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Rum babas with poached pineapple & vanilla ice cream
- Preparation and cooking time
- Prep:
- Cook:
- Plus proving and cooling
- More effort
- Serves 6
For the babas
- 75ml milk
- 2 tbsp caster sugar
- 3 tsp dried yeast
- 175g plain flourplus extra for dusting
- 2 large eggslightly beaten
- 50g buttermelted and cooled, plus extra for greasing
For the poached pineapple
- 4 star anise
- 4 bay leaves
- 20 coriander seeds
- 500g caster sugar
- 1 small pineapplepeeled, sliced into rings and cored
- 250ml golden rumplus extra for serving
- 50g butter(optional)
- black pepper(optional)
For the vanilla ice cream
- 400ml double cream
- 50g icing sugar
- 1 vanilla podseeds only
Nutrition: per serving
- kcal1131
- fat53g
- saturates30g
- carbs141g
- sugars118g
- fibre3g
- protein8g
- salt0.77glow
Method
step 1
For the babas, gently heat the milk, then allow to cool slightly so it’s tepid. Add 1 tsp sugar to the yeast, then pour in the milk and allow to stand for a few mins until the mixture is foamy. Combine the flour, remaining sugar and ½ tsp salt in a bowl, then pour in the yeast mixture, eggs and the melted butter and mix until smooth and shiny. Cover with a tea towel and leave to prove in a warm place for 1 hr.
step 2
Butter and flour 6 dariole moulds or small metal pudding moulds. Knock back the dough; then, using your fingers, form 6 little balls and place 1 ball into each mould. Leave to prove again until the dough starts to rise over the top of the moulds, about 30-40 mins. Meanwhile, heat oven to 180C/160C fan/ gas 4. Space the moulds out on a baking tray, then cook for 15 mins. Leave to cool for a few mins, then carefully loosen the babas away from the sides with a small sharp knife. Turn out onto a wire rack and leave to cool.
step 3
For the poached pineapple, put the star anise, bay leaves, coriander seeds and sugar into a large pan with 1 litre of water, and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat, add the pineapple and cook for 20 mins. Leave to cool for 5 mins, then take out the pineapple, drain and set aside. Add the rum to the syrup and allow to cool. Can be made the day ahead up to this point.
step 4
To make the vanilla cream, whip the cream with the icing sugar and vanilla seeds to soft peaks. Set aside, then chill until ready to use.
step 5
Halve the babas and drench in the rum syrup until soaked through. Serve with the pineapple chopped into chunks, plus a dollop of cream extra syrup for everyone to drizzle over. If you like, you can heat the 50g butter in a frying pan until browned, cook the pineapple rings on both sides until golden, then grind over black pepper before serving as above.