Catholic Recipe: Baba au Rhum
Also Called: Rum Sauce
This rum sauce accompanies the recipe for Strawberry Cake, suitable for Pentecost. This is a very special cake, a glorified strawberry shortcake, a descendant of the French apricot rum cake. It is often used as the festive cake of France, and the Holy Spirit undoubtedly inspired the baker who first conceived it. Its frosting is as red as the tongues of fire that descended on the apostles, as red as the vestments at Mass on Pentecost. This can be made the night before. This is also a perfect dessert for a summer picnic or celebration for hot weather feast day.
Soak your cake in this rum sauce before adding the final touch, the strawberry glaze.
DIRECTIONS
Boil the sugar with the water for 10 minutes. Then take the syrup from the stove and add the rum.
Place the cake in a dish containing the rum sauce and allow the Strawberry Cake to absorb the sweet rum flavor for an hour or more. Add the Strawberry Glaze on top.
Recipe Source: Cooking for Christ by Florence Berger, National Catholic Rural Life Conference, 4625 Beaver Avenue, Des Moines, IA 50310, 1949, 1999
