Paul Hollywood’s R-R-R-Rum Babas

Place the flour in a large bowl. Put the yeast on one side of the flour and the salt on the other, making sure they don’t touch. (Salt can kill the yeast, making it inactive). Add the sugar, and stir until evenly mixed.In a different bowl, mix the milk and eggs together until well combined. Add three-quarters of the egg and milk mixture to the flour, and stir to combine. Mix in the rest of the liquid, and knead the dough in the bowl with a spatula until it’s smooth and glossy; this will take about 10 minutes.Add the softened butter, and work it through the dough thoroughly until it’s silky and stretchy. This should take approximately six minutes.Put the dough into a greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Set the dough aside to rise for at least an hour, until doubled in size. (Mine took about 1½ hours.)Grease and sugar four 4½-inch fluted rum baba tins (or savarin molds). (Coating the molds with sugar will help the fragile cakes come out of the molds without sticking.)Turn the dough out of the bowl, and knock it back by kneading it a few times. Place the dough into a piping bag with a large plain nozzle. Pipe the dough into the four molds, trying to get them all as equal as possible.Preheat the oven to 350°F.Allow the dough to rise for a second time until it has expanded almost to the top of the molds. Be careful not to overprove at this stage, or you will get a muffin top around the edges. (Mine took about half an hour.)Bake in the preheated oven for about 20-25 minutes.Meanwhile for the syrup, put the sugar and rum in a small saucepan with water and bring to a rolling boil.When the babas are done (They should be golden brown, but you can also insert a toothpick in the thickest part of the cake to see if it comes out clean.), take them out of the oven and allow them to cool a little before carefully removing them from their tins. They will be very fragile.Place the babas into a deep dish and pour half the syrup over them. Allow them to soak up all of the liquid; then turn them over and repeat with the rest of the liquid. Transfer to the fridge to chill.Meanwhile, whip the cream with the powdered sugar and vanilla seeds. The cream must be firm enough to pipe and hold its shape. Transfer to a piping bag and keep in the fridge until needed. Prepare the fruit as desired.To serve, pipe the Chantilly cream, using a star nozzle, into the middle of the babas. Garnish with the mixed fruit.