they are heavy and soaked through.
- Lift the babas onto the wire rack and let the excess syrup drain for 10 minutes.
- Chill the babas and serve them with the berries, mint leaves and a spoonful of the syrup.
- Prepare syrup first and then allow it to cool down, because hot rum baba shall be put in cold syrup.
- To prepare syrup, put water in a saucepan, add sugar, vanilla and mint.
- Bring to the boil, cook for 4-5 minutes, put aside to cool down.
- To prepare dough, mix all dry ingredients together (flour, sugar, salt) and put in a deep bowl.
- Warm the milk up to30ºC (86ºF), add yeast, eggs, rum and mix thoroughly.
- Add liquid composition to flour and mix for 15 minutes.
- The dough shall be elastic and not sticky.
- Finally, add butter previously warmed up to room temperature and cut in small pieces.
- Leave dough in a warm place (up to 40ºC, 104ºF) for 1 hour.
- After the dough has risen and become 3 times bigger, punch it down and put into baking cups (either silicone or metal).
- Leave the dough to rise once more (it will take about 20-30 minutes) and put into the oven for 35 minutes at 180ºC (356ºF).
- Babas shall become golden brown.
- Take hot pastry out of the forms and put immediately in cooled syrup.
- Turn babas over from time to time and syrup them, allowing syrup to soak in.
- Then put pastry on a metal grid, allowing extra syrup to drain away.
- Rum baba is best served well cooled with berries and mint syrup in a plate.
- And bon appetite! ... With love :)
- Fresh yeast (6 g) replaced with 2 g instant yeast (or 2.5 g active dry yeast) Fresh yeast is hard to find in many supermarkets; dry yeast does the same job at about a third of the weight.
- Syrup halved to 500 ml water and 250 g sugar Four babas need enough syrup to roll in, not a litre.
- Rum stirred into the syrup once it has cooled The original lists rum for the syrup but never adds it; adding it off the heat keeps its aroma.
- Raisins soaked in the dough's rum and mixed in at the end The original lists raisins but never says when to add them.
- A pinch of salt added The method mentions salt, but the ingredient list does not.
- Dough mixed with a stand mixer for 8–10 minutes, or beaten in the bowl with a wooden spoon Baba dough is very soft; a dough hook or spoon handles it better than kneading on the counter. It stays slightly sticky, not 'not sticky' as the original says.
- Jumbo muffin tin or 200 ml ramekins instead of baba moulds Any well-buttered straight-sided cup works.
- Rising in an oven with only the light on It gives the warm 30–35°C (86–95°F) the chef asks for without a proofing cabinet.
The dish in the photograph was cooked by the restaurant for this story. Photo: Oleksandr Slyadnyev.