Rum Baba with Persimmon and Sabayon

5 from 1 vote

I don’t know if I remember the first time I had a rum baba but I feel like it was probably over 25 years ago. Pastries, like most other foods have crossed borders over the years depending on which country conquered which, or borders another country, or along the trade routes.

I feel like the Latin countries ( my wife home country of El Salvador) have their version of pan “borracho”. The Italians have the rum baba. The Caribbean have their version of rum cake along with loads of other countries including ours.

Because persimmons are one of my favorite fruits and I wanted to make some sort of bread with them, I decided to incorporate it into the baba dough. I had never done this before but I thought it should work out just fine and it did.

I would say that the flavor of the persimmon wasn’t overwhelming, the orange was a little more predominate, but nevertheless it was still delicious. Here is the recipe i hope you enjoy it!

Ingredients

6 people

Baba Dough

3 1/2 cup all purpose flour
3 whole eggs
1 stick butter room temperature
2/3 cup milk divided
1 whole persimmon puree (optional, it can be omitted)
4 tbsp sugar
2 1/2 packets yeast
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp vanilla paste
1 whole orange zested
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Sabayon

5 egg yolks
1/4 cup champagne or other sweet wine
1/2 cup sugar
1 orange zested and splash of juice

Orange Rum Syrup

2 1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup water
1/3 scant cup rum
1 scant cup sugar

Garnish

1 persimmon cut into shapes
2 tbsp anise hyssop flowers

Nutritional information

Calories: 509kcalCarbohydrates: 99gProtein: 12gFat: 6gSaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 167mgSodium: 412mgPotassium: 417mgFiber: 3gSugar: 39gVitamin A: 516IUVitamin C: 64mgCalcium: 95mgIron: 5mg

Prep Time 3 30

Cook Time 25

Total Time 3 55

Servings 6 people

How to make baba dough, Preheat oven to 400

Take the milk and warm to 95 degrees and mix in the yeast. In a stand mixer or a bowl add flour, sugar, salt, nutmeg, and orange zest. Mix well. Then make a well and add your eggs, vanilla, persimmon, and milk-yeast mixture. Mix well until the dough forms ( you might need a touch of flour if the dough is extremely wet.
Then cover and allow the dough to rise for about 2 hours. You can deflate or punch down the dough and then using a dough hook on your stand mixer stir in the softened butter until completely incorporated. Then in buttered baba molds (popover will work) fill the molds up to 3/4 high.
Then cover and allow them to rise another 45 minutes. Turn down the oven to 350 degrees and place the baba’s into the oven. Bake for roughly 20 minutes until golden brown. Take out and cool.

How to make the orange syrup

Place all the ingredients into a pot and bring to a boil. Turn down and simmer for 7 minutes. The turn off and allow to cool. Once cooled, place your baba’s into the syrup. Turn the baba’s every 10 minutes or so if they aren’t submerged in the syrup. Allow to soak in the syrup for at least 2 hours. Feel free to add a little more rum here if you like it strong tasting

How to make the sabayon

Place egg yolks, sugar, zest, juice, and champagne into a stainless steel bowl. Place over a double boiler or a pot with a little water in it simmering. With a whisk continuously stirring, whisk the egg yolks mixture until they are thick and a airy but not scrambled (should take a few minutes to thicken). Take the bowl off the heat. Adjust the seasoning if need be.

To finish

Simply make a small cut in the middle of the baba making sure not to go all the way down to the bottom. Generously spoon over the sabayon into middle and on top of the baba. Then place a little of the syrup onto the plate. Place the baba on top of the glaze. Add the persimmon pieces and anise hyssop. Serve and enjoy!