peachleaf rum baba

I had a request for baba au rhum recently and it triggered a memory of serving them with peaches and mascarpone. It's a lovely memory and with peach leaf on my mind, it's a likely pairing.

The progeny of kugelhopf and ancestor of the savarin, babas are a type of yeast cake. They have the flavor and richness of brioche but the more refined texture of genoise. Like genoise, the baked cakes are soaked with alcohol-spiked syrup, though babas are typically flavored with rum.

These cakes were a good vehicle to test the flavor of peach leaf in a baked good. The flavor was introduced into the batter with peach leaf beer and milk making up the moisture. Chopped peach leaves were folded in before baking and the flavor was further reinforced with a soaking in peach leaf syrup and dark rum.

This dish relates like a family reunion. Peaches are represented in various stages: the crystallized peach buds with their green almond crunch, the butterflied slices of ripe fruit, the creamy curd made from peach juice, and the benzaldehyde-flavored leaves. From the same family, almonds make up the crunchy praline along with burnt sugar, whose caramel flavor is echoed by the dark rum-soaked baba. The tangy creme fraiche is the friend who was invited to keep things interesting.