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baba au rhum

baba au rhum

1 9.9
A small sweet yeast cake soaked in rum syrup and often served with whipped cream
  • noun
  • /ˈbɑːbə əʊ rʌm/
translation icon : baba al ron
  • After the meal, we enjoyed a slice of baba au rhum, a delightful rum-soaked cake.

Examples

  • The restaurant was famous for its baba au rhum, which was soaked in rich rum syrup.

  • Rum baba (also "baba au rhum" in French) is a small yeast cake saturated in rum and sometimes filled with whipped cream.

    Blog text (7)
  • For dessert, I ordered a delicious baba au rhum topped with fresh whipped cream.

Synonyms

babka
vsbaba au rhum
6 8.3

A sweet yeast cake from Eastern Europe often flavored with orange and raisins

is a yeast cake soaked in rum syrup rather than baked with fillings
baba
vsbaba au rhum
5 8.4

A small, light cake made with yeast and often soaked in rum

specifies it is soaked in rum syrup and served with cream or fruit
rum baba
vsbaba au rhum
8.0

A small rich cake made with yeast and soaked in rum syrup

is the same dessert but called by the traditional French name

How Alcoholic

baba au rhum
1 9.9
baba
5 8.4
sponge cake
7 1.8
yeast cake
  • Archaic
1 3.0

Surface Forms

baba au rhum singular
baba au rhums plural

Morphology

baba + au + rhum

This is a borrowed French descriptive phrase literally meaning 'baba with rum' — 'baba' (a yeasted cake) + 'au' (with/in) + 'rhum' (rum). The meaning (a cake soaked in rum or rum syrup) follows directly from the constituents and their combinatory relation, so a learner who knows the parts would readily infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Baba au rhum may come from an old Polish cake called babka. One popular story says a baker in France began to soak the small yeast cake in rhum (rum), so the name means 'baba with rum' and explains why the dessert is wet and tastes of rum.