Baba Au Rum......Dates Back to the 17th Century A.D.

Baba Au Rhum With Whipped Cream
And A Twist Of Blackberry Sau

Baba au Rhum, or Rum Baba is one of the oldest desserts in pastry making. I wouldn't like to bore you with the history of this dessert but if you would like to know more about its history, please follow the aforementioned link. It is really very interesting.
In a few words Baba Au Rhum is the consequence of a stale Gugelhupf  or Kugelhupf (written both ways).
 "Stanisław Leszczyński) (20 October 1677 – 23 February 1766) was King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Duke of Lorraine and a count of the Holy Roman Empire returned from one of his voyages with a stale Kugelhopf so he had his patissier soak it in alcohol."(Courtesy of Wikipedia on Google).
The Larousse Treasury of Country Cooking Around The World, writes Gugelhupf with a "G" while on Google you can find it under both letters "G" and "K".
Maria would like to share this 50 year old recipe, her mother Loula gave her.  The quantities and weights are in Dirhams, where 1 Dirham = 3.2 grams. One oke is 400 dirhams = 1280 gms. But of course you will not do any math to make this dessert.
This was just to point out how old this recipe is.
You will need:

Kugelhupf Mould

Savarin Mould

Serves 16  Makes two moulds : 1 Kugelhupf and 1 Savarin as shown in photos above.
-  480 gms all purpose flour sifted.
-  1 cup luke warm milk ( 40 degrees centigrade ).
-  30 gms fresh butter melted.
-  15 gms. solid fresh butter.
-  5 large eggs whole.
-  80 gms. fresh yeast.  The yeast must be fresh as opposed to stale.
-  1 tsp. caster sugar.
-   1 pinch salt.
Making the Syrop:
-  In a saucepan, bring to a boil 3 cups of water, and 600 gms caster sugar and stir till all the sugar is dissolved. Boil for about 5 minutes or till syrop is thicker.
-  Turn off heat, add the rhum while stiring.
Addition to mother Loula's recipe quantity is for one mould.
-  125 gms mascarpone.
-  150 gms blackberries.
-  2.5 Tbsp. strawberry jam.
-  1/2 Tbsp. black rhum.
-  1 1/2 Tbsp. water.
Mix all the above in a liquifier as shown in picture:

Liquifier

For the whipped cream quantity is for one moule.
-  250 ml fresh cream 35% fat.
-  1 Tbsp. icing sugar.
Method for the Baba:
-  Add the pinch of  salt, 1 tsp. sugar to the luke warm milk  and dissolve in it the yeast.
-  In a small bowl beat 4 of the 5 eggs.
-  In  big bowl, add sifted flour, make a hole in the middle and add the 4 beaten eggs and 15gms of solid butter.
-  Pour in the dissolved yeast and mix with a wooden spoon and place the whole bowl in an air current free place such as the microwave for 30 minutes during which the flour mixture should  prove to maximum hight. (If not, there is something wrong with your yeast).
-  When you have taken the bowl out of the microwave, add the 5th egg which must also be beaten 1 Tbsp. sugar and the 30 gms of melted butter.
-  Mix with wooden spoon and ladle into the two very well buttered moulds making sure that every crevice is well buttered.
- Put both moulds into the microwave and let prove for 1 hour.

The Baba Dough After It Has Proved
And Is Ready For The Oven. 

The Baba Dough Before Proving The Second Time
Same Goes For The Savarin Mould
Mother Loula Used The Empty
Quaker Oats Can As A Measure.

-  In the meantime preheat your oven to 180 degrees Centigrade.
-  When time is up, very carefully so that they do not deflate,, put both moulds in the oven and bake together at 180 degrees for 30 minutes.
-  Let cool completely.
-  Add the hot syrop to both moulds.

- Let stand for 6-8 hours then unmould and serve with blackberry sauce and whipped cream.

Barbara thought of putting the blackberry sauce into an empty popsickle, froze it and it made one heck of an ice cream!!
So basically this recipe was handed down from Grandma Loula, to her daughter Maria, and to Maria's daughter Barbara. And I am just writing all this!
What a χάζο χαρούμενη φamily!!
Enjoy!!
Stelio