Rum baba with poached pears and ginger ice cream

Ingredients

• 45ml of semi-skimmed milk
• 25g of fresh yeast
• 335g of plain flour
• 45g of caster sugar
• 1 pinch of salt
• 5 eggs
• 110g of butter, chilled
• 190g of caster sugar
• 450ml of dessert wine
• 150ml of orange juice
• 1 1/2 lemons, juiced
• 3 conference pears
• caster sugar for dusting
• 250ml of semi-skimmed milk
• 125ml of double cream
• 1/2 tbsp of ground ginger
• 50g of stem ginger, chopped
• 1 vanilla pod
• 3 egg yolks
• 50g of caster sugar
• 175g of sugar
• 275ml of water
• 125ml of dark rum

Instructions

1. To make the ginger ice cream, put the milk, double cream, ground ginger, stem ginger and vanilla pod in a heavy saucepan and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and infuse for 1 hour. Pour through a fine sieve
2. Cream the egg yolks and sugar together. Pour the flavoured cream onto the sugar and egg yolks, then return the mix to the saucepan
3. Heat gently, stirring occasionally until the mix reaches 81°C or coats the back of a spoon. Cool to room temperature. Pour the mix into an ice cream machine and churn. Freeze until needed
4. To make the baba, warm the milk and stir in the yeast to dissolve. Combine the flour, sugar, salt and yeast mixture into the bowl of a mixer. Using the dough hook, mix on a medium speed to form a dough
5. Add the eggs one at a time with the mixer running until they are fully incorporated. Tip the dough into a bowl. Cut the butter into 2cm dice and put over the dough
6. Cover with cling film and leave at room temperature to double in size
7. To make the rum syrup, bring the sugar and 175ml of water to a simmer in a heavy saucepan, stirring until the sugar has dissolved, then bring to the boil
8. Mix the syrup, rum and 100ml of water and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and leave at room temperature
9. To make the spiced poached pears peel the pears. Place with all the rest of the ingredients in a heavy saucepan and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and leave the pears to cool in the cooking liquor
10. Once cool, slice into 8 wedges and remove the core. Sprinkle the wedges with a little caster sugar and caramelise with a blowtorch
11. Once the dough has doubled in size, beat the butter thoroughly into the dough with the mixer. Spoon into a piping bag fitted with a 1-2cm nozzle
12. Pipe into 8 buttered dariole moulds, 5cm across the base and 5cm high. Half fill the moulds. Let the mix prove again in the moulds until it doubles in size
13. Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas mark 4. Bake the babas for 12 minutes or until cooked through. Remove the cooked babas from the moulds and tip them into the rum syrup for 5-10 minutes
14. To plate, slice a soaked baba in half and place overlapping on the right side of the serving plate. Arrange three caramelised pear wedges to the left of the baba and top with a ball of ginger ice cream
15. Serve extra rum syrup in a small jug