Baba a L’Amaro With Toasted Chamomile Whipped Cream

RECIPE: Excerpted with permission from More Than Sweet: Desserts with Flavor by Marie Frank. Published by ‎Hardie Grant Publishing, April 2026.

Photo: Line Klein

April 10, 2026

This lighter, brighter take on the classic French dessert makes it the perfect way to end a springtime get-together.

Marie Frank, Copenhagen-based pastry chef and author of More Than Sweet: Desserts with Flavor, decided to create a lower-proof take on the baba au rhum after inadvertently dosing too much of the spirit in the dessert for her mom’s birthday party. Fo her Baba a L’Amaro, she uses Amaro Nonino and tops each baba with a toasted chamomile whipped cream. “Toasting the chamomile intensifies the flavor and gives the flowers a deep burnished honey flavor that complements the bittersweet orange flavor of the liqueur,” she writes.

Ingredients

Yield:6

Babas
1/4 cup whole milk
1 1/2 cups bread flour
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. instant yeast
3/4 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for the pan
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Syrup
1 3/4 cups water
1 3/4 cups toasted sugar
Zest of 1/2 yuzu or lemon
2/3 cup Amaro Nonino
3 Tbsp. yuzu or lemon juice
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Toasted Chamomile Whipped Cream
1 Tbsp. dried chamomile flowers
1 cup heavy cream
2 Tbsp. toasted sugar

Tools:small saucepan, stand mixer with dough hook attachment and whisk attachment, 6-cup popover pan or 6 baba molds, fine-mesh sieve

Preparation

Make the BabasHeat the milk in a small saucepan over medium heat until the temperature reaches 104°F on an instant-read thermometer, then set aside. Combine the flour, sugar, yeast, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the dough hook attachment. Add the warm milk and eggs to the bowl and mix on low speed until combined, 3–4 minutes. Increase the speed to medium and knead the dough for 10 minutes, until the dough is elastic and smooth. Gradually beat in the butter 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing until incorporated.

Grease a 6-cup popover pan or six baba molds and divide the dough among them. Cover the pan with plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel and leave to rise until doubled in size, 30–40 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Bake the babas for 20–22 minutes, until golden brown. Immediately remove the pan from the oven and transfer the babas to a wire rack to cool.
Make the SyrupCombine the water, sugar, and yuzu zest in a small saucepan and cook over medium-high heat until the sugar has dissolved. Remove the pan from the heat and let cool until just warm to the touch before adding the amaro and yuzu juice. Remove and discard the yuzu zest. Pour the syrup into a dish big enough to fit the babas and place them in the syrup. Leave the babas to soak in the syrup for 2 hours, turning every 30 minutes or so to make sure they are evenly soaked. Place the babas on a wire rack set over a pan to drain the excess syrup and pour the remaining the syrup through a fine-mesh sieve into a serving jug.
Make the Toasted Chamomile Whipped CreamPut the chamomile in a dry pan over medium heat and toast for about a minute, shaking the pan, until the flowers are fragrant and just turning golden brown. Heat the cream in a small saucepan over medium heat until steaming. Remove the pan from the heat, then add the toasted chamomile. Let the mixture steep for 20–30 minutes at room temperature, then cover and chill until cold, least 2 hours.

Pour the infused cream through a fine-mesh sieve into the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment. Add the sugar and whisk on low speed until the cream just begins to thicken, about 1 minute. Increase the speed to medium and whisk until it reaches the medium-peak stage, another 1–2 minutes.

Slice the babas lengthwise halfway through and serve with a dollop of whipped cream down the center.

Toasted SugarPreheat the oven to 325°F and pour 4 pounds sugar into a 9- by 13-inch glass or ceramic dish. Toast the sugar for 4 hours, stirring every 30 minutes to release the steam from the sugar. Remove from the oven and cool completely before transferring to an airtight container.