fall blog tour ~ {almost} famous rum cake!

Welcome to our fall blog tour week 2 ~ fall recipes ~ and my {almost} famous rum cake!

I call it my {almost} famous rum cake, because it is as close as I can get to the {really} famous rum cakes from the Caribbean. I combined bits of different recipes through trial and error, until I could close my eyes and taste the island cakes. I use Pusser’s Navy Rum in my cake ~ and yes, the rum matters, so choose wisely!

Our week 2 theme is “Fall Recipes”. I love that we’ve all had such different contributions this week! Starting with yummy breakfast pancakes at The Striped House to a wonderful dinner lasagna from Concord Cottage, with hearty tailgating nachos from The Altered Past and a fabulous white chili from 2 Bees in a Pod that’s perfect for football Saturday’s. Welcome if you’ve come over from The Crowned Goat ~ and Coco’s delicious Pumpkin Spice Bars which are definitely going to my next tailgate!

This rum cake is really good any time of year, but I especially like it during the fall and holidays. Of course I’ve taken the boxed cake route, but you could make it with a basic scratch yellow cake recipe with the addition of the pudding and rum. BIG DISCLAIMER HERE ~ I want to TASTE THE RUM in the cake, so this is a serious rum flavor and a really moist cake! Some or most of the alcohol in the rum evaporates in baking the cake and boiling the glaze, but not all of it. You’re unlikely to get tipsy from a piece of cake, but if you want a lighter rum flavor you should use less glaze to your taste 🙂 .

I may or may not have had this for breakfast ~ I’m not saying’. But I do think it’s good any time of day ~ dessert, night-time treat, or maybe even breakfast ~ you decide! This cake gets better as it sits, so do make it the day (or even two) before you plan to serve it. Ok, on with the recipe ~~~

 {almost} famous rum cake

cake ~~~
1 cup pecan pieces, chopped and pan toasted
4 whole eggs (room temperature)
1/2 cup water
2 teaspoons vanilla
7 tablespoons softened butter (room temperature)
1/2 cup Pusser’s gold rum
1 box (18.25 oz.) Duncan Hines Butter Golden classic yellow cake mix
1 small box (3.4 oz.) Jello instant vanilla pudding mix

glaze ~~~
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup water
1 stick butter
1/2 cup Pusser’s gold rum

Preheat oven to 325 or 350, depending on your pan type. Follow directions for pan and oven temperature from the cake mix box. Remaining instructions are below ~~~

Basic ingredients from the local Publix ~ except for the Pusser’s Rum of course!

I like to toast the chopped pecans in a pan on the stove top. It tastes good and it’s something to do while I’m waiting because I forgot (AGAIN!) to take the eggs and butter out of the fridge to let them come to room temperature.

Prep a 10″ bunt pan with baking spray and sprinkle the chopped and toasted pecans in an even layer around the bottom. Combine the cake mix with eggs, water, vanilla, butter and rum, and beat on medium speed until well mixed. Add the pudding mix and beat just until combined. The batter will be slightly stiff. Spoon the batter into the pan to gently cover the pecan pieces, without moving them around. Once the pecans are covered, spoon the remaining batter into the pan, level it out with the spoon and gently tap the pan on the counter to prevent air pockets.

Bake 45-55 minutes depending on pan and oven temp as noted above, until the cake is a light golden brown, a cake tester comes out clean, and the cake is pulling away slightly from the pan sides. I love my Wilton Advance Fluted Tube Pan for baking and my cake bakes in about 48 minutes at 325 degrees.

Now it’s all about the glaze! While the cake is in the last 10 minutes or so of baking, add the sugar, water and butter to a sauce pan ~ warm and stir as needed on medium heat until the butter is melted and the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat and add the rum. Return to medium high heat until boiling. Keep an eye on it so it doesn’t boil over 🙂 . Boil and stir for 5 minutes ~ it will thicken a bit ~ and then remove from heat and set the glaze aside, but it must stay warm for glazing the cake.

Ok, I was so focused on the glaze that I neglected my photo duties ~ so here goes! It takes time for the cake to absorb the glaze ~ and patience is not one of my virtues ~ but my SCBD tip (small change, big difference) speeds things up! Allow the cake to cool about 5 minutes in the pan on a wire rack, and it should settle a bit in the pan. Use a small bamboo skewer or cake tester to poke holes all around the cake in the pan. Then carefully turn the cake out of the pan on to the wire cooling rack and poke holes all around the top side, taking care not to disturb the pecan topping. Pour about half of the total the amount of glaze you intend to use (see BIG DISCLAIMER above) into the pan, and then carefully replace the cake into the pan to absorb the glaze. Spoon the remaining part of the glaze over the bottom of the cake in the pan while the cake is still warm, including the outer sides and around the inner tube. It takes a some time, but while you’re spooning, the cake is absorbing the glaze you added to the pan, so it cuts total glazing time in half and more goes into the cake vs on the counter or cake plate! After all the glaze is applied, I leave the cake in the pan 2-3 hours to absorb the glaze. Finally, turn the cake out on to a plate for serving. Some glaze will still remain and possibly run on to your cake plate, but it’s delicious!

I made my cake the day before slicing and serving. I wrapped it loosely in wax paper and aluminum foil overnight, even though it was on my covered cake plate. I wanted it to continue absorbing the delicious glaze. By the next day it’s firm enough for slicing and serving, but it’s a very moist cake ~ and you can TASTE THE RUM!

This is a favorite bluwatereat and I hope you give it a try! Next week we are back to decor, and we’re all doing our mantles and shelves for fall. Jennifer from The Striped House will kick us off on Monday, and I will be back on Saturday with my bluwaterstyle mantle. Hope you’ll join us for the tour!

See you next week friends!