Calvados Baba
Preparation time : 30 minutes
Cooking time : 1 hour
Serves 2
Ingredients
75 g brown butter
250 g of flour
6 g of salt
10 g of baker’s yeast
400 g of sugar
4 eggs
150 ml of Calvados
75 g of liquid cream
1 tsp. of vanilla syrup
500 ml of water
Source
"Tranché" in RouenIn a saucepan, make 75g of brown butter and let it cool.
In the bowl of a mixer, mix 250 g of flour, 6 g of salt, 10 g of baker’s yeast, 10 g of sugar & 3 eggs with a hook at low speed.
Add one egg, then the brown butter and knead until you get a dough that is ready to be used with a pastry bag.
Fill small round molds, and let them grow of their volume (at least 1⁄3).
Bake in a hot oven at 160°C (320°F) for 20 to 25 minutes.
For the syrup, boil 500 ml of water with 400 g of sugar, then add 150 ml of Calvados, leave on the fire a few minutes, then remove.
Soak baba in the syrup.
For the whipped cream, add 75g of liquid cream and 1 teaspoon of vanilla syrup in a kitchen siphon.
For the Calvados caramel, make a classic salted butter caramel: add salted butter, fleur de sel, then whole cream, let cook for about ten minutes then add a splash (or two) of Calvados. Let cook for 2 to 3 minutes.
Dressing : place the baba on top, add butter-roasted apples (fry the apples in soft butter and add brown sugar to caramelize them), vanilla whipped cream and Calvados caramel.
What is a Café Calva?
At the end of the 19th century, it was customary for workers and farmers to add a drop of Calvados to their morning coffee, to warm themselves up and summon the energy needed to work in often difficult conditions.
This tradition gradually took hold in French popular culture.