{"id":8441,"date":"2026-10-19T23:31:56","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T14:31:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/?post_type=sweetlore&p=8441"},"modified":"2026-10-31T18:50:35","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T09:50:35","slug":"baba","status":"publish","type":"sweetlore","link":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/en\/sweetlore\/baba\/","title":{"rendered":"Baba"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The baba is a pastry finished by soaking it with syrup after baking. A leavened dough rich in eggs and butter is made to absorb syrup or liquor after baking, moistening it all the way to the center. Representative examples are the French baba au rhum and the Neapolitan mushroom shape, in which a round top swells above a narrow body. Its distinctive texture comes from two steps: baking a dough full of air bubbles, and letting it absorb plenty of liquid.<\/p>\n

\n\"Ring-shaped\n
A ring-shaped baba au rhum piped with cream (December 9, 2016, location unknown). Even a shape with a hole in the middle is finished by soaking it with syrup. Photo: Popo le Chien \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>. Reduced-size version from Commons obtained. No alterations to the content or cropping made by us.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

An airy leavened dough that absorbs syrup<\/h2>\n

The ingredients include flour, yeast, eggs, fat and a small amount of sugar. Alain Ducasse\u2019s recipe (the proportions of ingredients and the method of preparation) uses, among other ingredients, 500 grams of eggs, 140 grams of butter, 17 grams of yeast and 17 grams of honey for 400 grams of flour. The dough is worked while the eggs are added little by little, until it pulls away from the sides of the bowl and becomes smooth and elastic. Although the dough is high in moisture and fat, it is worked into an airy dough that can hold its shape even when it absorbs liquid after baking.<\/p>\n

The dough is placed in molds and left to rise, and once it has swelled, it is baked. The part that rises slightly above the cylindrical mold becomes the round top. Baking sets the shape of the airy dough, which is then removed from the mold and cooled. After this, the baked dough is soaked with sugar syrup.<\/p>\n

\n\"Cross-section\n
Cross-section of a baba au rhum served at Le Comptoir du Relais in Paris (May 31, 2025). The airy dough has been cut and is served with cream. Photo: Zheng Zhou \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>. Reduced-size version from Commons obtained. No alterations to the content or cropping made by us.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Syrup to soak the dough, and rum poured on afterward<\/h2>\n

The baba is soaked in warm syrup and turned so that the liquid reaches every part. Unlike a finish in which icing is simply brushed on the surface, this lets sweetness and aroma penetrate the inside of the dough as well. Once it has soaked thoroughly, it is lifted onto a rack and the excess liquid is drained off.<\/p>\n

In Ducasse\u2019s method, a syrup is made from water, sugar, vanilla, and orange and lemon peel, and the cooled dough is soaked in the liquid while it is warm but not too hot. An apricot nappage gives it shine, rum is poured over it after it is cut, and vanilla-flavored whipped cream is served on the side. Some methods mix the rum into the sugar syrup from the start, while others, like this one, pour it on afterward.<\/p>\n

Scaturchio in Naples describes a method in which the babas are rested after baking and then soaked with liquid in two stages. This is the shop\u2019s way of keeping them from being either too dry or overly saturated. Not only the amount of syrup but also the condition of the baked dough and the step of letting it settle after soaking affect the result.<\/p>\n

The legend of a king who moistened a dry cake with liquor<\/h2>\n

There is a legend that the former King of Poland, Stanis\u0142aw Leszczy\u0144ski, moistened a dry kougelhopf<\/a> with liquor and named it after Ali Baba from \u201cThe Thousand and One Nights,\u201d a book he loved. Stohrer in Paris also relates a history connecting the pastry to the king and the court pastry cook Nicolas Stohrer, but the liquor differs from story to story, being Tokaji, Malaga or rum, and some say rum was used only later. The Polish word baba<\/em> is used both for an older woman and for a cake, and besides the theory that the name comes from Ali Baba, there is also a theory that it derives from this Polish word.<\/p>\n

The history of this pastry also involves ties between the Polish royal family and the French court. The king\u2019s daughter, Marie Leszczy\u0144ska, married Louis XV in 1725. According to the City of Paris\u2019s historical guide, Nicolas Stohrer, who served Stanis\u0142aw, followed Marie to Versailles and opened a shop on Rue Montorgueil in 1730. However, it is uncertain whether the baba of the time when Stohrer opened his shop in Paris was, as it is today, soaked with rum syrup after baking.<\/p>\n

