Specialty Cakes - Baba au Rhum (Rum Cake)

For lovers of rum, (and I am one) you might like Baba au Rhum (French Rum Cake). Unlike many cooked dishes such as Cog Au Vin (Chicken in Red White sauce), the alcohol content does not burn off. Rather, the rum is poured into a finished cake to soak up. The recipe I am including below was entered into a county fair in the category of Ethnic Cakes. It did not win first prize, taking second instead. However, the judges were quick to let me know that they sure did enjoy sampling the cake!



First, though, a little history: The original version of the cake had the name Babka, which is Eastern European for grandmother. The word in the name was later shortened to Baba. Although we think of Baba Au Rhum to be French, it was originally a Polish cake, hence the original name of Babka. The cake was allegedly first introduced to France in the 18Th century, by the exiled King of Poland, Stanislas, who made his way to France through the french province of Alsace and Lorraine. However, this is just one of a few theories of how the cake made its way from Poland to France.



This cake may be of interest to those of you who would like a slightly more challenging recipe, as it takes longer than most recipes I have introduced thus far, and requires yeast. However, assuming you follow the recipe exactly, you will have good results, even as a beginner.

Baba Au Rhum

Ingredients:

3/4 cup warm (not hot) water

2 pkg. active dry yeast

1 tsp salt

6 large eggs

3 3/4 cups flour, sifted

3/4 cup butter, softened to room temperature

1/2 cup finely chopped citron

1/4 cup currants



Rum Syrup:

2 1/2 cups sugar

1 medium orange, unpeeled, sliced crosswise

1/2 lemon, unpeeled, sliced crosswise

1 cup light rum



Apricot Glaze:

1 cup apricot preserves

1 tsp. grated lemon peel

2 tsp. lemon juice

Directions:

Grease a 10" x 4" tube pan.
Sprinkle yeast over warm water in large bowl of electric mixer and stir until dissolved.
Add sugar, salt, eggs, and 2 1/4 cups flour. At medium speed, beat until smooth.
Add butter and beat for about 2 minutes.
At low speed, beat in rest of flour until smooth.
Stir in citron and currants. The batter will be somewhat thick.
Turn batter into prepared pan and spread evenly. Cover with a towel to prevent drafts.
Let rise in a warm area until the batter has risen to within 1/2 inch from the top of the pan.
Preheat oven to 400 F.
Gently place the batter filled pan on the oven shelf; this is the important part because if the pan is jarred the cake may "fall".
Bake approximately 40 min. (until deep-golden brown).

To make the rum syrup:
In medium saucepan, combine sugar with 2 cups water and bring to boiling, stirring, until the sugar is dissolved. Boil uncovered 10 min.
Reduce heat. Add orange and lemon slices and simmer 10 min.
Remove from heat and add the rum.

Carefully loosen sides of cake from pan. Turn out of pan and let cool 15 min. Return cake to the pan.
Set pan onto aluminum foil sheet. Gradually pour the hot syrup and fruit slices over the cake. Continue pouring until all the syrup is absorbed.
Let the cake stand at least 2 hours.

To Make the Apricot Glaze:
In small saucepan, over low heat, melt apricot preserves.
Stir in lemon peel and juice and strain. Refrigerate 30 min.

Discard the fruit slices. Invert the cake onto a large serving platter. Brush top and sides with the apricot glaze.

Next Week: Specialty Cakes - Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Bundt Cake

Readers, please take another look at last week's blog on "More is Not Always Better", the Macaroni and Cheese recipe. I have posted a photo of the finished product by one of my readers of the blog. If any of you would like to see a photo of yourself and/or your finished recipe posted, please email them to me at DoriBasaraba@hotmail.com and I will happily upload them. Your name will not be included unless you specifically request it.

Several weeks ago I posted a blog on Angel Food cakes, and briefly mentioned decorating them. Check out the magazine stands for the July issue of Woman's Day; in it are recipes and photos of uniquely decorated angel food cakes.

I will not be posting next weekend because I will be recuperating from eye surgery, which I will be having tomorrow. I will resume posting in two weeks. There are plenty of recipes within this baking blog to try (previous posts) that should keep you busy until then. In the meantime, here is my discussion/recipe on Bundt Cakes.

One of the purposes of my DoriPieCafe blog is to get more people to bake. As a store clerk once told me, "No one ever bakes anymore.". Well, I aim to change that. Baking can be a great hobby, certainly satisfying to one's taste buds, and doesn't have to be complicated or difficult. With that in mind you will not see time consuming and great talent requiring recipes for elaborate pastries that a professional baker would prepare for a 5-star restaurant. I will include a few recipes that are more involved than others, but also some that show you one can have great results as a beginner or even advanced home baker.

