A rich and boozy cake, perfect for the holidays
Where do I even begin with my love affair with rum cake. I don't remember the first time I ever had it, but I can't even remember a time in my life where I didn't know what it was. I remember wanting to bring it to bake sales and holiday parties as a young kid, and my parents wishing that there was a different cake I would bring for other kids to eat. But it was rum cake. It was always rum cake.
What is rum cake you may ask? Well, it is a yellow cake that is enhanced with dark rum, and soaked in a buttered rum sauce. It is moist and rich, and the rum sauce makes this desert a perfect holiday treat.
The original recipe is my grandmother's. We don't know where she got it from, but she passed it down to my mom, and my mom has passed it down to me. The original recipe used a box cake mix and included chopped pecans on the top of the cake. Growing up, I never enjoyed the nuts. I don't know why, but I just didn't like them. I would always request a version that didn't have any nuts. Just cake, and sauce.
This year, as I'm sure you've all noticed, I have really connected to my roots. I've been making some of my grandma's old recipes for the first time, and recreating other ones. With this rum cake, I wanted to find a way to make the entire cake from scratch, without losing the perfection of the original recipe.
I knew this was going to take a lot of practice, and I needed to make sure I used a yellow cake recipe that would be sure to WOW my family.
I've been following Cake by Courtney for quite some time. I make her Honey Goat Cheese Fig cake for Christmas Eve every year. Her yellow cake recipe was the first one I thought of, when I decided on tackling this rum cake from scratch. I knew it would need a little bit of adjusting since I needed to add rum to the cake, but her basic yellow cake it literally the most amazing from scratch yellow cake I've ever had. Why reinvent the wheel, right? I increased the flour, decreased the salt, used salted butter, and omitted the butter extract, all to compensate for the 1/2c of rum I added to the cake batter. After many trials and taste tests, and using the Yellow Cake recipe from Cake by Courtney as a base, I developed a rum cake that is moist, fluffy, and delicious.
🏷 Time: 1 hour, 20 minutes
🏷 One Bundt Cake
Ingredients
Rum Cake
1c (226g) Salted Butter, room temperature
1/3c (72.6g) Canola Oil
1/2tsp (2.8g) Salt
1 3/4c (350g) Bakers Sugar
5 Whole Eggs + 2 Egg Yolks, room temperature
3 1/2c (448g) Cake Flour, sifted
2tsp (8g) Baking Powder
1c (240g) Sour Cream, Room Temperature
1/2c (105g) Dark Rum
1tsp (4.2g) Vanilla Extract
Rum Glaze
1c Sugar
1/3c Rum
1/2c Butter
2TBSP Water
Directions
Rum Cake
Preheat Oven to 325°F
Spray a large bundt pan or mini bundt pans with baking spray. Set aside
In a medium bowl, sift the cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside
In a small bowl, mix the sour cream, rum, and vanilla extract. Set aside
Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, on beat on high speed the butter, canola oil, and sugar on high until light and fluffy. This will take about 4 to 5 minutes
Reduce the speed to medium-low, Add the eggs and egg yolks one at a time, beating to incorporate after each addition
Reduce the speed to low. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture and mix well (about 10 seconds). Add half of the sour cream and rum mixture, and mix well. Follow this with another 1/3 of the flour mixture, the rest of the sour cream, and the final third of the flour mixture. Beat on low until fully incorporated
Pour the cake batter into the bundt pan(s), and tap on the counter to remove any air bubbles
Bake at 325°F for 25 minutes if using mini bundt pans, and 40 minutes if using a large bundt pan
Remove cake from oven and let cool in pan for about 10 minutes before inverting onto a cooling rack
Rum Glaze
Making the glaze should happen right before serving the rum cake
In a small pot over medium heat, combine butter and sugar. Stirring constantly
Once sugar has completely dissolved add rum. Stirring constantly
Continue to cook for about 3 minutes, stirring constantly. The mixture should be quite thick and golden in color
If the mixture is too thick, add water one TBSP at a time to thin out to desired consistency
Assembly
Using a toothpick, poke holes into the top, sides, and bottom of the rum cake
Spoon glaze over cake until entire cake is covered in glaze
Let sit for 5 to 8 minutes until glaze has been completely absorbed by the cake
Serve with eggnog for an extra festive treat!
Enjoy!