The name and method of the baba in old records<\/h2>\n

In a private letter dated September 24, 1767, quoted in the French historical dictionary \u201cTr\u00e9sor de la langue fran\u00e7aise,\u201d Diderot writes to Sophie Volland that babas are delivered to him from Champigny every day. Although the name of the pastry survives, how it was soaked is not known.<\/p>\n

The \u201cPolish baba\u201d in Car\u00eame\u2019s 1815 \u201cLe P\u00e2tissier royal parisien\u201d is made by mixing Madeira, raisins and citron into the dough and baking it, with no rum syrup after baking. In this book, Car\u00eame names King Stanis\u0142aw as the creator of the baba. Recipe No. 565 by the Italian cookbook author Artusi likewise mixed liquor into the dough and served the baba dusted with powdered sugar after baking.<\/p>\n

The earliest Italian attestation cited by the culinary-language dictionary VoSLIG is bab\u00e0 alla polacca<\/em>, \u201cPolish-style baba,\u201d in Vincenzo Agnoletti\u2019s \u201cManual of Refined Modern Cookery and Pastry,\u201d published in 1834. The word is said to have entered Italian from Polish by way of French, and the form bab\u00e0<\/em>, stressed on the final syllable, also points to this route. Giovanni Vialardi\u2019s 1854 cookbook describes today\u2019s shape and a version finished with icing. The name appears in records in the 18th century, the method of mixing liquor into the dough in the early 19th century, and a form close to today\u2019s in later records. Even where the name baba is old, the pastry was not necessarily made with the present method of soaking it with liquid after baking.<\/p>\n

\n\"Round\n
A rum baba served aboard the cruise ship MS Queen Anne (April 1, 2025). A shipboard presentation with cream placed in the hollow of the round pastry and sauce on the side. Photo: Richard N Horne \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC BY 4.0<\/a>. Reduced-size version from Commons obtained. No alterations to the content or cropping made by us.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

From the Neapolitan mushroom shape to rings and volcanoes<\/h2>\n

According to the Campania Region\u2019s guide to traditional foods, the baba was brought to Naples by French-influenced cooks working in noble households, and its softness and mushroom shape became established there. Locally, these cooks are called mons\u00f9, from the French monsieur. Some versions use lard as well as butter among the basic ingredients, and the finish also varies, including lemon-scented sugar syrup, rum and cream.<\/p>\n

There are not only small versions but also large ones. Scaturchio makes ring-shaped cakes to be cut into portions and one modeled on Mount Vesuvius. The shop\u2019s volcano shape was created as an homage to the dining table of the 1994 G7. The shape of the volcano that symbolizes Naples has thus also been incorporated into celebration cakes.<\/p>\n

The savarin, a ring-shaped leavened dough that is soaked, is a close relative. Whereas Neapolitan babas are small mushroom shapes soaked one by one, a ring-shaped cake can be served as a single cake cut into portions. However, ring-shaped babas are also made, so the name cannot be determined by shape alone. There are also differences in the dough proportions, the soaking liquid, and the use of liquor and cream. The Neapolitan compliment \u201cyou\u2019re like a baba\u201d carries the image of a soft, well-loved pastry.<\/p>\n

Glossary<\/h2>\n

\u30fbAntonin Car\u00eame<\/strong>: A French cook and pastry maker of the early 19th century.\n\u30fbPellegrino Artusi: An Italian author who compiled home-cooking recipes into a cookbook.\n\u30fbCitron: A citrus fruit with a thick peel. Old baba recipes use its candied peel.\n\u30fbNappage: A glaze that gives the surface of pastries a shine. Some babas use apricot nappage.\n\u30fbStanis\u0142aw Leszczy\u0144ski: Former King of Poland. Marie\u2019s father and the central figure in the legend of the baba\u2019s birth.\n\u30fbNicolas Stohrer: A pastry cook who served Stanis\u0142aw and Marie and opened a pastry shop in Paris in 1730. The shop\u2019s history credits him as the creator of the baba.\n\u30fbMarie Leszczy\u0144ska: Stanis\u0142aw\u2019s daughter. She married King Louis XV of France in 1725.\n\u30fbVincenzo Agnoletti: An Italian cook who recorded the name Polish-style baba in a cookbook published in 1834.\n\u30fbGiovanni Vialardi: An Italian cook who covered the baba in a cookbook published in 1854.\n\u30fbAlain Ducasse: A French chef. He presents a baba recipe in which rum is poured over the baba after it has been soaked in syrup.\n\u30fbMons\u00f9: The name for French-influenced cooks who worked in noble households and elsewhere in Naples.\n\u30fbVesuvius: A volcano near Naples.\n\u30fbDiderot: A French philosopher who mentioned the name baba in a private letter in 1767. He did not record the ingredients of the pastry.\n\u30fbSophie Volland: The recipient of Diderot\u2019s letter.<\/p>

