Rum Cake

This weekend we celebrated my oldest daughter, LuLu’s 26th birthday.  You see the 25 candles + 1 more candle = 26 years.  If you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time you’ve no doubt read about the different birthday cake requests I’ve honored for both of my girls as well as my man, Dan. I’ve whipped up Cheesecake, Italian Cream, Chocolate Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting, German Chocolate and yet more cheesecake .  I’m honored that they request my homemade cakes each year.

This year is a little different from the rest with my new job altering my kitchen time.  My time is a little less in the kitchen but I still planned on baking a special cake for my newly engaged daughter.  My one request this year was that it be a simple cake.  She obeyed this request and asked for Rum Cake.  I perused a few recipes but ultimately decided on the Bacardi Original Rum Cake recipe.  Greg and Katherine at Rufus Food and Spirits Guide had recently posted a delicious sounding recipe but it appeared a bit too time consuming for my time frame last week.  It’s on my “recipes to try” list however, as I’m intrigued with the mix of apricot nectar in the glaze.  I’m a bit ashamed not to have made the entire cake from scratch but after we took the first bite that feeling went right out the window.

Moist and loaded with Flor de Cana (sorry Bacardi) dark rum, topped with a generous sprinkling of pecans my cake produced ooh’s and ahhh’s all around.  Served with a scoop of Blue Bell vanilla ice cream or all by itself this cake is a keeper.  It is one of the easiest cakes I’ve ever made.  I’m pretty sure adding a nice dark rum is what made this cake so delicious.  Another plus for this recipe is that it is “best” served the day after baking, meaning you can bake a day ahead, then sit back and relax on the day of the celebration.

Enjoy!

 

Bacardi Rum Cake

Ingredients: Small amount of vegetable shortening and flour for preparing pan  Batter: 1 cup pecans, coarsely chopped 1 (18 ounces) packaged yellow cake mix with pudding in the mix 4 large eggs ½ cup cold water ½ cup vegetable oil ½ cup light or dark rum Glaze: ½ cup unsalted butter ¼ cup water 1 cup granulated sugar ½ cup light or dark rum Directions: Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Prepare one 9-10″fluted cake pan; generously grease the pan with shortening and dust with flour. Batter: Sprinkle the nuts over the bottom of the prepared pan. In a large bowl of an electric mixer, combine cake mix, eggs, water, vegetable oil, and rum; beat until thoroughly mixed. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula so the mixture blends evenly. Spoon the batter over the nuts and smooth the surface with the back of a large spoon. Bake: Bake 1 hour or until a long toothpick, wooden skewer, or cake tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove from oven and place pan on a wire cooling rack to cool for 10 or 15 minutes then remove cake from the pan and place the cake on the wire cooling rack to finish cooling. Glaze: In a small heavy saucepan over low heat, melt the butter. Stir in water and sugar; bring to a boil and boil for 5 minutes stirring constantly so mixture does not burn. Remove from heat. Stir in the rum. Use a long toothpick or skewer to poke several small holes in the top and sides of the cake. Spoon the still warm glaze over the top of the cake and allow to soak in. Repeat until the glaze is used up.  Take your time with this step allowing the glaze to soak in thoroughly before spooning on more.  I used a pastry brush to help spread it around the sides too.  The results couldn’t have been better!