Baba au Rhum (French Rum-Soaked Yeast Cake)

Quick answer

Total time: 110 min
Level: Hard
Servings: 8 servings
Ingredients: 6

About this dish

Baba au rhum originates from 18th-century Poland, where King Stanislaw Leszczynski is said to have soaked a dry kugelhopf cake in rum, naming it after Ali Baba from One Thousand and One Nights.

The dessert traveled from Poland to Naples and then to Paris, where French patissiers reshaped it into the small, cylindrical, individual-portion yeast cakes recognized today. The dough is heavily enriched with butter and eggs, which produces a tender, porous crumb riddled with open air pockets. After baking, the cakes are submerged in a hot syrup of sugar, water, and dark rum in substantial proportion until those air pockets drink up the liquid and the cakes swell to close to double their baked size. The syrup must penetrate all the way to the center - soaking time cannot be rushed - and the finished texture is dense, spongy, and completely saturated, releasing a burst of warm rum with each bite as the crumb is compressed. A rosette of creme chantilly sits on top, made from lightly sweetened whipped cream with a vanilla note, and its cold, airy quality sits in direct contrast to the dense, alcohol-soaked base beneath. The rum is not a background flavor here but the primary one, which makes baba au rhum an unambiguously adult dessert.

Ingredients (8 servings)

Ingredient	Amount	Unit
Bread flour	200	g
Eggs	3	piece
Butter	80	g
Yeast	5	g
Dark rum	100	ml
Sugar	150	g

Instructions

Read the steps as a cooking flow: prep, heat, seasoning, doneness control, and finish.

6 steps

1

Season

Mix 200g bread flour, 5g yeast, 3 eggs, and a pinch of salt, then knead for about 15 minutes until smooth.

The dough will be soft, so avoid adding much extra flour or it can turn dry.
2

Step

Add 80g softened butter in several additions, kneading until each portion disappears before adding more.

Continue until the dough looks glossy and elastic, then fill each mold only halfway to leave space for rising.
3

Heat

Proof the filled molds at room temperature for about 1 hour, until the dough is roughly doubled.

When it begins to rise toward the rim, bake before it overproofs and loses strength.
4

Heat

Preheat the oven to 180°C and bake for about 20 minutes.

Remove the cakes when the tops are golden brown and the dough has risen about 3 to 4cm above the mold rim.
5

Control

In a saucepan, heat water and 150g sugar over medium heat, stirring until the sugar fully dissolves.

Turn off the heat, cool the syrup to about 60°C, then mix in 100ml dark rum so the alcohol does not flash off.
6

Finish

Unmold the cakes while still warm and submerge them fully in the rum syrup for 20 to 30 minutes.

Press gently so the syrup reaches the center, then serve when the cut surface glistens and syrup releases when pressed.

Practical Cooking Checks

The cues that matter most while cooking.

Key technique: Dark rum syrup soaks a light yeast cake through until every layer of Baba au Rhum carries sweet weight.
Finish cue: Remove the cakes when the tops are golden brown and the dough has risen about 3 to 4cm above the mold rim.
Avoid this: The dough will be soft, so avoid adding much extra flour or it can turn dry.