It doesn’t feel long since I was anticipating the unexpected pleasure of a new Bake Off series, yet here we are at the semi-final stage already. Somehow this sums up 2020 for me. Long spells where time drags and nothing much happens, followed by fleeting pleasures that are gone far too quickly. Only a week to go and I’ll have to start setting my own baking challenges again.
The semi-final was billed as patisserie week, a baking style which to me conjures up the delicacies that glitter and entice in the windows of the best French bakers. A style of cake I love to indulge in and eat, but one which somehow feels beyond the capabilities of most home bakers to produce. When I saw this theme coming I had serious concerns it might be the week where my skills let me down and I couldn’t join in.
Thankfully the signature challenge was a Savarin cake, not something I’ve made before, but not as high end as I feared it might be. If you haven’t heard of a Savarin bake you probably have of rum baba. Savarin is the yeast infused batter used to make the baba before it is then soaked in rum.
The other two challenges were not ones I was going to be trying at home. The technical was a Danish cornucopia, an oddly phallic-looking cake which none of the contestants had ever heard of and most failed miserably in making. This was followed by a show stopper of a cube cake. Think of it as a baked Rubik’s Cube, twenty-seven individual cube cakes that can be stacked together. All impressive baking, but not for the domestic kitchen.
So off to the cookbooks it was to found out how to make a Savarin. It turned out to be relatively straight forward and these sweet and sticky treats were a great hit in this house when I served them yesterday evening.
I followed a recipe which said it served four. To be honest the babas produced were a bit on the large side and I’d advise splitting this five or even possibly six ways if you’re tempted to have a go. A muffin tin is probably the best thing to use.
Ingredients
For the baba
- 4gm dried yeast
- 3tsp demerara sugar
- 75g butter
- 200g strong white bread flour
- 1 tsp fine salt
- 2 eggs…beaten
For the syrup
- 400gm demerara sugar
- 200ml dark rum…this is the amount stated in the recipe. I used less and the syrup still tasted good.
- 1tsp vanilla essence
Method
- Preheat the oven to gas mark 4 and grease the muffin tin that you are using
- Put the yeast in a bowl with 75ml warm water and a pinch of the sugar, stir to combine. then leave until bubbly on top. Meanwhile, melt the butter and set aside, then whisk the flour, salt and remaining sugar in a large bowl or food mixer
- Mix in the yeast and then half of the egg, once combined add the rest of the egg and then the butter. Beat until the mixture is smooth*
- Half fill the muffin mould with batter. Then cover with a tea towel and leave to rise for about 45 minutes. the batter should approximately double in size
- Place the tin in the oven and bake for 25 minutes.
- To make the syrup combine the vanilla and sugar with 500ml of water and bring to a simmer. Once the sugar is melted take off the heat. Once cooled add the rum.
- When the babas are out of tin, leave them to soak in the syrup until you are ready to serve.
*Although you are using yeast it’s worth remembering that the mixture is much closer to a thick cake batter rather than a dough.
David in the kitchen. 