Neapolitan rum baba (Babà al rum)

1. Dissolve the yeast in 2 tbsp lukewarm water; in a bowl (or stand mixer), mix the flour with the sugar, add the yeast and two eggs and start working the dough, then add the remaining eggs one at a time; finally work in the salt and the soft butter little by little and beat for 10 minutes until the very soft, sticky dough is glossy and comes away from the sides of the bowl.

2. Fill buttered baba moulds (or a 12-hole muffin tin) a third full with the dough, cover and leave to rise in a warm place for 1-1.5 hours until it reaches the rim.

3. Preheat the oven to 180 °C and bake the babas for 20-25 minutes until deep golden; turn them out of the moulds and let them cool on a rack (ideally leave them to dry for a day).

4. For the syrup, boil the water with the sugar and lemon zest for 5 minutes, take off the heat, then stir in the rum.

5. Dip the cooled babas one at a time in the warm syrup and turn them until they soak it up and swell like a sponge, then let them drain a little on a rack.

6. Serve with whipped cream and drizzle with the remaining syrup.

Tip: Polish-French in origin but it became an icon in Naples; the key is that the dry cake soaks up warm syrup (or vice versa), otherwise it won't absorb it - for children, make it with orange juice instead of rum.