~A perfect cake to
bake for any special occasion, and Linda Lee Greene’s GARDEN OF THE SPIRITS OF
THE POTS: A SPIRITUAL ODYSSEY, to fill life’s open spaces~
“LET THEM EAT CAKE!”
From Linda Lee
Greene, Author/Artist
Jill:
“How are workers expected to survive on minimum wage when every dollar goes
toward their rent?” Jack: “What do I care? Let them eat cake.” Jack: “Our
budget shows that every one of our managers will get an end-of-year bonus.”
Jill: “What about the rest of the employees?” Jack: “Such is life. Let them eat
cake.”
Marie
Antoinette, queen of France in the years before and during the French
Revolution, to whom the idiom is famously attributed, never said, “Let them eat
cake” in response to being informed that her starving peasant subjects had no
bread to eat. It got stuck to her through time because she was the epitome of
indifference and insensitivity among the ruling and upper classes toward the realities
of life of ordinary people.
This type of obliviousness
of their own advantages and numbness to the misfortunes of working-class people
on the part of the privileged is a feature of all of human history,
unfortunately.
While Antoinette’s head was being lopped
off by the guillotine at the Place de la Concorde, a major public square in
Paris, plantation slaves in the Caribbean were fermenting molasses, a by-product of the sugar refining
process, into alcohol. Distillation of the by-products concentrated the alcohol
and removed some impurities, which produced the first modern rums. It didn’t take
long for rum to find its way to delectable French pastry and voilà—the soggy, boozy,
classic French dessert, Baba au Rhum cake was born in Paris—too late for
Antoinette, who would have relished it, no doubt, but just in time for us to
delight our guests with it at any special get-together.©
This recipe yields a dozen babas,
but the beauty of it for busy cooks is that a small, unsoaked portion, or all
of them, can be stored away in the freezer for up to two months. A day before
their debut on your table, defrost and then keep them in an airtight container.
If yours is a big and/or a really hungry crowd, bake up several batches ahead
of time and freeze them. For best results, you need a tender and sticky dough,
so be sparing in the amount of flour you incorporate into the mixture. Or,
place the dough in the refrigerator for a while, because cold dough is easier
to handle.
BABA AU RHUM
(Yield: 12 Babas)
2
tbsp of active dry yeast
3
tbsp granulated sugar
¼
cup of lukewarm water
4
large beaten eggs
1
pinch of sea salt
To prepare the dough: Put the yeast and sugar in a medium-size
bowl, add the lukewarm water and stir until the dry ingredients are dissolved.
Set aside for 10 minutes or until mixture is bubbly. And then add the eggs and
sea salt to the yeast mixture and whisk together.
½ cup
(113 grams/1 stick) softened unsalted butter
2
cups (256 grams) all-purpose flour
½
cup (80 grams) golden raisins
In a separate medium-size bowl, work together the butter and flour
until the mixture resembles wet sand. Add the egg-yeast mixture and raisins
that have been soaked and drained. Whip with a wooden spoon to a soft, sticky
dough, or prepare the dough in a standing mixer. Cover bowl and set in a warm
place about 1 hour or until the dough doubles in size.
Butter 2 mini-muffin tins or 12 mini-ramekins. Uncover dough,
dust with flour, and turn it out to a clean work surface. Add flour as
necessary to make dough manageable and knead lightly to a large, slightly
sticky ball. Cut the dough into 12 equal pieces (about 2 ounces/55 grams). Dust
the pieces with flour, roll into separate balls, and place in the muffin tins
or ramekins. Cover loosely and set in a warm place for about 30 minutes or
until the balls double in size.
Bake babas 15 to 20 minutes in a 375° oven until lightly
brown on top. Turn babas out of their molds and onto a baking sheet. Return to
the oven for 5 minutes to brown all over. Remove from oven and cover the babas
with a clean towel to keep them soft. (Store cooled babas in an airtight
container at room temperature if making in advance of imminent serving.)
TOPPING
2
pints strawberries, setting aside 12 strawberries
3
tbsp Cointreau, 3 tbsp Cognac, 1 tbsp Grand Marnier
2
cups whipped cream
1
pint coffee ice cream
Meanwhile, clean and hull the strawberries, setting aside 12
of them. Place the rest of the strawberries in a bowl and pour over them all of
the designated liqueurs. Stir gently and let sit for 1 hour. Then fold into the
mixture with a rubber spatula the whipped cream and ice cream. For each guest,
cut 1 baba in half horizontally and place on a dessert plate. Top with an
additional scoop of coffee ice cream, the strawberry/liquor mixture, and crown
with a whole strawberry.
Or substitute the ice cream with a dollop of whipped cream
and a strawberry on top.
***
A blend of
visionary and inspirational fiction with a touch of romance, multi-award-winning
author Linda Lee Greene’s GARDEN OF THE SPIRITS OF THE POTS: A SPIRITUAL
ODYSSEY is a tale of ex-pat American Nicholas Plato’s journey into parts
unknown, both within himself and his adopted home of Sydney Australia, a quest
that in the end leads him to his true purpose for living.
It
is available in eBook and/or paperback. Just click the following link/URL and
it will take you straight to the page on Amazon on which you can purchase it. https://www.amazon.com/GARDEN-SPIRITS-POTS-SPIRITUAL-ODYSSEY-ebook/dp/B09JM7YL6F/
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#ParisFrance, #BabaauRhum, #RumCake, #PlantationSlaves, #Caribbean, #Cointreau,
#Cognac, #GrandMarnier, #DarkRum, #Whiskey, #SydneyAustralia,
#GardenoftheSpiritsofthePots, #LindaLeeGreene
