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Ingredients
- 2 packages active dry yeast
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 cup tepid milk (100 degrees)
- 1 t salt
- 4 cups sifted flour
- 8 eggs, lightly beaten
- 3/4 pound unsalted butter, softened
- 1/2 cup dried currants
- 1/4 cup seedless raisins
- Rum Syrup
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1 cup dark rum
- Lemon Icing
- 2 cups confectioners' sugar
- 1/4 cup cold water
- 2 t fresh lemon juice
Details
Cooking time 45mins
Preparation
Step 1
In a small, shallow bowl, sprinkle the yeast and 1/2 t of the sugar over 1/2 cup of the tepid milk. Let the mixture stand for 2 or 3 minutes, then stir to dissolve the yeast completely. Set the bowl aside in a warm, draft-free place for 5 minutes or until the mixture doubles in volume.
In a deep mixing bowl, combine the rest of the 1/3 cup sugar with the salt and flour. Make a well in the center and pour in the yeast mixture. Add the remaining milk, drop in the eggs and, with a large spoon, stir the flour into the liquid ingredients. Continue to stir until a fairly stiff dough forms. Knead the dough by pushing it down with the heels of your hands, pressing ti forward, and folding it back on itself. Knead for about 20 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and elastic. Drape the bowl loosely with a kitchen towel and set it in the warm, draft-free place for one hour, or until the dough doubles in bulk. Then punch it down and knead in the softened butter, a tablespoon or so at a time. Knead in the currants and raisins.
With a pastry brush, coat the inside of a 12 cup kugelhof mold with melted or softened butter. Pat the dough into the mold; it should come about halfway up the sides. Drape the mold with a towel and set it aside for about one hour or until the dough doubles in volume and rises almost to the top of the pan.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Bake the cake in the center of the oven for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 degrees and bake it for another 35 minutes. Remove the mold from the oven, drape a kitchen towel loosely over it, and let the baba rest for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the inside edge of the mold and turn the cake out onto a serving plate, then carefully invert the cake on the plate.
For the syrup, combine the 2 cups of sugar and 1 1/2 cups of water in a small saucepan, and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture comes to a boil over high heat. Boil for five minutes, undisturbed, until the mixture forms a syrup thick enough to coat a spoon lightly. Pour the syrup into a bowl, then stir in the rum. With a large spoon, distribute the syrup evenly over the warm cake. Then baste the cake every 10 minutes or so with the syrup collecting around the cake. When all of the syrup has been absorbed, mix the confectioners' sugar, 1/4 cup of cold water and the lemon juice and drizzle this icing over the top of the cake, allowing it to run down the cake in streams.
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