Rum Babas with Vanilla Chantilly and Rum-Macerated Summer Berries

⏱ 180 min · Serves 6

Featherlight yeasted babas drenched in warm vanilla-rum syrup until they're soaked to the core, then crowned with billowing Chantilly and glossy macerated berries. A proper Franco-Neapolitan showstopper — boozy, buttery and worth every minute of proving.

Per serving: 610 kcal · 7.5g protein · 64.0g carbs · 33.0g fat

Ingredients

• For the babas:
• 150g strong white bread flour
• 7g fast-action dried yeast
• 15g caster sugar
• 3g fine salt
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 45ml whole milk, lukewarm
• 60g unsalted butter, very soft, plus extra for greasing
• For the rum syrup:
• 250g caster sugar
• 400ml water
• 1 strip orange peel
• 1 strip lemon peel
• 1 vanilla pod, split (seeds reserved for the cream)
• 120ml good dark rum
• For the Chantilly:
• 300ml double cream, well chilled
• 30g icing sugar
• seeds from the vanilla pod (or 1 tsp vanilla paste)
• For the berries:
• 350g mixed berries (strawberries quartered, raspberries, blueberries)
• 1 tbsp caster sugar
• 1 tbsp dark rum
• squeeze of lemon juice
• 2 tbsp apricot jam, warmed and sieved, to glaze (optional)

Method

1. Whisk the flour, yeast, sugar and salt in a stand mixer bowl. Add the eggs and lukewarm milk and beat with the dough hook on medium for 8-10 minutes until the batter is glossy, elastic and pulls away from the bowl in strands.
2. Add the soft butter a spoonful at a time, beating until each addition disappears. The batter will be very slack and sticky — that's correct. Beat 2 minutes more.
3. Cover and leave in a warm place for 45-60 minutes until doubled and bubbly.
4. Generously butter six 150ml dariole moulds (or a 6-hole large muffin tin). Knock the batter back and divide between the moulds, filling each just under halfway — a piping bag makes this neat.
5. Prove uncovered for 30-40 minutes until the batter reaches the rim. Meanwhile heat the oven to 190C/170C fan.
6. Bake for 18-20 minutes until deep golden and hollow-sounding. Turn out onto a rack and cool for 15 minutes.
7. Make the syrup: bring the sugar, water, citrus peels and split vanilla pod to a simmer, stir to dissolve, then simmer 5 minutes. Off the heat, stir in the rum. Let it cool to warm (about 60C).
8. Sit the babas in the warm syrup and turn them every couple of minutes for 10-15 minutes, spooning syrup over, until swollen and completely saturated — squeeze one gently: it should weep syrup. Lift onto a rack over a tray.
9. Macerate the berries: toss with the sugar, rum and lemon juice and leave 20 minutes until glossy and syrupy.
10. Whip the cream with the icing sugar and vanilla seeds to soft, floppy peaks — stop before it stiffens.
11. Brush the babas with warmed apricot jam for shine. Serve each on a plate, splashed with a little extra syrup or neat rum, topped with a generous quenelle of Chantilly and the berries and their juices.