For recipe see Italy Revisited/Recipes/"Pastries Misc"

Many famous "Italian" pastries, such as the "baba al rum," are not Italian at all -- they have their origins in France, Austria, or the Middle East. One food historian traces the origin of the baba al' rum to a small French town named Luneville close to the German border, and credits a Pole by the name of Stanislaw Leszczynski (father-in-law to Louis XV of France) as the baba's creator. Supposedly, Stanislaw Leszcynski had the bright idea of taking a then well-known Polish dessert called babba (which was part panettone and part brioche) and dipping it in a glass of Madeira and viola, the French-style "baba" pastry was born. A few years later, pastry chefs working for the French king at Versailles used Jamaican rum (rather than Madeira) to flavor the baba and that's how it has been flavored ever since. Apparently, the baba was brought to Italy by the French sometime in the 18th century when they controlled the area surrounding Naples. For awhile the shape of the baba was associated with the dome of Haghia Sofia and the pastry was dubbed Ali Baba, after the hero of "A Thousand and One Nights." However, nowadays the shape of the baba is generally described as a "mushroom" and its links to "Ali Baba" have been severed. Actually, a famous Italian food historian, Fabrizio Mangoni, defines the baba as "the pastry of the Enlightenment" as it was born from an idea originating in France. Nonetheless, by the turn of the 19th century, the baba became known all over the world as "a typical Neapolitan pastry" and was no longer associated with the French enlightenment or the French aristocracy. While some food historians claim the word "baba" was coined by the Neapolitan people to mimic the sound of aimless but joyful and "sheepish" chatter (ba-ba-ba-ba), others claim the word, baba, is actually Polish in origin, and makes reference to the Polish "babba" dessert. Sometime in the 19th century pastry chefs not only made baba pastries but they started to make baba rum-flavored cakes. The practice continues to this day. Nowadays, many pastry chefs in Italy make the baba stuffed with limoncello and/or lemon cream, while others top it off with whipped cream. In some areas of Italy chefs flavor the pastry with Moscato others with cider. The variations seem limitless.... For more information on the history of the baba visit: www.lucianopignataro.com.... The photo of the (store-bought) baba al' rum was taken by the contributor.

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