To me, there is just something super cool about a cake that is risen with yeast. I receive much enjoyment from imagining the tiny little yeast organisms eating the sugars, metabolizing them, and then releasing carbon dioxide, all with the sole purpose of rising my special cake. Now how awesome is that?
A traditional Baba Rhum is made of a sweet, eggy dough, flecked with dried currents (I've also used finely chopped dried figs, which is totally delicious!), soaked is a sweet rum syrup, then glazed with apricot preserves. However, I recently transformed my classic Baba au Rhum recipe into a chocolate masterpiece. I added cocoa powder to the dough, replaced the currents with grated bittersweet chocolate, and glazed it with raspberry preserves. The results were quite tasty—and slightly intoxicating!
Chocolate-Raspberry Baba au Rhum
If you like, use another type of preserves, such as cherry or blackberry, to glaze the cake. Just be sure it pairs well with chocolate.
1. Throughly brush a 5- or 6-cup decorative tube pan or kugalhopf mold with 1 tablespoon melted butter; set aside. Heat 1/2 cup milk to about 115 F. (I just toss it in the microwave for about 30 seconds.) In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, stir together the milk, 1 package dry yeast, and 3 tablespoon sugar; let sit for about 5 to ten minutes.
2. To the yeast mixture, add 2 large eggs (at room temperature). Turn the mixer on low and slowly add 1 2/3 cup flour and 1 teaspoon salt. Beat on medium-high speed for 5 minutes. (This is when the glutens are forming—a very cool process that gives the cake it's strength to rise.) Beat in 1/3 cup of Dutch cocoa. Scrape down bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
3. Punch down dough with a rubber scraper and fold in 1/2 cup of grated bittersweet chocolate. Pour into the prepared mold. Even out top, cover with a damp cloth, and let rise until the dough reaches the top of the mold, about 45 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375 F and make the Rhum syrup: In a small saucepan, heat 1 cup of sugar, 1 vanilla bean (split), and 1 1/2 cups water. Cook over medium-low heat and stir until the sugar dissolves and it smells like vanilla; remove from heat. Add 2/3 cup dark rum, cover, and let stand until ready to use.
5. Bake the cake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a bamboo skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. Carefully tap the cake out of the pan onto a cooling rack set over a baking sheet. Slowly pour the rum syrup over the cake, allowing it to absorb as you pour. (It's really amazing how much liquid the cake can hold—it's like a sponge!)
6. Heat about 1/2 cup seedless raspberry preserves with 1 tablespoon water until the preserves melt. Brush glaze all over the cake. (If there are fruit chunks in your preserves, strain before glazing the cake.) Serve with whipped cream, if desired.
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