References<\/h2>\n

  1. \u30fbAlain Ducasse, \u201cBaba au rhum\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Egg-rich dough, rising, cooling, soaking in warm liquid, and the order of the rum and nappage. A recipe by a specific chef.\n\u30fbScaturchio, \u201cBab\u00e0\u201d<\/a> \u2014 The shop\u2019s resting method and two-stage soaking, the compliment, the ring shape and the 1994 volcano shape.\n\u30fbStohrer, \u201cNotre Maison\u201d<\/a> \u2014 The founding of the shop, the relationship between the pastry cook and the court, the legend of moistening with liquor, and the differing types of liquor. An account by a party that claims the origin.\n\u30fbRegione Campania, \u201cBab\u00e0\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Ingredients of the regional type, two risings, the mushroom shape, and the history of the mons\u00f9. The king\u2019s anecdote is distinguished as legend.<\/p><\/li>

  2. \u30fbCar\u00eame, \u201cLe p\u00e2tissier royal parisien,\u201d Vol. 1 (1815), pp. 34\u201336<\/a> \u2014 Ingredients, rising and baking of the Baba polonaise; a recipe in which Madeira and fruit are mixed into the dough.<\/p><\/li>

  3. \u30fbPellegrino Artusi, \u201c565. Bab\u00e0,\u201d official reprint<\/a> \u2014 Two kinds of raisins and candied peel; liquor mixed into the dough; cooled and served with powdered sugar.\n\u30fbVoSLIG, \u201cbab\u00e0\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Agnoletti in 1834, the word form via French, and commentary on Vialardi in 1854. Research by the dictionary\u2019s authors; the original sources are separate.\n\u30fbCity of Paris, \u201c\u00c0 Paris,\u201d Spring 2022 issue, p. 14<\/a> \u2014 The shop history stating that Stohrer followed Marie to Versailles in 1725 and opened his shop in 1730. The scene of the creation is legend.\n\u30fbParma city digital library, Agnoletti bibliographic record<\/a> \u2014 Bibliographic details and author for the edition published 1832\u201334. The text of the relevant recipe was not consulted.\n\u30fbTr\u00e9sor de la langue fran\u00e7aise, \u201cbaba\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Quotation from Diderot\u2019s letter of September 24, 1767, and the Polish etymology. The original letter in full was not seen.<\/p><\/li><\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The baba is a pastry made by baking a leavened dough made with eggs and butter and then soaking it with syrup or rum. In Naples, the single-serving mushroom shape, narrow at the bottom and swelling into a round top, is well known. Break through the glossy brown exterior and a yellow, airy crumb appears; although it is a baked pastry, it has a softness that holds plenty of liquid.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":7464,"menu_order":212,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_parade_sweetlore_meta":{"en":"Bab\u00e0","subtitle":"The Neapolitan baba: baked dough soaked with syrup","topics":"Eggs added to the dough little by little\uff0fCooled, then soaked to the core\uff0fFrom single servings to large rings","country":"Naples, Italy; France; and elsewhere","show_toc":true,"ingredients":["butter","egg","honey"],"texture":["chewy","smooth"],"occasion":[],"method":["baked","fermented"],"season":[]},"footnotes":""},"sweetlore_category":[166],"class_list":["post-8441","sweetlore","type-sweetlore","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"sweetlore_related_products":null,"sweetlore_related_faqs":null,"sweetlore_related_voices":null,"sweetlore_related_mode":"auto","sweetlore_related_articles":null},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t