If you love Manhattan cocktails, Baba au Manhattan, is your new favourite dessert! Soft, sweet, rich, yet light and fluffy little cakes are made using a butter laden, yeast risen dough, enhanced with eggs, a little sugar and a touch of lemon. Once cooked, they are soaked in a Manhattan cocktail syrup and served with Chantilly cream. The syrup is a sweet, fresh, citrusy version of the classic cocktail.
Serves 5 large or 16 mini babas
NB You need to start making these at least 6 hours before you want to serve them. Most of this time is hands off and if you prefer, they can be made the day before.
Collect together your equipment (see Recipe Notes below) and ingredients.
Make the babas: weigh the flour, sugar, yeast and salt into the bowl of a freestanding mixture and stir to mix.
Beat the eggs with the vanilla extract and pour onto the flour mix. Stir with a spoon or spatula.
Using the dough hook, beat on speed 2 for around 5 minutes. Keep your eye on it and, if necessary, scrape the dough from the dough hook and continue beating.
As the motor slowly runs, add the soft butter and lemon zest, one small piece of butter at a time. Only add the next piece when the last piece has been fully incorporated. This will take around 5 minutes in total. Beat for a further 2 – 3 minutes, once all the butter has been incorporated.
Transfer to an oiled mixing bowl. Cover and leave to rise until doubled in size. This normally takes between 1- 2 hours depending on how warm it is. If the room temperature is cold, I put mine in the oven, on dough setting at 42°C, and it takes around 1 hour.
Meanwhile, generously grease the baba tins with butter and sprinkle over a layer of caster sugar.
When the dough is ready, lightly flour the top of the dough, knock the dough back with your hand and then knead a few times. I find it easier to do this in the bowl using a spatula but you can also tip it out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead with your hands. It is a very soft dough and it is important it doesn’t get too warm as you do not want the butter in the dough to melt. I find a spatula is easier with the soft dough and helps regulate the temperature of the dough better.
Transfer to a piping bag.
Pipe into the prepared rum baba tins and place on a baking tray.
NB When you have piped some dough into a baba tin, I find it is easier to cut the dough with scissors before piping the next one.
Place some taller tins around the babas and then cover the whole tray with cling film. Leave to rise for a second time until the dough comes to the top of the tins. This takes around 45 minutes, but as before, will depend on the heat of your room.
Five minutes before you want to bake the babas, preheat the oven to Fan Oven 160°C /180°C/350°F/Gas 4.
Remove the cling film and tins and bake the babas in the centre of the oven for 15 – 25 minutes (depending on size) until golden in colour and the baba springs back when lightly touched. The larger tins measure 11cm wide x 3cm deep with a 4cm hole in the centre. They take 20 – 25 minutes to bake. The smaller size measures 6cm wide x 2cm deep with a 2cm hole in the centre. These take 10 - 15 minutes to bake.
Take out of the oven and leave to cool for 5 minutes. Carefully remove from the tins.
Secondly, make the syrup and soak the babas: whilst the babas are rising, make the syrup. Heat the water and sugar together until the sugar has dissolved.
Turn off the heat and add all the remaining ingredients. Leave to infuse.
Soak the babas: I allow 2 hours minimum for soaking and have even done this a good 24 hours before I serve the babas.
Strain half of the syrup into a dish and place the babas top side down in the dish. Cover and leave to soak for a minimum of 1 hour.
Turn the babas over and strain over the remaining syrup – cover and set aside again to soak up the syrup. Store in the fridge until you are ready to serve.
Chantilly cream: put all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix with a spoon or spatula. This is to help you avoid an icing sugar cloud in the kitchen!
Beat with an electric whisk until they reach the soft peaks stage.
Transfer to a piping bag and pipe the cream into the centre of each baba.
To serve: spoon over any residual syrup and serve any extra cream on the side. Decorate with a maraschino cherry in the centre of each baba and serve a Manhattan cocktail on the side!
Equipment:
Manhattan Cocktail:
Serves 1 -
Measure all the ingredients into a cocktail shaker with some ice and a twist of lemon zest. Shake and strain into a serving glass. Serve with a maraschino cherry.