Baba au rhum, crème Chantilly

It’s quite funny how food has fashions – why should tastes and flavours follow any kind of trend? – but alongside the likes of devil’s food cake and prawn cocktail, this French brasserie classic has now been assigned ‘retro’ status in the UK, in other words, it’s slightly unfashionable. That’s a shame as I think these individual little boozy cakes make a fine and elegant finale to a meal and I still often put them on the menu at Koffmann’s.

Babas need to be very moist – they should