Baba au Sake. Sake-poached Pears. Whipped Mascarpone.

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Baba au Sake. Sake-poached Pears. Whipped Mascarpone. A recipe I have been working on for a while and one I couldn’t wait to share with you. If, like me, you are on board with the concept of Baba au Rhum (i.e. sweetened rhum syrup soaked drenched brioches served with whipped cream) but not a fan of overly boozy desserts then this one is for you. (Not that there is anything wrong with boozy things - I just prefer strong alcohol in my cocktails over my desserts).

While daytime temperatures here in Brussels are still creeping into the low- to mid-20s, it’s undeniably the start of autumn. The mornings already feel a bit crisp, the leaves in Bois de la Cambre have started to yellow, pumpkins are on display everywhere and the Halloween decorations at my son’s crèche are out in full force. And so the melons, berries and summer stone fruits in our fruit bowl have slowly been replaced by plums, apples and pears.

Whereas summer fruit is best eaten over the sink to catch any dripping juices, autumn fruits like (and in the case of quince, need) a bit of heat to coax out their best flavours and textures, be it through roasting, nestled into cake batter or poached in a liquid of your choosing.

I grew up in a house where canned jars of pears lined the pantry shelves more years than not. So I am partial to cooked pears in some form or another. And poached pears are really something special - so beautifully soft, practically silky. Light in colour, pears also happily take on the colour of their poaching liquid - hence no doubt why pears poached in red wine, hibiscus or saffron are so popular.

Yet pears are also subtle in flavour, meaning they in theory pair well with many flavours.  But here is the crux: their flavour is so subtle, you can easily mask their flavour completely. So I prefer to pair pears with mellower flavours that complement rather than overpower pears’ own flavour profile. And over the years, I have discovered I have two absolute favourite pairings for pears that do exactly that: chamomile tea and Sake. I already shared a recipe for Chamomile poached pears in The Guardian some years ago so let’s talk about Sake-poached pears today.

Sake is not to everyone’s liking, but I adore it. Rightly or wrongly, its flavour reminds me of both dry and low acidity white wine as well as Grappa. Using a Sake-flavoured syrup to soak drench the Babas means you end up with a far less boozy dessert. Sake’s delicate flavour also pairs wonderfully with pears, so what better way to serve Baba au Sake than with some Sake-poached pears on the side? And the Whipped Mascarpone ? That's really the icing on the cake. Thick and luscious and much more stable than whipped cream alone, the Whipped Mascarpone is the perfect filling for these Babas.

Baba au Sake. Sake poached pears. Whipped Mascarpone.

Note: Don’t be tempted to adjust the recipe to make just a few babas. You might as well do the full recipe and then freeze the rest. Serves 6

Ingredients

For the babas
150g all purpose flour
1/2 tsp dried active yeast
25g sugar
Pinch of salt
3 eggs
35g soft butter

For the Sake-Poached Pears / Baba soaking drenching syrup
3 pears, peeled, halved and cored
90g plus 90g sugar
800ml Sake

Whipped Mascarpone
100g Mascarpone
150g whipping cream
25g sugar

Directions

Add the flour to the bowl of a stand mixer. Whisk the yeast into the flour and form a well in the middle. Add the sugar and salt, followed by the eggs, and knead for approx. 5-10 minutes to develop the gluten in the dough. Next, add the butter, a few small chunks at a time, and knead until the butter is completely incorporated into the dough and the dough is smooth and glossy. Continue kneading the dough until you notice the dough starting to pull away from the sides of the bowl. You will notice that the dough is much softer and wetter than you might be used to from baking with enriched doughs, in fact the dough may seem batter-like, but that is normal. Cover the bowl with cling film and leave it somewhere warm until the dough has doubled in size (depending on how warm it is, this can take anything from 1h to several hours). Alternatively, place in the fridge overnight.

Grease 6 dariole moulds (or large muffin tins) with butter and pre-heat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius. Beat the batter with a wooden spoon to degas before dividing it equally between the moulds (you should get around 65g of batter per mould). I find it easiest to do so using a piping bag and a sharp knife or a pair of kitchen scissors. Cover the moulds and leave to prove somewhere warm until the dough reaches the top of the moulds. Again, depending on how warm it is, this can take anything from 1 to several hours.

Bake the babas at 190 degrees for 15-20 minutes until golden brown and fragrant. Leave to cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing the babas from their moulds. Let cool completely.

While the baba are baking, poach the pears. Add the pears, 90g sugar and Sake to a saucepan. Bring to a simmer on medium heat and leave the pears to simmer until easily pierced with a knife (this should take around 10 minutes).  Set aside.

Remove the pears from their poaching liquid. Add the remaining 90g sugar to the poaching liquid then heat this up on medium just long enough for the sugar to dissolve. Place Babas in a large enough bowl or deep plate to fit all six Babas then pour over the syrup. Turn the Babas every 15 minutes for at least 1h to ensure even absorption of the syrup. Note that the babas will likely not absorb all of the syrup - you can use the leftovers to pour over the babas when serving. 

Whip the Mascarpone, cream and sugar until stiff peaks.

To serve, split each Baba in half and fill with a generous spoon or two of Whipped Mascarpone. Serve half a poached pear on the side.