Baba Au Rhum

Although romovaya baba has been adopted into the classical French cuisine, its roots are Slavic: it was created at the court of the deposed Polish king Stanislaw Leszczynski. The word baba is a pejorative term for “old lady” (the original shape of the cake was said to resemble an old woman in skirts), but the dessert’s whimsical moniker belies its true elegance.