Baba Pas Rhum (Rum free Baba Au Rhum)

This is a french cake soaked in a rum syrup,  I deiced to redo the recipe and make it without the rum and changed the name from Baba Au Rhum to Baba Pas Rhum I got a request for this recipe from a family so here it is! bon appetit!
Cake:
2 cups all purpose flour
3 tablespoons warm water
1 tablespoon dry yeast
3 eggs,beat
1/2 cup softened butter
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon each orange and lemon zest
12 mini cake molds or one bunt pan
Syrup:
2 cup sugar

3 cups water

1-2 tablespoons vanilla

Garnishes:

2/3 cups apricot preserves(heated)

Whipped cream or pastry cream

How2:

Cake:

Stir yeast and warm water together in a bowl and allow the yeast to dissolve for 5mins.

beat the eggs into the yeast and water.

In a bowl mix flour,sugar,lemon zest and orange zest, stir the mixture into the eggs and yeast. knead the dough with the butter for 5mins until it turns soft and elastic. cover the dough and let it rise 1 hour until it doubles in size.

While the dough rises, grease the molds and divide the dough among them, if you are making a huge bunt like i did place in a greased bunt pan. cover and allow the dough to rise again for 30-40mins.

Preheat oven to 375-400df bake the cake for 25-30mins if its  bunt 20-25 for mini ones. bake until golden and pull away from sides. remove from molds and allow them to cool. Don't worry it when it bakes it looks kind of like bread and its gets hard this is normal don't freak out! the syrup need a dense cake to hold up the syrup, once the syrup is soaked up you will see a textural difference.

Syrup:

In a sauce pan over med heat, bring sugar and water to a boil for 5-10mins until the syrup had thickened. remove syrup from heat allow it to cool slightly before adding the vanilla.

How 2 soak the cakes:

If your working with mini ones you may dip them in the syrup place them on platter then pour rest of syrup over them allow them to soak for a few hours.for  the bunt place on a deep serving plate spoon the syrup over the cake allow it to soak up well for a few hours. before serving heat up apricot preserved brush it on the cakes to give it a glossy look, top with whipped cream or  pastry cream. ENJOY!