The bundt cake recipe I am including is designed for the beginner in mind as it is one of the few times I utilize a cake mix as part of the ingredients. However, this cake is so easy to make, and so tasty, that I want everyone to try it. It is actually a recipe I got from my Aunt Tess, who was instrumental in inspiring me to bake years ago. She is an excellent baker (and cook too!). I do not believe this is actually a recipe she created, but not sure of the source either as I have seen this recipe in circulation by many people for years now.

Bundt cakes are baked in a specially molded pan, usually Teflon coated for non-sticking. The molds come in numerous different shapes and themes, from simple fluted rings to elaborate castles. There are so many shapes and designs of bundt pans that some people make a hobby of collecting them.

"Aunt Tess's" Bundt Cake

• 1 package of cake mix (any flavor, but do NOT use one with pudding in the mix)
• 1 package Jello instant pudding (any flavor that goes well with the flavor of cake mix you are using)
• 1/2 cup of Crisco or Wesson vegetable oil
• 1 cup milk
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Grease (with butter) and flour a large bundt pan.
3. Beat in, one at a time, the oil, milk, vanilla extract, pudding mix, and cake mix.
4. Pour into the prepared bundt pan.
5. Bake 1 hour, then let cool 10 minutes and invert pan to remove cake.
6. May dress up or decorate cake by dusting top with powdered sugar or drizzle with glaze. Putting shredded coconut, maraschino cherry halves, or shelled pecan halves on top of the glaze is a nice touch too.

In two weeks: Baba Au Rhum (French Rum Cake)

"More is Not Always Better" AND a bonus recipe

Last month I attended a Bunco party. For those of you who haven't heard of it, Bunco is a game where people get together once a month to play a game bearing that name involving dice, and to bring a food or dessert dish to share. What I brought was homemade macaroni and cheese. It is something that I have made for years that is relatively quick to make and good tasting.



Everyone at the Bunco party loved my macaroni and cheese and in fact I had many requests for the recipe. One lady, upon asking me about the recipe, asked me how many types of cheeses I had put in, asking me if I used three or four cheeses. When I replied that I only use one type of cheese, I got an incredulous look from her. I almost think she didn't believe me.



As a society hooked on television cooking shows and grocery magazines filled with the latest versions of "new and different recipes", aspiring bakers and cooks have became involved in searching out, creating, and trying new recipes many, if not most, have changed the food by adding more and more ingredients. When the limit of different types of ingredients seems to have been reached, different types of the same ingredient have thus served to create a "new" recipe. Thus, where a basic but good recipe of one type of cheese once existed, its successor now has four different cheeses. The result is not always better, or even good. Often the dish (in this example macaroni and cheese) becomes bland in taste and more complicated to make. As a result there is less interest to cook or bake.



Now I do not wish to downplay creativity or personal taste. What I do recommend, especially with the recipes I provide you, is to make the recipe exactly as stated for the first time. After that if you are creative, go ahead and experiment with changes that suit you. Baking is, and should be, fun. However, keep in mind that sometimes the simplest recipes with the least amount of varieties of ingredients are the best tasting and the easiest to make. And with those results you will want to make more baked goodies as time goes on.



Since my macaroni and cheese dish is baked in the oven for a time, I feel it qualifies itself to be included in this baking blog! Given below is a macaroni and cheese recipe I use which includes one type of cheese...

Baked Macaroni and Cheese

• One 8 oz. package of elbow macaroni
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/8 tsp. pepper
• 2 cups milk
• 8 oz. sharp cheddar cheese (as a block, not pre-shredded)

1. Preheat oven to 375 F.
2. Cook the macaroni in boiling salted water, just until tender. Drain.
3. Grate the cheese and set aside. (Freshly grated cheese tastes much better than the packaged pre-shredded stuff.)
4. Melt butter in a medium saucepan.
5. Into the melted butter stir in the flour, salt, and pepper until blended and smooth.
6. Add the milk and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce the heat and simmer until slightly thickened. Remove from the heat.
7. Stir into the thickened sauce approximately two-thirds of the cheese. Stir until the cheese is melted.
8. Add the drained macaroni to the sauce and carefully stir. Pour the mixture into a 1 1/2 qt. casserole pan. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top of the mixture.
9. Bake 15 min. Turn on the broiler and brown the top for 5 min. Remove and let cool slightly before serving.
10. Note: This recipe can easily be doubled, which I usually do.

Next Week: A quick and simple Bundt cake