Baba au Rum by Pastry Chef Shameem Abdullah (Bar A Thym by François Mermilliod)

Baba dough

1. Mix yeast with a little bit of water to form a paste.
2. Weigh flour , sugar, salt and eggs in a mixing bowl. Using a paddle attachment / k-beater, start mixing at low speed.
3. Add in the yeast, while increasing to medium speed.
4. Lastly, add in the butter, mixing for another 2mins till fully combined.
5. Scrape out mixture and place in a bowl, cover the top with cling film and leave in room temperature for 2hrs to let it proof.
6. After the 2 hrs, remove cling film, knead dough and start to portion into size. ( for us, we portion into 30gms per baba)
7. Butter moulds and place portioned dough.
8. Allow the dough to rise for another hour before baking at 180 degrees for 15mins.

Sugar Syrup

1. Boil water and sugar together
2. ( add orange / lemon zest / vanilla for extra flavour – optional)

Chantilly

1. Whip up in a mixer till cream starts to form soft peaks
2. Add in sugar, continue whipping for another 30seconds and stop.
3. Place cream in a piping bag.

Assembly

1. Place baba in a rock glass, pour sugar syrup and let it soak up for a few minutes.
2. Add in rum ( depending how strong you’d like it to be) 20-30ml would be ideal.
3. Finish off with a piping a rosette with the Chantilly