Baba au Rhum

• 1 cake fresh yeast
• 13 cup warm milk
• 2 1/2 cups sifted flour
• 8 tablespoons softened unsalted butter
• 2 23 cups sugar
• 6 eggs
• 5 1/2 cups water
• 1/2 cup dark rum
• Candied fruits for decoration

1. Dissolve the yeast in the milk in a large bowl.
2. Stir in a half cup of the flour.
3. Cover and set aside in a a warm place to rise for 30 minutes.
4. Beat seven tablespoons of the butter in an electric mixer or in a blender.
5. Beat in two tablespoons of the sugar and two tablespoons of the flour.
6. Beat in the eggs, one at a time.
7. Beat the remaining flour into the risen yeast mixture, then beat in the butter and egg mixture to make a thick dough-like batter.
8. Butter a large baba or savarin mold or a bundt pan with the remaining butter and spoon the batter into the mold.
9. It should fill it halfway.
10. Cover with a clean cloth and set aside to rise until the dough reaches the top of the mold.
11. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
12. Bake baba for about 40 minutes, until nicely browned on top.
13. While the baba is baking, combine the remaining sugar with the water in a saucepan and boil until syrupy and reduced by half.
14. Remove from heat and stir in the rum.
15. When the baba is baked, remove it from the oven and carefully spoon the rum syrup over it, allowing it to saturate the cake completely.
16. Cool completely.
17. Unmold and decorate with candied fruits before serving.

yeast, warm milk, flour, butter, sugar, eggs, water, dark rum, candied fruits

Taken from cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/967 (may not work)