Visions of Sugar Plums, and Flaming Rum

By Jennifer Cote –

“Frazzled Housewife” is almost becoming a foreign word. With the convenience of fast food and store-bought items that require minimal preparation, we can spend very little time in the kitchen. If a special event comes up, we can call the bakery department of most any grocery store. No need to be frazzled—dial it in!

It isn’t until we hit the school bake sales, or the church cake walk, or the birthday celebration, that we even miss the days of that frazzled housewife. She was the one who prepared foods from scratch, who baked homemade birthday cupcakes for her kids’ classrooms. Her desserts didn’t look airbrushed to perfection; they looked homemade. But that was a good thing.

When special occasions come up, I like to pull out a favorite recipe. It may mean becoming slightly frazzled in the process, as in the last time I made a Baba Rum Cake. I poured the rum into a pot of boiling hot syrup (still on the stove); the pilot light lit the rum, and we had a little show of two foot flames for a brief time. It was pretty exciting, although for future recipes, setting that pot on the counter would prevent such a recurrence.

Baba Rum Cake’s been a family favorite for years, and the recipe has much to qualify it as such. It slices easily (even into small pieces), and it keeps very well. It’s almost a cross between a cake and a candy confection; the cake itself doesn’t have much sugar, but it gets soaked in sugar syrup after baking. That syrup has been boiled to “soft-ball stage”; then the rum gets poured in. Theoretically, all the alcohol boils away. No one’s going to get drunk eating the cake, although some may have tried!

As the holidays come upon us, it’s fun to create traditions. We may not eat special desserts all the time, but when friends and family gather to celebrate the occasions, it’s nice to make them memorable. Hopefully, we don’t have to become too frazzled in the process.

Baba Rum Cake

This is a memorable holiday cake in our family. If you’re not big on rum, skip the alcohol, using other flavorings. Serves 12.

Ingredients

• 8 eggs total (divided)
•  5  c. sugar, divided (two 1/2 c. + 4 c. sugar)
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 2/3  c. butter
• 2 c. flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. baking powde
• 8 egg whites
• 4 c. water
• 1 c. rum (or substitute 2 tsp. almond,  lemon, or orange extract,  plus scant 1 c. water)

Beat until fluffy: > 8 egg yolks > 1/2 c. sugar > 2 tsp. vanilla

Microwave 40 seconds (until melted): > 2/3 c. butter

Set aside mixture of: > 2 c. flour > 1/2 tsp. salt > 2 tsp. baking powder

Whip until almost stiff: > 8 egg whites

Add slowly to beaten egg whites, while whipping: > 1/2 c. sugar

Fold the above ingredients together, incorporating the flour into the whipped egg yolk mix alternately with the melted butter, folding the egg whites in last of all. Bake in a buttered bundt pan at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. Begin syrup right away, stirring occasionally, boiling the following in a saucepan until it reaches 235 degrees on a candy thermometer: > 4 c. sugar > 4 c. water

When syrup is to temperature, remove and add: > 1 c. rum (or substitute 2 tsp. almond, lemon, or orange extract, plus scant 1 c. water)

Leaving cake in pan, pour hot syrup over cake immediately. Let cake soak 2 hours, then turn out onto plate.

Cookbook author Jennifer Cote shares recipes and her faith, starting with her first cookbook, “From the Land of Milk and Honey“. Volume II, an e-cookbook, is coming soon, in between running a café with husband Tom, grandparenting, and organic gardening. More info (including video tutorials) can be found at jennifercote.org; email Jennifer at jen@jennifercote.org.