This is my take on one of my favourite desserts from Naples: the famous rum baba. The baba cake is made from an egg-enriched yeast dough, then soaked in a rum syrup for a few days; it’s taken out of the syrup when served, and sometimes topped with warm custard.
I love this dessert so much that I had to turn it into a gelato! The base is a custard gelato (called ‘crema’ gelato in Italy), infused with lemon and orange peel, and mixed with a rumsoaked baba, which we make ourselves.
If you want to make the baba, I have provided the recipe, but to save time you could buy some babas from your local Italian patisserie (without the fresh custard). It’s best, however, to make your own rum soaking liquid, as the store-bought one can be a bit watery. We use Luxardo Mambo rum, but it’s quite hard to find, so any brown cooking rum will be fine.